Snooker ace told to remove table.

August 2004

It is claimed some of the members of the Jubilee Club complained that the championship table he had installed there is too difficult to play on.

The committee wrote to Matthew Stevens asking him to take it away so the snooker ace is now looking for a new venue in his home town where he can play.

His manager Brendan Parker said Matthew Stevens accepted the club's decision as it was taken at committee level.

"The secretary of the club rang me to inform me that there had been a committee meeting and it was decided Matthew had to take his table out of the club, - said Mr Parker. - Several members were struggling to play on the table because they found it far too difficult and that was the main reason behind asking him to leave.

The members generally, Matthew tells me, have always been very good with him and have always encouraged his profession and were quite proud of him when he won the UK Championship" (Matthew Stevens won his first ranking snooker tournament, the Travis Perkins UK Championship, last December in a dramatic televised final against former seven-times-world champion Stephen Hendry).

"We are now trying to look for a club in the area of Swansea and Carmarthen where we can get a similar standard of practice facility for Matthew".

"It's their club, it's the members club, they own and run the club and it was them who decided that the table was far too difficult for them to play on. The decision has been taken at a committee level and we will have to move within a given period of time".

Based on BBC Snooker materials.