For many people, playing and teaching snooker sounds like a dream job. Well one Phibsborough man has turned his passion into a career by becoming a snooker coach.
Fin Ruane of CrossGuns Snooker Club is one of only two people working as snooker coach in Ireland. He is a coach with the World Professional Snooker Coaches and there are currently only 54 professional coaches in the entire world.
Fin told Dublin Live: “I used to play myself professionally, I gave it up to become a coach two years ago. There’s only 54 in the world and I’m one of them, there’s only two in Ireland and I’m one of them.”
“You can start at any age. I coach a ten-year-old - he has a small table at home and his dad wanted to bring him in, as long as you can reach the table you can start playing," says Fin.
Fin was born and raised in Dublin but moved over to the UK to pursue snooker on a professional level. He moved home back in the '90s and took over the snooker club from his father. He now coaches people of all ages near the Royal Canal.
CrossGuns Snooker Club opened on Easter Sunday 1958 with the simple intention to create a snooker club with a welcoming atmosphere for locals.
“My grandfather built it, there were cottages here. He bought them back in 1958 and he knocked them down. It was £1000 to buy the land and put in the tables. That would’ve been a lot back then," says Fin.
“My father took it over and I was in the UK. Nobody else could run the place so I took it over in 1992 and I’ve been here since. It’ll be 64 years old this year. It’s the oldest snooker club in Ireland, the UK and in mainland Europe."
“I went onto the Guinness World Records to see if it is the oldest snooker club in the world but there’s no way of proving that.
The club welcomes all sorts of characters, from college students to regulars.
“There’s not many snooker clubs in Dublin so we get people coming in from Lucan, Malahide, Swords and all these suburbs," says Fin.
Fin revealed the joys of running his own snooker club, saying he loves to see both locals and strangers come through the doors.
“You wouldn’t know who would walk in the door. I love it especially at Christmas when people come in from abroad. There’s cues here from 60 years. I’d never clear them out, there could be a fella who could look for his cue 30 years after he left it here and it’d be here.
“Everyone is made to feel welcome, you’d chat, have a cup of tea so it’s a great club”.
Fin has been obsessed with snooker ever since he was young, and has lots of found memories spending time at the snooker club as a boy.
“I came here when I was eight or nine and I was just memorised. When I was a kid this place would be packed, but today there’s a lot more to do, they’re on their phones, that’s just the way it is, meanwhile I’m old school," says Fin.
The Fin Ruane Snooker Academy has been endorsed by Irish snooker star Ken Doherty who says Fin is "without a doubt one of the games finest couches."
You can find out more about Fin's business by visiting his website here.
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