by elliott west
Carrying on my Welsh theme from yesterday I would like to turn our attention from a well-known player to one that let’s say the older fan would have heard of.
I have been following snooker since 1987 and have seen many players come and go but one that I admit I had forgotten is the Welsh player, Tony Chappel. Tony from Pontarddulais in Swansea graced the professional stage for a seventeen-year period between 1984-2001 and had the highest ranking of 32 in the 1990-1992 season. He made 41 career centuries, earned £255,728 in prize money and achieved a high break of 143 in the 1998 Benson and Hedges Championship. He was always one of the few players to make a 147 clearance in a Pro-AM event.
I decided to write about Chappel because he was one of those players that surprised me on the baize. You always hear about shock wins in snooker and he was responsible for quite a few of the upsets. Researching this piece, I found out that this Welsh player beat quite a few of the top competitors of the time, including Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, John Parrott, Stephen Hendry, Alan McManus, Stephen Lee, and Ken Doherty. Chappel’s problem though was that he was unable to take this further and was a player that sadly lacked consistency. He only made one semi-final in his career, losing 6-5 to Dennis Taylor on the last black in 1990. Tony, however, did have a good track record in making the latter stages of many tournaments with many quarter-finals and last 16 appearances, with his last at the 1997 Regal Welsh Open. Chappel also made it to the Crucible once in 1990 where he was eventually beaten by my good friend Tony Knowles, 10-4 in the last 32.
Chappel struggled after this tournament and eventually fell out of the top 64, never returning to that surge of form. He eventually retired from professional play in 2001.
Since retiring, Tony has made brief return appearances to snooker, taking part in 2013 World Championship qualifiers, beating David Singh, 5-2 in the second round before losing to Patrick Wallace, 5-1 in the third round. Chappel also appeared in the Sky Sports Seniors event in 2012 when he got to the final, losing to Nigel Bond, 2-0 and made the quarter-final stage a year later.
Tony will be remembered for his tenacity and like a dog with a bone, he never gave up. Sadly the modern game lacks this style of player and whilst he may not have reached the steady heights of snooker, Tony showed what he could produce on the day and he was a player that others feared to play. A lesser light in snooker but definitely deserves praise for his efforts!