By Elliott West
Introduction
Think of a flamboyant and eccentric snooker player and you will probably cast your mind towards Dominic Dale. Dominic is such a likeable person, someone who would definitely be on your pub quiz team due to wealth of knowledge of snooker.Nicknamed ‘The Spaceman’, Dominic graduated from the notorious ‘Class of ‘92’ and has been one of those players that had taken longevity in his stride. A familiar voice on BBC and Eurosport commentary, Dale still pulls out the odd shock victory and continues to relish the sport as much as he did when he first discovered it and picked up his first cue.
Career
Born 1971, in Coventry, Dale shot to prominence in his amateur career when he won the coveted 1991 Welsh Amateur Championship, defeating Wales’s David Bell 8-7, He als reached the World Amateur Championship final in 1992, losing to Thailand’s Noppadon Noppachorn .
Turning professional in 1992, at the same time as other future greats in the sport such as John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan, this adopted Welshman, had many highlights to career, including victories in the 1996 Malaysian Masters, 1997 Grand Prix, 2007 Shanghai Masters and becoming the 2014 Shootout Champion, after defeating Stuart Bingham 1-0 in the final.
A player who I feel is very underrated, Dominic peaked in the world rankings at number 19 and still remains at 64th place after a long career. Not afraid to stand out from the crowd, Dale has bleached his hair in the past and even turned up to a tournament in a large furry coat. A regular quarter and semi-finalist in events, Dale is now seen or not, behind a microphone in a commentary box, sharing his pearls of wisdom with viewers. A person who has a head of recounting the history of the game, Dominic had a vast collection of snooker memorabilia at home and was enticed back to playing on the tour from his base in Vienna when Barry Hearn vastly increased the number of tournaments on the snooker calendar.
Perhaps not the best singer, the player decided to do a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ at the post-match interview after winning the 2007 Shanghai Masters. Let’s just say it wasn’t one of his finest moments and probably scared a few cats in the local area!
Like Stuart Bingham, Dale was always a great supporter of the game at the grassroots level and won an impressive six Pro-Am titles and also won the 1999 Nations Cup, playing for Wales. A winner of PTC, Event 6 in 2010, beating Martin Gould 4-3, Dominic has made 224 career centuries, amassed £1,200,997 in prize money, and had a fabulous highest break of 145 in the 1999 UK Championship. Now 49, Dale may be taking a slightly gentler pace in snooker but his eye for detail never fades and he remains someone who is a delight to hear when he commentates.
