By Elliott West
“Vive todo lo ordinario, de manera extraordinaria”.
Live everything ordinary, in an extraordinary way.
Club de Billar Black Ball, Madrid. Photograph courtesy of the club.
Introduction
Spain isn’t a country that is traditionally associated with snooker but thanks to Eurosport showing the sport through its various network channels with Spanish commentators such as the brothers Arturo and Martín Pérez Gil, Sergio Manuel Gutiérrez and Rubén Fernández,there has been a notable push for many who love the traditional cue sports of blackball pool and carom to try their hand at snooker. Although still in its infancy, several Spanish pool halls in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, the municipality of Mula, Murcia and across Spain’s Costa regions, have installed several snooker tables. Thanks to social media pages, the most prominent being @spainporosnooker, Spanish-speaking viewers can keep up to date with all the latest news from the world of snooker thanks to the meticulous translation by the editor.
Discovering Spanish Snooker
On a recent trip to Madrid, I was initially pessimistic before doing an internet search of finding any snooker clubs in this magical and historic city. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Situated in central Madrid is the Club de Billar Black Ball which has three snooker tables and several pool tables with impressive reviews for this members-only club.
“El mejor de Madrid. Y buen ambiente 😉”
The best in Madrid. It has a good atmosphere 😉
Several snooker tournaments have existed in Spain over the years including the 1984 Costa Del Sol Classic and the Spanish Amateur Championship which still runs today. The Costa Del Sol Classic held at the Las Palmeras Hotel in Fuengirola involved some professional snooker players of the time including Tony Drago, Warren King, Tony Knowles, Murdo Macleod, Eddie Sinclair, Joe Johnson and was won by Dennis Taylor after beating Mike Hallett 5-2 in the final. Sadly it was a one-time tournament but proves that there is interest in snooker in Spain, especially amongst the British ex-pat community. This tournament was not televised but I am sure was popular at the time.
The 2023 Spanish Amateur Championship, a national amateur championship was held at the Club de Billar Torredelcampo and was won by Aleix Melia after defeating Eric Ruiz Ardevines 4-2 in the final. Alex also won the previous year. Past winners have included Francisco Sanchez in 2018 and 2019. A tournament that has the potential for growing the sport in this thriving nation.
Afterthoughts
Although snooker is in its infancy in Spain, there are encouraging green shoots. Although this will be a long road, snooker could be played here if the powers strike a deal here, and host a tournament in the near future. Spain is very much like Germany with a growing fan base but a low percentage of snooker played and a small number of snooker clubs. Spain needs a spark and bringing the main tour to a tournament somewhere such as Madrid will start the ball rolling. Even if World Snooker or another event organization bring several high-profile players including Ronnie O’Sullivan for an exhibition match, this will be a start and set Spain on a new snooker journey. This is the country where Willie Thorne spent his last years. Ray Edmonds and John Virgo are currently still living here. The Spanish company, Publigenil, sponsors the WST players Joe Perry and Mark Davis, the European champion and player in the next season of the circuit, Ross Muir and the WDBS player David Church. That was just in the last three years, so there is plenty of potential already.
