Paddy Morgan

Patrick Morgan was born on 7 January 1943 in Belfast.{{cite book |last=Hayton |first=Eric |title=The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker |year=2004 |publisher=Rose Villa Publications |location=Lowestoft |isbn=978-0-9548549-0-4 |pages=732–733}}{{cite news |title=How they line up – snooker special 3 |newspaper=Sports Argus |location=Birmingham, England |date=20 October 1979 |page=45}} He started playing English billiards aged nine, at St Patrick's Parochial Hall. Coached by Tom McCann,{{cite news |title=Tulleygalley on the way |newspaper=Ireland's Saturday Night |date=7 March 1992 |page=5}} Morgan won the Under-16 British Junior English Billiards Championship in January 1958, with a 400–260 victory over David Bend in the final.{{cite web |url=http://www.eaba.co.uk/eaba/?p=6402 |title=Under 16 Champions |author= |date=18 October 2013 |website=eaba.co.uk |publisher=English Amateur Billiards Association |access-date=29 June 2020 |archive-date=16 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916090102/http://www.eaba.co.uk/eaba/?p=6402 |url-status=dead}} He also won the Under-19 title twice; in 1959, 446–321 against Peter Shelley, and in 1961, 538–357 against Tony Matthews.{{cite web |url=http://www.eaba.co.uk/eaba/?p=6405 |title=Under 19 Champions |author= |date=18 October 2013 |website=eaba.co.uk |publisher=English Amateur Billiards Association |access-date=29 June 2020 |archive-date=10 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810204426/http://www.eaba.co.uk/eaba/?p=6405 |url-status=live}} In 1959 he entered the British Junior Snooker Championship, and lost 2–3 to Bend in the semi-finals after taking a 2–0 lead.{{cite news |title=Snooker |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |date=19 December 1959 |page=25}} In the deciding frame, Morgan {{cuegloss|pot|potted}} the final {{cuegloss|black ball}}, but went {{cuegloss|in off}}, which cost him the match.{{cite news |last=McCutcheon |first=James |title=Billiards |newspaper=Ireland's Saturday Night |date=10 December 1960 |page=5}}

Aged 15, Morgan was expelled from St Mary's Christian Brothers' School after consistently missing classes to play the game.{{cite news |last=Wilkins |first=Phil |title=Schoolboy goes to pot |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=12 July 1974 |page=17}} In January 1960 he moved to Coventry, where he worked as a machinist,{{cite news |title=Snooker |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |date=4 January 1960 |page=11}} and later as a bus conductor.{{cite news |title=Coventry bus conductor wins billiards title |newspaper=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=20 April 1961 |page=38}} In 1964, he won both the Northern Ireland Amateur Snooker Championship, against M. Gill in the final, and the All-Ireland Snooker Championship, defeating J. Rogers.{{rp|92}} He won the All-Ireland title again in 1967, this time against Dessie Anderson, and also won the 1967 Irish Amateur Snooker Championship title against Rogers.{{cite book |last=Morrison |first=Ian |date=1987 |title=The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker – revised edition |location=Twickenham |publisher=Hamlyn Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-600-55604-6}}{{rp|35}}{{cite web |url=http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/Countries/country_nthireland.htm |title=Global Snooker Countries – Northern Ireland |publisher=Global Snooker Centre |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223133841/http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk/files/Countries/country_nthireland.htm |access-date=17 June 2017 |archive-date=23 December 2008}} In billiards, he was Northern Ireland runner-up to Anderson in 1966, and All-Ireland champion in 1967 (against Billy Loughan) and 1968 (against Anderson).{{cite book |last=Everton |first=Clive |date=1985 |title=Snooker: The Records |publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd |location=Enfield |isbn=978-0-85112-448-3 |pages=126–127}}

He represented Ireland at the 1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship, held in Australia, and reached the semi-final of the competition where he lost 3–8 to David Taylor, who went on to win the event.{{cite book |last=Hale |first=Janice |date=1987 |title=Rothmans Snooker Yearbook 1987–88 |location=Aylesbury |publisher=Queen Anne Press |isbn=978-0-356-14690-4 |pages=296–297}} Morgan emigrated to Australia in 1969, supported by billiards professional Murt O'Donoghue.

Morgan turned professional in 1970.{{cite magazine |magazine=Billiards and Snooker |title=BA&CC official |date=May 1970 |page=12}} He participated in the 1971 World Snooker Championship, losing matches against John Pulman, Ray Reardon and Gary Owen, but winning his match against Warren Simpson. In 1972, Morgan won the Australian national billiards title against Albert Johnson, and held it unchallenged until defeated 3,238–3,608 by Robby Foldvari in 1985.{{cite magazine |last=Wheeler |first=Les |title=Robbie Foldvari wins Australian billiards title |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=October 1985 |page=19}}

