Working for the revival of Hungarian snooker

Great prizes, celebrated players – snooker is flourishing again after its 150-year-old history. Although there is no vibrant snooker life in Hungary, one gentleman, Gábor Buzás, sports commentator at Eurosport TV Channel is working on changing the current situation, Forbes.hu reports.

At the end of the 19th century, there were so many British soldiers, and they had so much spare time in India, that pool begun to be less popular, and completely new rules were developed with using the equipment at disposal. This is how snooker was born.

The game was popular among the soldiers in the crown colony at first. It was not until more than half a decade later when the first snooker world championship had been organized. In 1927, a famous snooker player, Fred Davis defeated everyone, and until 1946, he did not have any tough opponent. He later retired, because it turned out that his younger brother proved to be a potential opponent, who would have been able to defeat the champion. After WWII, due to the lack of interest and sponsors, championships had not been organized until the 80s when the first televisions and colourcasts appeared. Fans continued to pull for their favourite snooker player sitting in the sofa, because it was more comfortable. No serious prizes could be won at that time but, thanks to the spread of televisions and broadcasting sports events, the world has become familiar with the players. In 1985, 18.5 million excited British watched the snooker championship in TV.

Snooker had slowly become a profitable game. Prizes of a few hundred pounds became grand prizes of 25 million pounds. The winner received 6000 pounds in 1977, 60,000 pounds in 1985 and 270,000 pounds in 2003. This year, the winner of the snooker championship taking place between 15 April and 1 May may receive 375,000 pounds. For the title of Masters, players can receive 200,000 pounds, for the title of UK Championship, they may receive 170,000 pounds, and for the title of China Championship, they can win 200,000 pounds. The lowest grand prize to win this season is 25,000 Euros.

Bulcsú Révész, the ten-year old talent
photo: Facebook/Révész Bucsú

The Hungarian snooker flourished at the beginning of the 90s. (…) At that time, snooker was played in the rural regions, whereas today, it is limited to Budapest. (…) There have been about 50 entrants at Hungarian contests recently. Hungarian players are amateurs. Currently, no money prize can be won, and this is what I try to change. We are now having two talented young gentlemen, the thirteen-year-old Attila Horváth, who was a finalist at the national championship last year; and we also have the ten-year-old Bulcsú Révész, who, according to experts, will dominate the Hungarian field. My aim is to deploy as many gifted Hungarian players as possible.

Attila Horváth, the gifted thirteen-year-old gentleman
photo: Facebook/Horváth Attila

Gábor Buzás sports commentator told Forbes.hu.

The Hungarian sports commentator has even launched a fundraising in the interest of the gala taking place on 18 March. It proved to be effective, because he original aimed to collect 16,000 Dollars, but it duplicated after four months. There is a huge interest in the gala, especially because the champion of 2010, Neil Robertson, and the two-time world champion Ali Carter are also going to participate.

Ce: bm

Source: Forbes.hu