By Elliott West
The people who are running the game are slowly strangling it to death and it’s time someone stood up and said so”.
Wally West
Introduction
Wally West is probably not a name that is instantly remembered in snooker but for the older player and fan, he was a legend. Wally apparently compiled a 151 break against Butch Rogers at the Hounslow Luciana Snooker Club during a club match in 1976 and was refereed by John Posner. A break that Wally didn’t even realise he was on until he reached 126 after potting the yellow. Wally was known as ‘Mr Snooker’ and played every snooker player in his time except Stephen Hendry and beat most of them.
Career
Wally was the brother of Henry West. Henry was of course known for being a snooker promoter and managed the ‘Magnificent Seven’ players that consisted of Patsy Fagan, John Virgo, Joe Johnson, Tony Knowles, Tony Meo and Jimmy White during the 1980s. Henry also organised the Hofmeister mixed doubles tournaments. He also ran the Royal Surrey snooker club in Morden and promoted a very successful billiards championship that was won by the Australian player, Robby Foldvari. His brother, Wally was a fantastic amateur player but never actually turned professional. A man who was very close to Jimmy White, John Virgo and Clive Everton during his youth, Wally beat them all at amateur level including a 4-0 victory over Steve Davis in the English Amateur Championship. This left a foul taste in Davis’ mouth and was the only whitewash of Steve’s career for a very long time.
Wally was described as a ‘loveable rogue’ and was known for sucking a peppermint when he played. A name that stuck with him when he once played a season of snooker in Portsmouth and the team got dubbed the ‘Eastleigh Mints’. A tournament where he got to the individual semi-finals but refused to play because it was scheduled to be played at his respective opponents’ home club. A decision that led to him being kicked out of the tournament.
Life after Snooker
Wally West was highly critical of the game after his retirement, believing it would crash and burn with people like John Spencer and Geoff Foulds in charge of it. He felt that the people in charge of the game were inexperienced at management. A game that had risen from its early days when it was mainly played above Burton’s tailor shops. An advisor of some of the most controversial players in the game, Wally became a rebel of snooker but he definitely made the wrong decision by opposing its progression as it turned out to be the most popular sport of the 1980s. A man who once played Ron Gross in a challenge match at the Richmond snooker club in the 1960s and still hailed as a legend of the game, living his last days in Axminster.