A World Open Billiards Championship, with both amateurs and professionals competing against each other, was held in 1972.{{cite news |title=Billiards title |work=The Time |date=23 June 1972 |page=13}} Morgan finished fourth in the round-robin table with seven wins from eleven matches, which included victories against Clark McConachy, Clive Everton, and Jack Karnehm. He reached the final by defeating Eddie Charlton and Satish Mohan, and finished runner-up to Leslie Driffield, 2,404–3,055.{{cite magazine |title=Day by day |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=February 1973 |pages=15–26}}

In 1974, Morgan defeated 1972 World Snooker champion Alex Higgins in the final of a professional tournament held at the Westpoint Shopping Centre, Blacktown, Sydney, by winning the first four frames in their best-of-seven frames match. Ian Anderson and Simpson also played in the tournament.{{cite news |title=Irishmen in snooker final |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 February 1974 |page=16}}{{cite news |title=Morgan 4–0 in snooker |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=23 February 1974 |page=74}}{{cite news |title=Higgins loses |newspaper=The Birmingham Post |date=23 February 1974 |page=23}} He lost 3–37 to Higgins in the final of the Victorian Professional Championship held in Melbourne the following month.{{cite news |title=Snooker: Victorian Professional Championship |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=17 March 1974 |page=66}} At the 1974 World Snooker Championship, Morgan progressed to the second round by defeating Cliff Thorburn 8–4 in the first round. In Thorburn's autobiography, he claims that after Morgan lost the first frame, he took his tie off, then after Thorburn went 3–1 up, Morgan took his waistcoat off, and after the score went to 4–1, Morgan drop kicked his chalk out of the arena. Thorburn states that he had difficulty settling after that and lost the next seven frames to allow Morgan to progress to the second round, where he lost 7–15 to Graham Miles.{{cite book |last1=Thorburn |first1=Cliff |last2=Everton |first2=Clive |title=Playing for Keeps |year=1987 |publisher=Partridge Press |location=Haywards Heath |isbn=978-1-85225-011-9 |pages=47–48}} In the 1975 Championship he faced Thorburn again, and lost 6–15 in the first round.

The 1976 Australian Professional Snooker Championship was promoted by Charlton, through his eponymous company. Charlton played his quarter-final and semi-final using his personal set of snooker balls, on a table of his choosing at the venue, finishing his final on 30 September. He stipulated that the final, scheduled for 4 October, would be played under the same conditions. Morgan and his opponent Simpson had both faced lengthy journeys to their previous matches and were scheduled to finish their match on 3 October. Four days before the final was due to commence, Morgan and Simpson agreed to tell Charlton that whichever of them won the semi-final would refuse to play him unless what they saw as the advantages that Charlton would gain from playing with his own set of balls on a table of his choosing were removed. Morgan defeated Simpson 19–11 and then travelled from their match location in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, to Sydney, then flew to Melbourne the following morning, the day the final was due to start. When he arrived, he discovered that the match had been set up on the same table as Charlton had played his previous matches on, with the same balls, and refused to play. Charlton claimed victory by walkover, a decision which was confirmed by seven votes to six by the Australian Professional Players Association, chaired by Charlton.{{cite magazine |title=Not so good, Eddie |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=January 1977 |page=23}}{{cite web |title=Other National Professional Championships |url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/natpro.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107161810/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/natpro.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 January 2012 |publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive |access-date=22 February 2018}}

At the 1976 World Professional Match-play Championship, which despite the name was not an edition of snooker's world championship, Morgan recorded a 13–12 win against Dennis Taylor and a 13–6 defeat of Alex Higgins to reach the semi-finals, where he faced Charlton.{{cite magazine |title=Charlton downs Reardon |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=February 1977 |page=5}} Morgan led 16–14 at the start of their final {{cuegloss|session}} in the best-of-37 {{cuegloss|frame|frames}} match, and increased this to 17–14 before Charlton won the next three frames to equalise. Morgan then regained a lead at 18–17, but Charlton took the following two frames to progress to the final after the deciding frame, 19–18.{{cite news |title=Morgan leads in snooker |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=7 December 1976 |page=13}} A break of 104 by Morgan was the highest of the tournament.{{cite book |last=Morrison |first=Ian |date=1989 |title=Snooker: records, facts and champions |publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd |isbn=978-0-85112-364-6 |page=98}} Morgan and Charlton both qualified for the final of the 1977 Australian Professional Championship, played as the best of 25 frames. Morgan led 7–5 and later 13–11, before Charlton took the lead. Morgan was a single frame behind at 21–22, but Charlton won the next four frames to secure his 17th national title in 18 years.{{cite news |title=Charlton trails in title snooker |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=9 September 1977 |page=24}}{{cite news |title=Snooker to Charlton |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=11 September 1977 |page=89}} Morgan did not reach the national championship final again. He exited the 1978 World Snooker Championship after his first match in the qualifying competition, defeated 7–9 by David Taylor, and at his next appearance, in 1980, eliminated Paul Thornley 9–4 before being whitewashed 0–9 by Steve Davis.

