The World Matchplay professional non-ranking

Snooker world rankings

The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. They are maintained by the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association...

 snooker

Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...

 tournament was established in 1952 as an alternative to the World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...

 and last held in 1992.

History

The Professional Matchplay Championship was set up in 1952 as an alternative to the Billiards Association and Control Council/World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, often abbreviated to the WPBSA, founded in 1968 and based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards...

 professional World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...

 by some of the professional players following a dispute with the governing body. Fred Davis won the first five editions of the tournament, but didn't participate in 1957. The 1957 event was won by John Pulman

John Pulman

John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who dominated the game throughout the 1960s....

. Following a decline in the popularity of snooker the event was discontinued after 1957.

A one-off event called World Professional Match-Play Championship was staged in 1976. Eddie Charlton

Eddie Charlton

Edward Francis Charlton AM was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title...

 promoted the event in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 with WPBSA approval. The uninformed media had the public believing Charlton had won the World Professional Championship after he beat Ray Reardon

Ray Reardon

Ray Reardon, MBE is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade...

 31–24 in the final.

In 1988 Barry Hearn

Barry Hearn

Barry Hearn is an English sporting events promoter, and the founder and chairman of promotions company Matchroom Sport. He is currently the chairman of Leyton Orient F.C., and the Professional Darts Corporation and was also until July 2010 chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker...

 resurrected the event as an invitational tournament, called World Matchplay, for the provisional top 12 players, and it ran for five years. The event was held at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood

Brentwood, Essex

Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the east of England. It is located in the London commuter belt, 20 miles east north-east of Charing Cross in London, and near the M25 motorway....

 between 1988 and 1990, before moving to the The Dome

The Dome Leisure Centre

The Dome Leisure Centre is an arena and leisure centre in Doncaster, England, informally known as The Dome or Doncaster Dome. It has a swimming complex, bars, a sports arena that is also used as an event venue and the United Kingdom's first ever split level ice skating rink.The Dome as a concept...

, Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, for the last two years. The 1988 event was the first snooker tournament to offer a top prize of £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

100,000.

It was sponsored by Everest in 1988 and 1989, and Coalite from 1990–1992. It was televised between 1988 and 1992 by ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 as a replacement for the World Doubles Championship.

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score	Season
Professional Matchplay Championship
1952	Fred Davis	Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (snooker player) Walter Donaldson was a Scottish professional snooker player.He turned professional at age 16, in 1923. He contested many world championships, finally achieving victory in 1947 after Joe Davis had retired from the tournament, and again in 1950...	38–35	n/a
1953	Fred Davis	Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (snooker player) Walter Donaldson was a Scottish professional snooker player.He turned professional at age 16, in 1923. He contested many world championships, finally achieving victory in 1947 after Joe Davis had retired from the tournament, and again in 1950...	37–34	n/a
1954	Fred Davis	Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (snooker player) Walter Donaldson was a Scottish professional snooker player.He turned professional at age 16, in 1923. He contested many world championships, finally achieving victory in 1947 after Joe Davis had retired from the tournament, and again in 1950...	39–21	n/a
1955	Fred Davis	John Pulman John Pulman John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who dominated the game throughout the 1960s....	37–34	n/a
1956	Fred Davis	John Pulman John Pulman John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who dominated the game throughout the 1960s....	38–35	n/a
1957	John Pulman John Pulman John Pulman was an English professional snooker player who dominated the game throughout the 1960s....	Jackie Rea Jackie Rea Jack 'Jackie' Rea is a retired snooker player from Northern Ireland.Rea was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland...	39–34	n/a
World Professional Match-Play Championship
1976 1976 World Professional Match-Play Championship The 1976 World Professional Match-Play Championship professional snooker tournament was held in Melbourne, Australia. The event was promoted by Eddie Charlton.Charlton won in the final 31–24 against Ray Reardon.-Main draw:...	Eddie Charlton Eddie Charlton Edward Francis Charlton AM was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title...	Ray Reardon Ray Reardon Ray Reardon, MBE is a retired Welsh snooker player. He dominated the sport in the 1970s, winning six World Championships in that decade...	31–24	n/a
World Matchplay
1988	Steve Davis Steve Davis Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...	John Parrott John Parrott John Parrott MBE is an English professional snooker player and TV personality.He won the World Snooker Championship in 1991, defeating Jimmy White in the final. Two years earlier he had lost 3–18 to Steve Davis, the heaviest final defeat in modern times...	9–5	1988/89 Snooker season 1988/1989 The snooker season 1988/1989 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1988 and 1989. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
1989	Jimmy White Jimmy White James Warren "Jimmy" White MBE is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed the "Whirlwind" and popularly referred to as the "People's Champion", White is a multiple World Championship finalist renowned for losing each of the six finals he contested.White's extensive list of achievements,...	John Parrott John Parrott John Parrott MBE is an English professional snooker player and TV personality.He won the World Snooker Championship in 1991, defeating Jimmy White in the final. Two years earlier he had lost 3–18 to Steve Davis, the heaviest final defeat in modern times...	18–9	1989/90 Snooker season 1989/1990 The snooker season 1989/1990 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1989 and 1990. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
1990	Jimmy White Jimmy White James Warren "Jimmy" White MBE is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed the "Whirlwind" and popularly referred to as the "People's Champion", White is a multiple World Championship finalist renowned for losing each of the six finals he contested.White's extensive list of achievements,...	Stephen Hendry Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at the age of 21. He has won the World Championship a record seven times and was snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998, and again...	18–9	1990/91
1991	Gary Wilkinson	Steve Davis Steve Davis Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...	18–11	1991/92
1992	James Wattana James Wattana James Wattana is a Thai professional snooker player.-Career:...	Steve Davis Steve Davis Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...	9–4	1992/93 Snooker season 1992/1993 The snooker season 1992/1993 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1992 and 1993. The following table outlines the results for ranking, minor-ranking and the invitational events.-Calendar:...