scotpro

Scottish Professional Championship

Non Ranking Event

Brief History of the Scottish Professional Championship

Before World War two and after,

Scotland

’s only professional of note was Walter Donaldson who won the world title twice. He had taken on all comers for the Scottish title but after him there were no championships as there were no professionals.

That changed in 1979 when Eddie Sinclair joined the pro ranks and he set up a match against Chris Ross for the title in 1980. Player and promoter, Bert Demarco took up he idea and as, by 1981, six more Scots had turned professional, an eight-man knockout event was staged at Kildrum which was won by Ian Black. Sponsorship was obtained in 1982 when Sinclair regained the title at Dunfermline but the event had to proceed without backing in 1983. Murdo Maclead beat Sinclair at Glasgow University. Without financial support there was no event in 1984.

In 1985 the WPBSA gave backing to these national championships in the form of a subsidy of £1,000 per man and the event was revived at Edinburgh’s Marco’s Club, owned by Bert Demarco, and Macleod beat Sinclair again in the final. There were still just eight players but for the 1985/86 season, a new 16 year-old face appeared in the professional ranks. His name was Stephen Hendry and in the Scottish Professional that season he came through to win at his first attempt. He also won in 1987 and 1988 but then decided there was no competition and did not compete in 1989. John Rea won that year and made a 147 maximum break into the bargain.

The ending of WPBSA support in 1990 sounded the death knell for this event. It is ironic that within a year or two Scotland had not one but three top 16 players and dozens more coming through. They have become a major force in the game winning the World Cup in 1996 and the Nations Cup in 2001.

After a gap of 22 years the championship was revived in 2011 eith all the top players taking part.

Roll Of Honour

Year	Venue	Sponsor	Winner	Runner Up	Score	1st Prize
1980	information unavailable	none	Eddie Sinclair	Chris Ross	11-6	n/a
1981	Cubernauld Theatre	none	Ian Black	Matt Gibson	11-7	n/a
1982	Dunfermline	Tartan Bitter/Daily Record	Eddie Sinclair	Ian Black	11-7	£1,000
1983	Glasgow University	none	Murdo MacLeod	Eddie Sinclair	11-9	£2,000
1984	not held	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
1985	Marco's Leisure Centre, Edinburgh	none	Murdo MacLeod	Eddie Sinclair	11-2	n/a
1986	Marco's Leisure Centre, Edinburgh	Canada Dry	Stephen Hendry	Matt Gibson	10-5	£4,000
1987	Steve Davis Club, Glasgow	People's Cars	Stephen Hendry	Jim Donnelly	10-7	£4,000
1988	Marco's Leisure Centre, Edinburgh	Swish	Stephen Hendry	Murdo MacLeod	10-4	£9,000
1989	Marco's Leisure Centre, Edinburgh	none	John Rea	Murdo MacLeod	9-7	£2,000
2011	Lucky Break Club, Clydebank	none	John Higgins	Anthony McGill	6-1	£3,000

Maximum Breaks

John Rea

1989

Quarter Final v. Ian Black