Women's Billiards Association

The Women's Billiards Association, founded in 1931 and based in London, United Kingdom, was the governing body for women's English billiards and snooker, and organised the Women's Professional Billiards Championship and Women's Professional Snooker Championship.

Women's Billiards Association
Teresa Billington Greig (c. 1910), chair of Women's Billiards Association foundation meeting
SportAmateur and professional women's Snooker and Billiards
JurisdictionUK and Ireland
AbbreviationWBA
Founded1931
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Replaced1976

Formation

The Women's Billiards Association (WBA) was founded on 13 May 1931 at the Women's Automobile and Sports Association, Buckingham Palace Gardens, London, with the objective of controlling the amateur and professional championships for women, and promoting other tournaments and competitions. Viscountess Elibank was appointed president, Mrs Longworth was Chairman, and Teresa Billington-Greig, who had chaired this initial meeting, became acting honorary secretary. Miss Marx of Women's Sports and Automobile Association became honorary treasurer. Other council members appointed included Mrs Eddowes, runner-up in the previous year's amateur championship, Thelma Carpenter, and Lady Constance Childe-Pemberton.[1][2][3][4]

The jurisdiction of the WBA covered the United Kingdom and Ireland.[5]

Activities

Control of the professional billiards and snooker tournaments for women, and the trophies for the previous events run by Burroughes & Watts Ltd, were handed over to the Association. A subcommittee including four professional players, Joyce Gardner, Ruth Harrison, Margaret Lennan and Eva Collins, was appointed to organise the professional championships. The Association provided Thelma Carpenter with a certificate for having made a break of 59.[2][6] The Association organised the Amateur and Professional championships in snooker and billiards, girls' championships, inter-club competitions, and regional competitions.[7]

The Association encouraged the formation of "Billiards Circles," local groups of players, that would become affiliated. Some of the places where Billiards Circles were established were Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff, Norwich, Torquay and Bournemouth.[8][9]

On 14 December 1933, the WBA Council announced that any players entering open events not organised or sanctioned by the WBA would be prohibited from entering WBA competitions, that no permissions would be granted where tournaments differentiated between men and women, and that any players accepting payment would lose their amateur status.[10] The following year, leading player Thelma Carpenter resigned from the Association, as she was not granted permission to play in the Junior Amateur Championship organised by The Billiards Player magazine. She claimed that the sport would not thrive under the Association's control.[11][12]

Relationship with the Billiards Association and Control Council

In 1933 John C. Bissett, Chairman of the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC) praised the work of the Women's Billiards Association, and said that the BA&CC had "no desire to interfere" in the running of the woman's game.[13]

In 1935, the Association affiliated to the BA&CC[14] and on 10 June 1936, the Billiards Association and Control Council agreed to take over management of the WBA.[15] Lord Lonsdale, president of the BA&CC, also became president of the WBA.[16]

Bisset, chairman of the BA&CC, was elected chairman of the WBA in 1939, with Miss G. M. Burton as the new vice-chairman.[17] Bisset resigned as Chairman in 1948, noted at the WBA Annual General Meeting held on 13 December that year, which started twenty minutes late due to the late arrival of the Honorary Secretary, Joy White. The meeting re-elected the absent film star Valerie Hobson as President, but did not attract enough candidates to fill all the vacancies on its Council.[18]

The 1950 Women's Professional Billiards Championship and Women's Professional Snooker Championship were the last professional championships to be organised by the WBA.[19][20]

Successor organisations

The Women's Billiards & Snooker Association (WBSA) was formed in 1976, and appointed Wally West as Secretary 1978.[21][22] However, although the WBSA revived the world snooker championship, within a few years it had lost control of the game to the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association (WLBSA), founded in 1981 by Mandy Fisher.[19][23][24][25]

The Women's Professional Billiards Championship has not been held since 1950. The Women's Amateur Billiards Championship was not held between 1979 and its revival by the WLBSA in 1998.[26]

The WLBSA was restructured as a subsidiary of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association in 2015, and became a full member of the World Snooker Federation in 2017.[27] In November 2018 the WLBSA was renamed, as World Women's Snooker,[28] and is responsible for women's snooker and billiards and the women's ranking list.[29]

References
  1. "Proposed Formation of Women's Association". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. p.8. 12 May 1931 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. "Women's Billiards. Association Formed to Control the Championships". Lancashire Evening Post. p.10. 1 October 1931 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. "(Untitled Article)". Staffordshire Sentinel. p.8. 21 May 1931 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. "Women's Billiard Association formed". The Billiard Player. No. June 1931). p. 2.
  5. "(Untitled Article)". Belfast News-Letter. p.14. 27 January 1934 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. "(Untitled Article)". Uxbridge & West Drayton Gazette. p.18. 18 September 1931 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. "Billiard for Women: Centres All Over The Country Association's Work". The Observer. p.15. 23 December 1934 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 23 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. "Fair Cueists. Formation of Women's Billiards Association". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. p.7. 1 October 1931 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. "(Untitled Article)". Uxbridge & West Drayton Gazette. p.18. 18 September 1931 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. "Womens' Billiards. Rules Controlling Championship Entries". Leeds Mercury. p.11. 15 December 1933 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. "Woman Champion". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette. p.9. 6 February 1934 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  12. "Miss Thelma Carpenter Resigns from Womens' Billiards Association". Bournemouth Graphic. p.13. 10 February 1934 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. "No interference". Gloucestershire Echo. p.5. 30 November 1933 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. "Certificates for records". Londonderry Sentinel. p.6. 8 October 1935 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  15. "World's Snooker Record". Aberdeen Press and Journal. p.4. 11 June 1936 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  16. "Personalis". Grantham Journal. p.11. 18 July 1936 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  17. "(Untitled Article)". Liverpool Daily Post. 17 May 1939 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  18. "The Women who missed their cue". Daily Mirror. p.7. 14 December 1948 – via The British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 21 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  19. Everton, Clive (1985). Guinness Snooker – The Records. Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 154–156. ISBN 0851124488.
  20. "World Ladies Billiards Champions". World Billiards. 22 June 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  21. Jennifer Hargreaves (11 September 2002). Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women's Sport. Routledge. pp. 427–. ISBN 1-134-91276-5.
  22. Martin Polley (11 September 2002). Moving the Goalposts: A History of Sport and Society in Britain since 1945. Routledge. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-1-134-76689-5.
  23. Mike Shamos; Michael Ian Shamos (2000). The Complete Book of Billiards. Gramercy Books. ISBN 978-0-517-20869-4.
  24. Everton, Clive (25 July 1978). "The Leeds mystery still lingers". The Guardian. p.19 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 23 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  25. Everton, Clive (24 October 1997). "Young Stevens silences Parrott". The Guardian. B11 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer. Retrieved 23 August 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  26. "World Ladies Billiards Champions". World Billiards. 22 June 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  27. "About Us". World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  28. Huart, Matt (28 November 2018). "World Ladies Billiards and Snooker now known as World Women's Snooker". World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  29. "Women's Snooker". World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
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