1997 Seniors Pot Black

The 1997 Seniors Pot Black was a one-off invitational snooker tournament of the popular series Pot Black. Recording took place during early 1997 and broadcast in March. The tournament was held at Goodwood House in Chichester, Sussex. It featured 12 veteran players in a knock-out system both aged over 40. All matches until the final were one-frame shoot-outs and the final being contested over the best of three frames.

Seniors Pot Black

Tournament information
Dates	Early 1997 (broadcast 3-14 March 1997)
Venue	Goodwood House
City	Chichester
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Non-Ranking event
Highest break	Joe Johnson (57)
Final
Champion	Joe Johnson
Runner-up	Terry Griffiths
Score	2–0
← 1993 2005 →

Broadcasts were shown on teatime daily on BBC2 and the series started at 17:30 on Monday 3 March 1997.[1] David Vine presented the programme and Ted Lowe and Clive Everton were the commentators while there were more referees in this event than previously. Alan Chamberian and John Newton joined long time referee John Williams.

The players were all over 40 years of age. Some had retired from the game and some were still competing in tournaments. All the previous Pot Black champions over 40 were there including Ray Reardon, John Spencer and Eddie Charlton. Joe Johnson who never competed in any previous series of Pot Black won the title beating Terry Griffiths 2–0 to become the only champion of Seniors Pot Black.[2][3]

Main draw

Round 1

Player 1	Score	Player 2	Broadcast Date
John Spencer	47–74	Dennis Taylor	3 March 1997
Ray Reardon	80–46	Willie Thorne	4 March 1997
Perrie Mans	30–87	Joe Johnson	5 March 1997
Graham Miles	75–26	Rex Williams	6 March 1997

	Quarter-finals (7-11 March 1997)					Semi-finals (12-13 March 1997)					Final (14 March 1997)
		Doug Mountjoy	28
		Dennis Taylor	101				Dennis Taylor	6
		Eddie Charlton	31				Joe Johnson	112
		Joe Johnson	50									Joe Johnson	2
		Cliff Thorburn	33									Terry Griffiths	0
		Graham Miles	63				Graham Miles	5
		Terry Griffiths	95				Terry Griffiths	111
		Ray Reardon	40

Final

Final: Best of 3 frames. Goodwood House, Chichester, England, Early 1997 (Broadcast 14 March 1997).
Joe Johnson  England	2–0 Frame scores 85-32, 70-17	Terry Griffiths  Wales

References

1. "BBC Television – 3 March 1997 – Seniors Pot Black". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
2. "BBC Television – 14 March 1997 – Seniors Pot Black". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
3. http://cuetracker.net/tournaments/seniors-pot-black/1997/973