By Elliott West
“There’s a guy called Chris Scanlon, a fantastic junior, unbelievable talent, but he never knuckled down. Hard work will get you rewards at the end of the day”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
The 1980s was the best period in history to play snooker with a wealth of talent and the game in an ultimate boom. Sadly a number of those wow players didn’t quite make it as a professional and one of those players that sticks out a country mile is Chris Scanlon. Chris was a force to be reckoned with as a junior, playing out of the Barking and Ilford Snooker Centres. I found an old clip of him on Thames Television from 1987 while doing the research for this piece. In the news item, Scanlon is only 12. Then a pupil at St Barnard’s School, he had already made a break of 131 using a borrowed cue in a senior pro-am. Days before this, he had made a break of 95. A lad who kept good company looked over by the watchful eye of Eugene Hughes at Ilford who could spot talent a mile off and cited television as the reason for the rise of so many young, talented players. A player who Joe Perry and Ronnie O’Sullivan highly rated as a junior and even went on to say he was in the same class as Ronnie.
Career
Born in 1975, Chris Scanlon turned professional in 1992. The same year as John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Joe Perry and Mark Williams. He would spend 9 seasons on the main tour with mixed success. His first season was uneventful but he did make a break of 140, earning only £850 in prize money. However, in the 1993-4 season, he reached the last 32 of the Dubai Classic where he lost 5-0 to John Parrott. Chris next played in the 1995 Welsh Open where he beat Karl Broughton 5-4 and Billy Snaddon 5-3 in the 128 and in the main draw Terry Griffiths 5-0, and Jason Ferguson 5-3 before losing to Stephen Hendry 5-0 in the last 16.
The following season Scanlon reached the last 32 of the 1996 European Open where he defeated Suriya Suwannasingh 5-2, David Rippon 5-3, Alex Higgins 5-4, Mark Flowerdew 5-3, Brian Morgan 5-3, Frans Mintoff 5-1 before losing to John Parrott 5-3. Now ranked within the top 64 at 64th, Chris had the best performance of his career at the 1998 Scottish Open. He beat Mark Gray 5-2, Joe Swail 5-4, Peter Lines 5-0 and Mark Bennett 5-0 before losing to Stephen Lee 5-0 in the quarter-finals.
Chris saved the best for last when took part in the 1999 World Championship. After a poor season and only earning £4,760 from 10 events, he defeated Darryn Walker 10-9, Shokat Ali 10-7, and Paul Sweeny 10-5 before losing to Fergal O’Brien 10-7 in the last 48. As a result of this brilliant run, Scanlon earned the highest prize money of his career, pocketing £9,250.
Now ranked out of the top 64, Chris was unable to improve on his 1999/2000 season but did reach the last 64 of the 1999 Grand Prix. Here he beat Hugh Abernethy 5-3 and Bradley Jones 5-1 before losing to Gary Wilkinson 5-2 in the last 64. He did reach the last 128 of the 2000 World Championship but lost to David McLellan in a close-fought match 10-9. Scanlon finished the season ranked 112th and did not play in another competitive match. He was relegated from the tour the following season, ranked 160th. A brilliant player in his time, especially during his junior days and someone who never achieved his full potential. He went on to play snooker in Holland.
