Retrospective World Rankings - Early Years

[Cyril]

The World Ranking list was instigated in 1976/77 and took into account the previous 3 World Championships, so officially the first ever World Ranking event was the 1974 Park Drive World Championships.

The points awarded at that time were:

Winner = 5 points
R/Up = 4 points
S/Final = 3 points
Q/Final = 2 points
Last 16 = 1 point

Inaugural World Ranking list 1976/77 (after 1976 World Championships):

1 Ray Reardon 15 points
2 Alex Higgins 9
3 Eddie Charlton 8
4 Fred Davis 6
5 Graham Miles 6
6 Rex Williams 6
7 Perrie Mans 5
8 John Spencer 5
9 Dennis Taylor 5
10 Gary Owen 4
11 John Dunning 4
12 Jim Meadowcroft 3
13 Cliff Thorburn 3
14 Bill Werbeniuk 3
15 John Pulman 3
16 David Taylor 2
17 Marcus Owen 2
18 Bernard Bennett 1
19 Ian Anderson 1
20 Warren Simpson 1
21 Paddy Morgan 1

I've often thought it'd be interesting to apply those points tariffs to work out retrospective World Ranking lists for earlier years. So for instance, John Spencer could be referred to as the "World Number 1" in the early 70's - the same status afforded to Ray Reardon between 1976/77 and 1980/81.

Has anyone ever done this?

[jon]

There was an official list produced a year earlier using the same points basis 1973-1975, although it was referred to as a seeding list rather than a ranking list.

Difficult to use the same basis pre-73 as there were too few entrants.

How about 3-2-1-0 for 69-71, 4-3-2-1-0 for 72 and 5-4-3-2-1 for 73 on?

[Cyril]

They did. I think I saw it in a 75 snooker scene. An order of merit I think.

Difficult call - it’d be unfair to award only 3 points for a 1969-71 World title and 5 for a 72-73, wouldn’t it?

Maybe,
1969,70,71:
Winner 5
R-U 3.5
S-F 2
Q-F 1

[AndrewB]

If you just stick to the 5-4-3-2-1 ranking method, the early ranking lists would be:

1969-70:
1 John Spencer 5
2 Gary Owen 4
3 Fred Davis 3
4 Rex Williams 3
5 Ray Reardon 2
6 John Pulman 2
7 Jack Rea 2
8 Bernard Bennett 2

1970-1
1 John Spencer 8
2 Ray Reardon 7
3 Gary Owen 7
4 John Pulman 6
5 Fred Davis 5
6 Rex Williams 5
7 Jack Rea 4
8 Bernard Bennett 3
9 David Taylor 2

1971-2
1 John Spencer 13
2 Ray Reardon 10
3 Gary Owen 9
4 John Pulman 8
5 Fred Davis 5
6 Rex Williams 5
7 Warren Simpson 4
8 Jack Rea 4
9 Eddie Charlton 3
10 Bernard Bennett 3
11 David Taylor 2
12 Paddy Morgan 1

1972-3
1 John Spencer 12
2 Ray Reardon 10
3 John Pulman 8
4 Eddie Charlton 6
5 Alex Higgins 5
6 Rex Williams 5
7 Gary Owen 5
8 David Taylor 4
9 Fred Davis 4
10 Warren Simpson 4
11 Jack Rea 3
12 John Dunning 1
13 Bernard Bennett 1
14 Paddy Morgan 1

1973-4
1 John Spencer 12
2 Ray Reardon 10
3 Eddie Charlton 10
4 Alex Higgins 8
5 Rex Williams 5
6 Warren Simpson 5
7 John Pulman 5
8 Fred Davis 4
9 Gary Owen 4
10 David Taylor 3
11 Graham Miles 2
12 Cliff Thorburn 1
13 Jim Meadowcroft 1
14 Perrie Mans 1
15 Patsy Houlihan 1
16 David Greaves 1
17 John Dunning 1
18 Jack Rea 1
19 Paddy Morgan 1

1974-5
1 Ray Reardon 12
2 Alex Higgins 10
3 Rex Williams 8
4 Eddie Charlton 8
5 John Spencer 8
6 Fred Davis 7
7 Graham Miles 6
8 John Pulman 4
9 John Dunning 3
10 Perrie Mans 3
11 Gary Owen 3
12 David Taylor 3
13 Marcus Owen 2
14 Jim Meadowcroft 2
15 Paddy Morgan 1
16 Bill Werbeniuk 1
17 Bernard Bennett 1
18 Cliff Thorburn 1
19 Warren Simpson 1
20 Patsy Houlihan 1
21 Jack Rea 1
22 David Greaves 1

1975-6
1 Ray Reardon 15
2 Eddie Charlton 9
3 Alex Higgins 8
4 Rex Williams 7
5 Graham Miles 7
6 John Spencer 6
7 Fred Davis 6
8 Gary Owen 5
9 Dennis Taylor 3
10 Cliff Thorburn 3
11 John Pulman 3
12 John Dunning 3
13 Perrie Mans 3
14 Warren Simpson 2
15 Bill Werbeniuk 2
16 David Taylor 2
17 Marcus Owen 2
18 Jim Meadowcroft 2
19 Ian Anderson 1
20 Paddy Morgan 1
21 David Greaves 1
22 Bernard Bennett 1
23 Patsy Houlihan 1

The last list there fits with the suggestion that it was used to give the seedings for the 1976 World Championship, with the top 15 (except Simpson, who didn't compete) exempt from qualification; the top 8 kept apart in Round 1, etc.

(For the 1970-1 World Championship, with the round robin qualification, I gave 2 points to Pulman and Owen for winning 2 qualifiers, 1 to Paddy Morgan for winning 1.

[Cyril]

Excellent work, AndrewB!

World Snooker should adopt this list. It's perfectly fair and reasonable that the late great John Spencer be regarded as a former World Number 1.