by elliott west
Eddie Charlton is one of the most recognised Australian players in snooker history. From Merewether in New South Wales, Charlton came from a sporting family, his grandfather ran a billiards club in Swansea, New South Wales and it wasn’t long before a young Eddie picked up a cue and started playing snooker aged nine. At the age of eleven Charlton played in a wartime snooker exhibition and defeated the talented player, Walter Lindrum and he made his first century break when he was just seventeen years old.
Eddie turned his hand to many sports prior to becoming a professional snooker player. He was a first grade footballer for ten years, played state-level rugby, competitive cricket, speed roller skating, rowing, boxing, tennis and in 1956 he was chosen to carry the Olympic torch as part of its journey to the Melbourne Games. He was also a coal miner until the age of thirty-one. After winning four amateur snooker titles and on the advice of the legendary player, Fred Davis, he decided to turn professional in 1963. His brother Jim was also a talented player but never managed to break through to a professional status.
After turning professional in 1963, Eddie had a very successful run in Australia as a player. His remarkable wins in the Australian Professional Championship lasted 20 years with only one defeat. However, in billiards he was less successful, coming runner up in the World Billiards Championship in 1974, 1976 and 1984. It was in snooker that Charlton stamped his mark and is considered to be the most successful Australian player prior to Neil Robertson. From the first year that ranking points counted in 1976, Eddie rose to number three and remained there for five consecutive seasons. If you were a killjoy, you would say that this was because only the World Championship counted in the early years. The irony was that Charlton was always a nearly man and never won a title on UK soil, losing in the final at the World Championship in 1968, 1973, and losing by just one frame to Ray Reardon, 30-31 in 1975. However, these bitter defeats were compensated slightly by three wins in the BBC series, Pot Black in 1972, 1973 and 1980 and made the first century break on the programme of 110. Charlton got his revenge on Reardon in 1976 when he beat the Welshman in Melbourne in the World Matchplay Championship, 31-24.
Charlton battled on the baize and was known for his straight cue action. His dogged style of play was notorious and he rarely used side spin when taking a shot. Eddie never again reached the latter stages of the World Championship but did manage an impressive 10-9 win over Cliff Thorburn in 1989 in the first round. He made his last appearance at the Crucible in 1992 where he received a 10-0 whitewash by John Parrott, a record that lasted until this year when Shaun Murphy inflicted the same defeat on Luo Honghao.
After retiring, Charlton carried on being involved in snooker in Australia and formed the Australian Professional Players Association. There he was responsible to bringing the top players of the time to play in Australia and was rewarded for his efforts in 1980 when he was awarded the Order of Australia. He stopped competing in 1995 and sadly passed away in New Zealand in 2004 after an operation.
Eddie Charlton was probably one of the best multi-talented sportsmen in my opinion and should have won a World Championship. Frustratingly, he never did and maybe that was because Ray Reardon was at the pinnacle of his career at the time. Eddie knew the game inside out and used his knowledge of billiards to enhance his snooker performance. Even now when you watch old clips of his matches you can admire his skill as a player and I still wonder what could of been of this Australian ace?
