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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Lifestyle
Kasra Moradi & Clare McCarthy

People are only just realising why snooker tables are green

The World Snooker Championships reached a thrilling conclusion on Monday night as Luca Brecel beat Mark Selby to claim the title in an 18-15 victory.

With the sport gaining many more fans, some people are wondering why snooker tables are green - and the answer may not be what you think.

Perhaps the most common answer is that the green cloth bears a striking resemblance to the green of a sports field, the Daily Star reports.

There is some truth to that - with snooker, pool and other cue games being direct descendants of the outdoor lawn games played hundreds of years ago by the wealthy aristocracy.

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In fact, the first ever lawn game that resembled snooker was played back in the 1340s, before being brought indoors by King Louis XI of France - allegedly the first man to own a pool table.

Billiard games gained popularity and were eventually moved indoors for convenience, with the game becoming miniaturised while the outdoor version became extinct. And so the cloth was made green as a nod to the game originally being played on green lawns.

Yet another theory suggests snooker tables were once varied in colour and were made green as a result of one particular incident.

It states orange was a common colour up until the 1870s, which caused issues due to the difficulty in seeing the exact movements of the ball against the table in certain lighting. That supposedly gave way to many disagreements between players.

The green cloth resembles snooker's origins as an outdoor game (PA)

And on one occasion during a match between Arthur Terry and Riland Metcalfe in 1871, the former was charged with "occasioning violent harm" against the latter after a dispute.

It is claimed Terry was found guilty for his role in the melee but was allowed to leave the court unpunished because the magistrate believed the colour of the table to be partly at fault.

The magistrate recommended that "henceforth the cause of harmonious play would be advanced if the snooker tables were manufactured in standard green, giving strong contrast to the red of the ball."

So there you have it - the shade of green that creates a contrast against the balls allows players to keep up with exactly where everything is, along with being less strenuous on the eyes after long periods.

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