1981–82 snooker world rankings

none October 2023 October 2023 thumb|alt=Cliff Thorburn playing at a snooker table|Cliff Thorburn (pictured in 2007) took top place in the rankings. thumb|alt=Steve Davis holding his cue stick, standing behind a snooker table|The 1981 World Champion Steve Davis (pictured in 2007) was ranked second. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Before this, for each tournament the defending champion was seeded first, and the previous year's runner-up second.Official rankings Snooker Scene August 1976 Everton's News Agency Birmingham 10Turner Chris Historical World Rankings 1975/76 to 1989/90 http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/HistoricRank1.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120608214119/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/HistoricRank1.html 8 June 2012 Chris Turner's Snooker Archive 26 February 2011Turner Chris World Rankings – History and Development http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/History/history_rankings.htm Global Snooker Centre 24 June 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20040803184513/http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/History/history_rankings.htm September 2000 3 August 2004 Players' performances in the previous three World Snooker Championships (1979, 1980 and 1981) contributed to their points total. For each of the three years, the World Champion gained five points, the runner-up received four, losing semi-finalists got three, losing quarter-finalists got two, and losers in the last-16 round received a single point.Bigger field for 1982 championship Snooker Scene June 1981 19 Players without any ranking points were listed in order of their performances at the 1981 World Snooker Championship. Cliff Thorburn, the 1980 champion, led the ranking list, with nine points, having been ranked second the previous year. The reigning champion, Steve Davis, held eight points and moved from thirteenth place to second, while the 1979 winner Terry Griffiths, also with eight points, rose from fifth to third.Morrison Ian 1987 The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker Revised Twickenham Hamlyn Publishing Group 978-0-600-55604-6 107 Ray Reardon, who had been ranked first in each of the five previous lists since the establishment of the rankings, was in fourth place with seven points, the same total as Dennis Taylor in fifth. The WPBSA deducted two ranking points from Alex Higgins's total for his behaviour at Herringthorpe Leisure Centre, Rotherham on 24 February 1981. Higgins had arrived late for the second session of an exhibition match against Davis, reportedly because he was playing Space Invaders.Higgins in trouble https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-evening-mail-higgins-in-troub/133530225/ Birmingham Evening Mail 17 April 1981 67 16 October 2023 20 October 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231020213232/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-evening-mail-higgins-in-troub/133530225/ live Newspapers.com The top sixteen players in the rankings were seeded into the 32-player first round of the main competition for the 1982 World Snooker Championship.Hale Janice No let-up in the Davis schedule https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-no-let-up-in-the-dav/133502005/ The Daily Telegraph 22 April 1981 28 15 October 2023 20 October 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231020213253/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-no-let-up-in-the-dav/133502005/ live Newspapers.com Janice Hale, a snooker reporter for The Daily Telegraph, wrote that the system, with points accumulated across three years, gave established players an advantage. An article in Snooker Scene magazine discussing the ranking list for 1980/1981, which was compiled on the same basis as the 1981/1982 list, had also contained concerns about the advantage to established players, while arguing that no better alternative system had been proposed.World rankings: the old order under attack Snooker Scene Everton's News Agency Birmingham June 1980 5–8 Player and commentator Jack Karnehm, who had previously criticised the ranking system for not taking into consideration players' performances at tournaments other than the world championship,Karnehm Jack Jack Karnehm Carty John 1981 World Snooker with Jack Karnehm New faces and changing fortunes Pelham London 978-0-7207-1328-2 11–16 agreed that no fairer system had been proposed. Karnehm published a "Supreme Snooker League Table" based on percentage of frames won in nine tournaments during the 1980–81 snooker season, which was headed by Steve Davis with 66.67% of frames won across 29 matches, followed by Willie Thorne who won 61.54% of frames in six matches. This method, in Karnehm's own assessment, produced rankings "every bit as unfair and inconsistent as the official ratings list".14 Rankings The professional world rankings for snooker players in the 1981/1982 season are listed below. Points gained in each of the three World Snooker Championships are shown, with the total number of points given in the last column. A "–" symbol indicates that the player did not participate in that year's championship.Karnehm Jack Jack Karnehm Carty John 1982 The supreme snooker league World Snooker with Jack Karnehm No. 2 Pelham London 978-0-7207-1398-5 14–19Hale Janice 1985 Rothmans Snooker Yearbook 1985–86 Aylesbury Queen Anne Press 978-0-356-12023-2 198–199Hayton Eric Dee John 2004 The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History Rose Villa Publications Lowestoft 978-0-9548549-0-4 119–123The June 1981 issue of Snooker Scene and Chris Turner's Snooker Archive both have Alex Higgins ranked tenth and Kirk Stevens ranked eleventh, but all other sources consulted have them in the order shown in the table +Snooker world rankings 1981/1982 Ranking Name 1979 1980 1981 Total 1 Cliff Thorburn CAN 1 5 3 9 2 Steve Davis ENG 1 2 5 8 3 Terry Griffiths WAL 5 1 2 8 4 Ray Reardon WAL 2 2 3 7 5 Dennis Taylor NIR 4 1 2 7 6 Doug Mountjoy WAL 1 1 4 6 7 David Taylor ENG 1 3 2 6 8 Eddie Charlton AUS 3 2 1 6 9 Bill Werbeniuk CAN 2 1 2 5 10 Kirk Stevens CAN 1 3 1 5 11 Alex Higgins NIR 2 4 1Two points were deducted. 5 12 Fred Davis ENG 2 1 1 4 13 John Virgo ENG 3 1 0 4 14 John Spencer ENG 1 1 1 3 15 Perrie Mans RSA 1928 1 1 1 316 Graham Miles ENG 1 0 1 2 17 Jim Wych CAN – 2 0 2 18 Tony Meo ENG – 0 1 1 19 Ray Edmonds ENG 0 0 0 0 20 Tony Knowles ENG – – 0 0 21 Jimmy White ENG – – 0 0 22 Willie Thorne ENG 0 0 0 0 23 Cliff Wilson WAL – 0 0 0 24 Dave Martin ENG – – 0 0 25 John Dunning ENG 0 0 0 0 26 Jim Meadowcroft ENG 0 0 0 027 Patsy Fagan IRL 0 0 0 0 28 Rex Williams ENG 0 0 0 0 29 Mike Hallett ENG – 0 0 030 Eddie Sinclair SCO – 0 0 0 31 David Greaves ENG 0 0 0 032 John Pulman ENG 0 0 0 0 1980/1981 1982/1983 1981/1982 Notes References 1981 Rankings 1982 Rankings 1981