Tony Meo

Tony Meo
Born (1959-10-04) 4 October 1959
Tooting, London[1]
Sport country  England[1]
Nickname The Cat
Meo, Meo[1]
Professional 1979–1997[1]
Highest ranking 10 (1984–1986)[1]
Career winnings £621,126[2]
Highest break 147 (1988 Matchroom League)[3]
Century breaks 54[4]
Tournament wins
Ranking 1
Non-ranking 7

Tony Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player.

Career

Meo was a schoolfriend of Jimmy White in Tooting, South London, and the pair regularly skipped school to play snooker together.[5] At 17 Meo became the then youngest person known to have made a maximum break of 147. He turned professional in 1979. In 1980 he made his World Championship debut and was only defeated 10-9 by Alex Higgins.

In 1984, Meo reached the final of the Classic, facing world number one Steve Davis. The match went to the deciding frame, and Meo only needed to clear the colours to win the title, but missed after being distracted by a shout of encouragement from a spectator. Davis went on to win the frame and match, and used his winning speech to call for an audience ban on alcohol.

With Davis, Meo won four World Doubles titles, and was also part of the victorious England team at the 1983 World Team Classic. His only ranking title came at the 1989 British Open, beating Dean Reynolds 13–6 after beginning the tournament as a 200–1 outsider. In the same year, he reached the semi-final of the World Championship, losing 16–7 to John Parrott.

In 1986, Meo was one of five players under Barry Hearn's management (along with Davis, Terry Griffiths, Willie Thorne and Dennis Taylor) who appeared on "Snooker Loopy", a hit single about the game recorded by Chas & Dave.[1]

Slipping rapidly down the rankings, Meo retired from professional snooker in 1997 and now runs a watch and jewellery shop in Hatton Garden.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1978/
79		 1979/
80		 1980/
81		 1981/
82		 1982/
83		 1983/
84		 1984/
85		 1985/
86		 1986/
87		 1987/
88		 1988/
89		 1989/
90		 1990/
91		 1991/
92		 1992/
93		 1993/
94		 1994/
95		 1995/
96		 1996/
97
Ranking[6] [nb 1] [nb 1] [nb 2] 18 24 15 10 10 11 20 31 14 15 34 38 51 69 75 75
Ranking tournaments
Asian Classic[nb 3] Tournament Not Held NR A 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Grand Prix[nb 4] Tournament Not Held 3R SF 1R 3R QF 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ
UK Championship Non-Ranking Event 2R 3R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ
German Open Tournament Not Held LQ WD
Welsh Open Tournament Not Held 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
International Open[nb 5] Not Held NR LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R QF 1R Not Held 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ
European Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 2R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ WD
Thailand Open[nb 6] Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event Not Held 2R 1R 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ WD
British Open[nb 7] NH Non-Ranking Event QF QF 1R 1R W 2R 3R LQ 1R 1R LQ LQ WD
World Championship A 1R 2R 1R QF 1R 2R 1R 1R LQ SF 2R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Scottish Masters Not Held A A QF A A A A NH A A A A A A A A
The Masters A A A SF 1R 1R QF 1R SF A A 1R QF WD LQ LQ A A A
Irish Masters A A A QF QF QF 1R QF QF A A A A A A A A A A
European League[nb 8] Tournament Not Held A Not Held RR RR RR RR RR RR A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters[nb 9] Non-Ranking Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking LQ Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Open[nb 10] NH Ranking Event NH 2R Tournament Not Held Ranking NH
Classic NH Non-Ranking Event F 1R 3R 3R 2R 2R 2R 1R LQ Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open Tournament Not Held 3R MR NR Not Held
Former non-ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters[nb 11] F 2R QF Tournament Not Held A A A R Tournament Not Held
International Open[nb 12] Not Held 1R Ranking Event Not Held Ranking Event
UK Championship A 2R QF SF SF QF Ranking Event
British Open[nb 13] NH SF LQ RR RR LQ Ranking Event
Thailand Open[nb 14] Tournament Not Held W RR RR A Not Held Ranking Event
Pot Black A A A A A 1R A 1R Tournament Not Held A A A Not Held
Australian Masters[nb 15] NH A A W SF QF SF W QF A NH R Tournament Not Held A A NH
Asian Classic[nb 16] Tournament Not Held SF Ranking Event
English Professional Championship Not Held F Not Held SF W W QF 1R Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay Tournament Not Held A 1R A A A Tournament Not Held
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held 1R Tournament Not Held
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
  1. 1 2 He was an amateur.
  2. ↑ New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
  3. ↑ The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995) and Thailand Classic (1995/1996)
  4. ↑ The event was also called the Professional Players Tournament (1982/83–1983/1984)
  5. ↑ The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)
  6. ↑ The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1983/1984–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)
  7. ↑ The event was also called the British Gold Cup (1979/1980), Yamaha Organs Trophy (1980/1981) and International Masters (1981/1982–1983/1984)
  8. ↑ The event was also called the Professional Snooker League (1983/1984) and the Matchroom League (1986/1987–1991/1992)
  9. ↑ The event was also called the Canadian Open (1978/1979–1980/1981)
  10. ↑ The event was also called the Australian Masters (1979/1980–1987/1988) and Australian Open (1994/1995)
  11. ↑ The event was also called the Canadian Open (1978/1979–1980/1981)
  12. ↑ The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)
  13. ↑ The event was also called the British Gold Cup (1979/1980), Yamaha Organs Trophy (1980/1981) and International Masters (1981/1982–1983/1984)
  14. ↑ The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1983/1984–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)
  15. ↑ The event was also called the Hong Kong Open (1989/1990) and Australian Open (1994/1995)
  16. ↑ The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995) and Thailand Classic (1995/1996)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1984 The Classic England Steve Davis 8–9
Winner 1. 1989 British Open England Dean Reynolds 13–6

