By elliot west
“John used to come and practice in Ealing snooker club , when I was a young player, I had some practice sessions with him….was a nice guy.”
Alfie Burden
During my time of being a snooker blogger, I have written about the majority of the players in the history of the sport but every so often I come across another snooker gem. On this occasion, it is the former Australian professional player, John Campbell. John is another one of those players that graced the baize in the “golden era” of the sport. A professional from 1982 to 1994, he reached the quarter-final of the 1983 Professional Players Tournament and won the Australian Professional Championship in 1985 and 1988. Reaching his highest ranking of 18 in the 1986/87 season, he had career earnings of £143,369 and achieved his highest break of 132 in the 1985 Australian Masters.
Beyond the statistics though, I hit a brick wall with this player and had to put on my detective hat to find out more about this snooker enigma. To achieve this goal I had to contact a number of my snooker friends and what was immediately apparent was the warmth and praise bestowed on Campbell.
This extremely tall sportsman clearly was very talented, well you have to be to reach the heady heights of being a professional player in the first place.
My friend James Edens was very helpful in providing me with some crucial information and photography for this piece. I am not sure where he got this player profile from and it provides a shower of information on this Australian player.
“ Campbell turned professional in 1982. Playing in only one tournament during the 1982/1983 season – the 1983 World Championship, he defeated Mike Watterson 10–6 in the first qualifying round and Jim Donnelly 10–2 in the second, to reach the main stages at the Crucible Theatre for the first time. There, he was drawn against former World Champion Cliff Thorburn but lost 5–10.”
“Beginning the next season with a world ranking, placed 39th, Campbell played in five events, the highlight coming at the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, where he overcame Doug Mountjoy, Graham Miles and Dave Martin to reach the quarter-finals. In his match against Tony Knowles, he led 2–0 but could not prevent a 3–5 loss. In his attempt to qualify again for the World Championship, he lost 7–10 to Thorburn’s compatriot Marcel Gauvreau.”
“The 1983/1984 season heralded better form still, Campbell reaching the last-32 stage of four tournaments and making his second appearance at the Crucible; in the latter, he defeated another Canadian, Mario Morra, 10–9 – having trailed 6–9 – to qualify, before being eliminated 10–3 by his fellow Australian Eddie Charlton.”
“Campbell beat Charlton in the final of the 1985 Australian Professional Championship, and during 1985/1986 recorded progress to the last-16 at four events. The most notable of these was the 1986 World Championship, where he defeated Jimmy van Rensberg in qualifying, following this with a 10–8 victory over six-time World Champion Ray Reardon in the first round; however, in the next, Willie Thorne beat him 13–9.”
“Campbell’s performances in the ensuing few years were good; he reached the final of the 1986 Australian Professional Championship, but lost 3–10 to Warren King, and won the event for the second time in 1988, overcoming Robby Foldvari 9–7. By this time, his ranking had slipped from his peak – at 18th – to 47th, and although he reached the last 16 at the 1990 Asian Open, losing 4–5 to Mark Bennett, he would not make such progress again. Following a 3–10 loss to John Giles in qualifying for the 1993 World Championship, he concluded the 1992/1993 season ranked 65th and did not play competitive snooker thereafter. He was relegated from the tour in 1994.”
Jim Eden also provided me with a fascinating quote about John Campbell :
“We made the semi-finals in both team sports and snooker, the problem came we were beaten. Jigger Johnny and little Jigger Johnny had to play in the state semi-final and Geoffrey Miller was playing Paul Borg in the South Pacific final, we lost on the night by one frame I think it was the one and only year that Johnny Campbell played for the Quinlan Shield. I had 10 weeks of sharing his company learnt a lot about snooker from him and Geoffrey Miller but more about racing every Wednesday.”
Jim Eden
Another friend, Kenny Hargreaves told me this :
“ Gork often stayed at my home on the Gold Coast, one day we were playing on my table and played 7 frames, he got 6 centuries and I was happy to get a 96 break. In one frame he had potted 4 reds and 3 blacks , he proceeded to shape up to pot the pink, I asked what he was doing and why not continue with blacks which was also on, I explained that a maximum was on, he called me an idiot lol but potted the black anyway, I believe that was the first time he compiled a maximum 147 break. A few years later he was at my house again and I mentioned that I thought I was having a heart attack, he finished what he was eating and took me to the hospital where I was operated on and I never saw him again. But all is good.”
Kenny Hargreaves
When I spoke to Nigel Bond the other night, he clearly remembered playing Campbell, bragging that he was the player that “ended his career”. A bold statement but it makes sense when Nigel went on to explain that when he played John in the European Open:
“I played him in the European Open in Lyons, can’t remember what year. Four each in the decider and needed three snookers with just the blue, pink and black on the table.”
Nigel Bond
What is not so clear, is what happened to John Campbell after his playing career ended. He was last known to be living in Sydney but then the trail goes cold. However whenever his current whereabouts, it is clear that John Campbell was one of those players that made the brave decision to cross the globe to play on UK shores. Like Eddie Charlton, Warren King and Neil Robertson, John saw the winning streak that the United Kingdom could offer. John may not have won any titles here but he was clearly a very good player who battled it at venues such as Norbreck Castle to get the chance to play in major events. Players can be coached but natural talent can’t be nurtured.
