|
Snooker (, ) is a cue sport played on a table covered with a green cloth or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A full-size table measures 11 ft 8 in × 5 ft 10 in (3569 mm x 1778 mm), commonly referred to as 12 × 6 ft. The game is played using a cue and 22 snooker balls: one white cue ball, 15 red balls worth one point each, and six balls of different colours: yellow (2 points), green (3), brown (4), blue (5), pink (6) and black (7). The red balls are initially placed in a triangular formation, and the other coloured balls on marked positions on the table known as "spots". Players execute shots by striking the cue ball with the cue, causing the cue ball to hit a red or coloured ball. Points are scored by sinking the red and coloured balls (knocking them into the pockets, called "potting") in the correct sequence. A player receives additional points if the opponent commits a foul. A player (or team) wins a frame (individual game) of snooker by scoring more points than the opponent(s). A player wins a match when a predetermined number of frames have been won. Snooker, generally regarded as having been invented in India by British Army officers, is popular in many of the English-speaking and Commonwealth countries,〔Everton, Clive ("Take snooker to the world" ), ''BBC Sport'', 5 May 2002, (Retrieved 24 February 2007)〕 with top professional players attaining multi-million-pound career earnings from the game.〔Reardon, R. ("Where does Ronnie rank?" ), ''BBC Sport'', 21 February 2005, (Retrieved 25 February 2007)〕 The sport is now increasingly popular in China.〔("China in Ding's hands" ), ''BBC Sport'', 22 January 2007, (Retrieved 25 February 2007)〕 Touring professional players compete regularly around the world, the premier tournament being the World Championship, held annually in Sheffield, England. ==History== (詳細は"Sporting Vernacular 11. Snooker" ), ''The Independent'', 26 April 1999, (Retrieved 25 February 2007)〕 Billiards had been a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, and variations on the more traditional billiard games were devised. One variation, devised in the officers' mess in Jabalpur during 1874 or 1875,〔 was to add coloured balls in addition to the reds and black which were used for pyramid pool and life pool.〔Shamos, Mike (1993), ''The Complete Book of Billiards''. ISBN 0-517-20869-5〕 The rules were formally finalised in 1884 by Sir Neville Chamberlain at Ooty. The word ''snooker'' also has military origins, being a slang term for first-year cadets or inexperienced personnel.〔 One version of events states that Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain of the Devonshire regiment was playing this new game when his opponent failed to pot a ball and Chamberlain called him a ''snooker''.〔 It thus became attached to the billiards game now bearing its name as inexperienced players were labelled as snookers.〔unknown author ("Origins of the Game of Snooker" ), ''Titan Sports'', unknown date, (Retrieved 25 February 2007), ((Archive Version ))〕 Snooker grew in popularity in England but generally it was still a game for the gentry, and many well established gentleman clubs which had a billiards table would not allow nonmembers inside to play. To accommodate the popularity of the game, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs started to be formed. The game of snooker grew in the later half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, and by 1927 the first World Snooker Championship〔 had been organised by Joe Davis who, as a professional English billiards and snooker player, moved the game from a pastime activity into a more professional sphere.〔unknown author ("Snooker Timeline" ) ''"Joe Davis will reinvent this after-dinner pastime and become world champion"'', ''cuesnviews.co.uk'', unknown date, (Retrieved 24 February 2007), ((Archive Version ))〕 Joe Davis won every world championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played. In 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game, known as snooker plus, to try to improve the game's popularity by adding two extra colours. However, it never caught on. A major advance occurred in 1969, when David Attenborough commissioned the snooker tournament ''Pot Black'' to demonstrate the potential of colour television, with the green table and multi-coloured balls being ideal for showing off the advantages of colour broadcasting.〔("Pot Black returns" ), ''BBC Sport'', 27 October 2005. Retrieved 24 February 2007〕〔Porter, H. ("Cue China" ), ''Time Magazine'', 20 June 2008, (Retrieved 23 June 2008)〕 The TV series became a ratings success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two.〔unknown author, ("Pot Black Ratings" ) ''"Surprisingly, the programme raced to second place in the BBC2 ratings"'', unknown date, (Retrieved 24 February 2007) ((Archive Version ))〕 Interest in the game increased and the 1978 World Championship was the first to be fully televised.〔〔unknown author ("1978 – The World Snooker Championships" ), "By 1977, though, a new lighting system had been devised, allowing the players to be seen clearly without problems and, the following year, Aubrey Singer agreed to cover the World Championships all the way through, with an hour of highlights every day for 16 days", unknown date, (Retrieved 24 February 2007), ((Archive Version ))〕 The game quickly became a mainstream game〔MacInnes, P.("Thatch of the day" ), ''The Guardian'', 10 February 2004, (Retrieved 24 February 2007)〕 in the UK, Ireland and much of the Commonwealth and has enjoyed much success in the last 30 years, with most of the ranking tournaments being televised. In 1985 a total of 18.5 million viewers watched the concluding frame of the world championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis.〔("1985: the black ball final" ) BBC sport〕 The loss of tobacco sponsorship during the 2000s led to a decrease in the number of professional tournaments, although some new sponsors were sourced;〔Anstead, M.("Snooker finds sponsor with deep pockets" ), ''The Guardian'', 19 January 2006, (Retrieved 24 February 2007), ((Archive Version ))〕 and the popularity of the game in the Far East and China, with emerging talents such as Liang Wenbo and more established players such as Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, boosted the sport in that part of the world.〔〔("Could Ding be snooker's saviour?" ), ''BBC Sport'', 4 April 2005, (Retrieved 25 February 2007)〕 In 2010, promoter Barry Hearn gained a controlling interest in World Snooker Ltd, the professional sport's commercial arm, pledging to revitalise the "moribund" professional game. Under his direction, the number of professional tournaments has increased, certain tournament formats have been changed in an attempt to increase their appeal, and, as of 2013, total prize money had more than doubled from £3m to more than £7m.〔("Barry Hearn wins vote to take control of World Snooker" ), BBC Sport, 2 June 2010〕〔("Barry Hearn: World Snooker chief on how he saved the sport" ), BBC Sport, 27 November 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Snooker」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|