Non-ranking finals: 9 (7 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1978 Canadian Open Canada Cliff Thorburn 15–17
Runner-up 2. 1981 English Professional Championship England Steve Davis 3–9
Winner 1. 1981 Australian Masters England John Spencer 3–0
Winner 2. 1983 Pontins Brean Sands South Africa Silvino Francisco 9–7
Winner 3. 1983 Thailand Masters England Steve Davis 2–1
Winner 4. 1985 Australian Masters (2) Australia John Campbell 7–2
Winner 5. 1986 English Professional Championship England Neal Foulds 9–7
Winner 6. 1987 English Professional Championship (2) England Les Dodd 9–5
Winner 7. 1990 International League England Jimmy White Round-Robin

Team finals: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Team/partner Opponent(s) in the final Score
Winner 1. 1982 World Doubles Championship England Steve Davis Wales Terry Griffiths
Wales Doug Mountjoy		 13–2
Winner 2. 1983 World Team Classic  England  Wales 4–2
Winner 3. 1983 World Doubles Championship (2) England Steve Davis England Tony Knowles
England Jimmy White		 10–2
Runner-up 1. 1985 World Cup  England A Ireland 7–9
Winner 4. 1985 World Doubles Championship (3) England Steve Davis England Tony Jones
Wales Ray Reardon		 12–5
Winner 5. 1986 World Doubles Championship (4) England Steve Davis England Mike Hallett
Scotland Stephen Hendry		 12–3

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1978 Pontins Spring Open England Steve Davis 6–7

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1978 British Under-19 Championship

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Eurosport. 2010. Then and Now: Tony Meo. [Online] Yahoo! and Eurosport (Updated 6 May) Available at: http://eurosport.yahoo.com/06052010/58/tony-meo.html Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine. [Accessed 16 March 2010]. Archived at https://www.webcitation.org/5pXh2Uqhp.
  2. ↑ http://cuetracker.net/Players/Tony-Meo/Career-Total-Statistics
  3. ↑ http://cuetracker.net/Players/Tony-Meo/Career-Total-Statistics
  4. ↑ http://cuetracker.net/Players/Tony-Meo/Career-Total-Statistics
  5. ↑ ; on Wayback Machine accessed May 7, 2010
  6. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
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