By Elliott West
Introduction
The year was 1979, one when Margaret Thatcher swept aside Labour’s James Callaghan with a 44 seat majority. After a Winter of Discontent and raging strikes, that winter a lesser-known snooker tournament was taking place at Wembley Conference Centre. It was of course the Pot Red Tournament organised by Mike Barrett. An event that carried prize money of £500 for the overall winner and brought together eight of the most talented teenager players for what turned out to be thirteen hours of snooker.
Sadly the tournament was poorly attended with poor ticket sales and only 200 people taking up the offer to attend. It is understood that Mike Barrett actually lost £2,000 in promoting the event despite the star names on the bill including Tony Meo and Jimmy White.
The Tournament
It was Jimmy White who would provide the fireworks during the first two round matches, a series of round-robin matches in which two groups of four players battled it out for places in the semi-finals. White made a high break of 71 in his match against Terry Whitthread, beating Ian Williamson and Whitbread 4-1 to win Group B. Sheer brilliance for a Londoner who was only 17 years old at the time.
Ian Williamson had to take two frames off Colm Kelly, the Irish junior champion to qualify for the semi-finals. A match that had a twist when Ian 2-0 up in the match was briefly halted in his tracks when the match had to be stopped due to the lateness of the hour. An occurrence that repeated in Mike Hallett’s match against Wales’ John Bennett when Mike had gone 3-0 up. Although when they resumed, both players were eventually victorious.
Williamson’s semi-final match was against Tony Meo and he looked far more at ease than he had done in the previous rounds. Meo led 1-0 and 2-1 but was pegged back to 2-2 and with a scoreline and deficit of 29-46, it seemed sure that Meo would crash out. However, in the middle of a small break, Williamson broke down due to an awkward shot on the second to last red, leaving it over a pocket for his opponent. Meo seized the opportunity, gathered his composure and knocked in a break of 37 to win frame and match 3-2.
In the round robins, Meo had beaten Hallett 4-1 but this match could have easily gone the other way with the scoreline being an unfair assessment of the match. Mike took the first frame with a break of 73 but from then on Tony dominated the match. However, Mike got his revenge when he played Jimmy White in his next match, beating White by the same scoreline.
In the final Hallett was up against Tony Meo and this was a game where Mike blasted his opponent off the table, carving out a 4-0 victory. Had Meo been able to make capital in this match, the game could have easily have finished in the early hours of the morning. An exciting finish to a tournament that lasted thirteen hours.
Results
Group A
Tony Meo v John Bennett 4-1
Tony Meo v Mike Hallett 4-1
Tony Meo v Danny Adds 3-2
Mike Hallett v Danny Adds 4-1
Mike Hallett v John Bennett 3-0
John Bennett v Danny Adds 3-2
Group B
Jimmy White v Colm Kelly 5-0
Jimmy White v Ian Williamson 4-1
Jimmy White v Terry Whitthread 4-1
Ian Williamson v Terry Whitthread 3-2
Ian Williamson v Colm Kelly 2-0
Terry Whitthread v Colm Kelly 3-2
Semi-finals
Mike Hallett v Jimmy White 3-1
Tony Meo v Ian Williamson 3-2
Final
Mike Hallett v Tony Meo 4-0
Highest break: Tony Meo 76
