1975 World Snooker Championship
The 1975 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 9 April and 1 May 1975 across Australia. The event was the 1975 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927. The tournament featured 27 participants, 8 of which were seeded and received byes to the second round. The event featured a prize fund of A$30,000 with the winner receiving A$7,500. This was the second (and to date last) World Snooker Championship to be held outside of the United Kingdom. The final was held at the Nunawading Basketball  Centre on Burwood Highway, in Burwood East, Victoria. Ray Reardon played Eddie Charlton in a best-of-61 match. Reardon won 10 of the 12 frames on the second day to lead 16–8 but Eddie Charlton won the first nine frames on day three to lead. Reardon then led 23–21 before Charlton won eight frames in a row to lead 29–23 requiring just two of the last nine frames to win. However Reardon then won 7 frames in a row to lead again and, although Charlton levelled the match at 30–30, Reardon won the deciding frame to win 31–30. Overview. The  World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, the sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand. This championship featured nine professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a round-robin format until from which four players qualified to a single elimination format. Each match is played over a predetermined number  of and . Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, the final match being held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England. Ray Reardon was the defending champion, having defeated Graham Miles 22-12 in the 1974 final. Format. The championship was held from 9 April to 1 May 1975 at several locations across Australia. This was the second time the championship was held outside the United Kingdom, previously in 1971 with two other challenge matches in 1965. The event featured 27 participants, with a preliminary round, and eight seeded players who were awarded byes to the second round. The  number of frames increased during the tournament, with the opening rounds being the best of 29, the quarter-finals and semi-finals best of 37 and the final a best of 61 frames match. With "Park Drive" having ended their sponsorship, the WPBSA awarded the 1975 World Championship to "Eddie Charlton Promotions". The final was held at the Nunawading Basketball Centre on Burwood Highway, in Burwood East, Victoria. Prize fund. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: Tournament summary. Most of the early round matches were played in New South Wales although the semi-finals were  played in Canberra and Brisbane with the final in Melbourne. South African Professional Championship winner Perrie Mans was defeated in the opening round, by Dennis Taylor 15-12. Mans was down by two frames after the first session, but recovered to 7-7, before Taylor pulled ahead in the third session. There was controversy about the seedings. John Spencer was seeded 8 which meant that he met Ray Reardon in the quarter-final. Alex Higgins was also in the top half of the draw while Eddie Charlton was in the bottom half of the draw. David Taylor made the highest  break of the tournament with 128. The final was decided on the final frame, with Reardon winning 31–30. Results. Preliminary matches. Source: Main draw. Below is the results from the event. Players in bold denote match winners, whilst numbers in brackets are the players seeding.