After an international team event was introduced in professional snooker in 1979, Morgan was one of the three members of the Australia team in the 1979 World Challenge Cup,{{cite magazine |title=A successful experiment |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=December 1980 |pages=3–9}} and at subsequent events in 1980, 1981 and 1982.{{cite magazine |title=State Express World Cup |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=December 1980 |pages=18–25}}{{cite magazine |title=World Team Classic |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=December 1981 |pages=5–11}}{{cite magazine |title=State Express World Team Classic |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=December 1982 |pages=7–15}} At the November 1980 World Professional Billiards Championship (the first time the championship had been held as a knockout rather than as a challenge match since 1934), he defeated John Dunning 1,655–1,107 in qualifying but then lost 978–1,907 to eventual champion Fred Davis in the quarter-finals.{{cite magazine |title=Davis win continues billiards revival |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=December 1980 |pages=12–15}}

In the 1981 World Snooker Championship qualifying competition, Morgan lost in the first round to Eddie Sinclair 8–9 and the following year he progressed past David Greaves 9–2 before losing 1–9 to Silvino Francisco. His last World Championship qualifying match victory was at the 1983 World Championship, 10–9 on the final black ball against Pascal Burke. Morgan was them eliminated 6–10 by Miles in the following round.

Morgan moved back to the United Kingdom for the 1983–84 snooker season so that he could compete in more professional events.{{cite news |title=Paddy is ready for big chance |newspaper=Burton Daily Mail |date=2 March 1984 |page=36}} In the qualifying rounds of the 1983 International Open, he defeated Jack Fitzmaurice and Fred Davis before being eliminated by John Spencer.{{cite news |last=Harper |first=Ronnie |title=Forget past shows, Paddy |newspaper=Ireland's Saturday Night |date=27 December 1986 |page=6}} He won a play-off against Everton and Tony Meo after they had finished level in their first-stage qualifying group for the 1984 International Masters,{{cite news |title=Paddy's 'break' |newspaper=Ireland's Saturday Night |date=18 February 1984 |page=11}} but lost to both David Taylor and Dave Martin at the second stage.{{cite news |title=Martin in semi-final |newspaper=Newcastle Journal |date=3 March 1984 |page=18}} In 1984 he again lost in the World Professional Billiards championship quarter-final to the player who went on to win the tournament, this time 759–1,347 to Mark Wildman, after qualifying by defeating Bernard Bennett 1,021–639.{{cite magazine |title=Wildman takes title in agonising finish |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=May 1984 |pages=7–8}}

From the 1984–85 snooker season, Morgan participated only in Australian tournaments and qualifying rounds of the World Snooker Championship, having moved back to Australia because his family preferred the climate there. In late 1990, Morgan announced that he would travel to compete in the 1991 billiards and snooker championships.{{cite news |title=The gadfly |date=11 November 1990 |newspaper=The Sun Herald |location=Sydney, Australia |page=66}} According to a report in Snooker Scene magazine the following year, Morgan's playing career had been "spoilt by eye trouble".{{cite magazine |last=Terry |first=Tom |title=Russell beats Sethi in classic final |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=April 1991 |pages=22–23}} Morgan had been diagnosed with astigmatism in about 1985, and started playing whilst wearing adjustable spectacles.{{cite news |last=Cockington |first=James |title=Them's the breaks |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=13 December 1985 |page=38}} At the 1991 UK Professional Billiards Championship, he lost 211–1,482 in his first match, against Mike Russell, and he did not enter the world billiards championship.{{cite magazine |title=Eight qualify for Bangalore |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=May 1991 |pages=18–19}} Morgan's last professional snooker appearance was at the 1991 World Snooker Championship, where he lost 7–10 to Thornley in the first qualifying round. Play finished at 1:50 am. In Snooker Scene, Phil Yates described the match as a "dirge".{{cite magazine |last=Yates |first=Philip |title=The hard road from Preston to Sheffield |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=May 1991 |pages=4}} Morgan was due to compete the following season, but did not play any matches. The highest professional ranking attained by Morgan was 21st, in the snooker world rankings 1976/1977, the first official ranking list published by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.{{cite book |last=Kobylecky |first=John |date=2019 |title=The Complete International Directory of Snooker Players – 1927 to 2018 |publisher=Kobyhadrian Books |isbn=978-0-9931433-1-1 |pages=168–169}}

From 1984 until at least 1997, Morgan was resident professional at Tattersalls Club in Sydney.{{cite magazine |last=Jordan |first=Doug |title=Professional help for members |magazine=Tattersall's Magazine |date=December 1984 |page=10}}{{cite magazine |last=Jordan |first=Doug |title=Snooker |magazine=Tattersall's Magazine |date=May 1986 |page=10}}{{cite magazine |title=Snooker |magazine=Tattersall's Magazine |date=August 1997 |page=4}}

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Category:1943 births

Category:Living people

Category:Australian players of English billiards

Category:Australian snooker players

Category:Players of English billiards from Northern Ireland

Category:Sportspeople from Belfast

Category:Sportspeople from Coventry

Category:Sportspeople from Sydney