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Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge
Champions Sup |
| Invitation Events |
Brief History - Charity
Challenge (click for Champions Cup)
This represented a new idea that
players would be linked to a specific charity and that charity and not the player would receive
the prize money. In fact players were paid “expenses” in varying amounts
according to performance which at least ensured that it was treated more
seriously than an exhibition. The International Convention centre in Birmingham proved to be a
superb venue.
A field of sixteen of the top names took part
and some £300,000 went to charity as a result of the first event which was
played in early January. The format remained the same in 1996 but in 1997 the
number of entrants was reduced to eight and that remained the size of the
field.
In 1998, after three years in Birmingham, it moved to
Derby Assembly Rooms, a venue which has staged many big snooker events in the
past. It also moved to late February at the same time.
Apart from Dennis Taylor reaching the
first final, the event was dominated by three players. Stephen Hendry won it twice, John Higgins, twice and runner up
once and Ronnie O’Sullivan who won it once and was runner up on three
occasions.
After five years the event was
dropped in favour of the Champion’s Cup.
Roll Of Honour
| Season |
Venue |
Sponsor |
Winner
|
Runner Up |
Score |
| 1994/5 |
ICC Birmingham |
Liverpool Victoria |
Stephen Hendry |
Dennis Taylor |
9-1 |
| 1995/6 |
ICC Birmingham |
Liverpool Victoria |
Ronnie O'Sullivan |
John Higgins |
9-6 |
| 1996/7 |
ICC Birmingham |
Liverpool Victoria |
Stephen Hendry |
Ronnie O'Sullivan |
9-8 |
| 1997/8 |
Assembly Rooms, Derby |
Liverpool Victoria |
John Higgins |
Ronnie O'Sullivan |
9-8 |
| 1998/9 |
Assembly Rooms, Derby |
Liverpool Victoria |
John Higgins |
Ronnie O'Sullivan |
9-4 |
Maximum Breaks
| Stephen Hendry |
1996/7 |
Final v. Ronnie O'Sullivan |
Champion’s Cup
After
five years backing the Charity Challenge, Liverpool Victoria switched their backing to the
Champion’s Cup which replaced it in the 1999/2000 season. This was designed to
be a season opener featuring all those who had won major titles the previous
season although it was sometimes necessary to draft in one or two players to
make up the numbers.
The
first one was held at The Fairfield Halls in Croydon when ten players were
split into two round robin groups with the top two in each going into the semi
finals. A novel aspect of this event was that there was a winner-take-all first
prize of £175,000 with nothing for the others.
For the
next two seasons it moved to Brighton with roughly the same format except that
there were only eight players and this time a more normal prize money structure
was adopted but the first prize of £100,000 was still nearly treble that earned
by the runner-up. Liverpool Victoria
no longer provided support and 110 Sport, then known as TSN, gave some backing
but in 2001 the event had no sponsor at all and, with ITV dropping their
snooker coverage, it was omitted from the calendar thereafter. Hendry,
O’Sullivan and John Higgins won it once each with Mark Williams being the
unlucky runner-up on each occasion.
Roll Of Honour
| Season |
Venue |
Sponsor |
Winner
|
Runner Up |
Score |
1st Prize |
| 1999/00 |
Fairfield Halls, Croydon |
Liverpool Victoria |
Stephen Hendry |
Mark J. Williams |
7-5 |
£175,000* |
| 2000/1 |
Brighton Centre |
TSN |
Ronnie O'Sullivan |
Mark J. Williams |
7-5 |
£100,000 |
| 2001/2 |
Brighton Centre |
none |
John Higgins |
Mark J. Williams |
7-4 |
£100,000 |
*"winner takes all"
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