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Whatever happened to: Peter Ebdon

Postby Pink Ball

As part of a new series, I'll be looking back at the careers of journeymen professionals who, for one day and one day only, went sunbathing in the world of snooker fame. In this week's edition, 2002 World Champion Peter Ebdon.

A quick scan through Peter Ebdon's CV will tell you his career was among the most unusual since the game's invention in Morocco in the 1800s.

He was a nobody; then he was champion of the world. And just as quickly, he returned to anonymity.

Ebdon was born in Newcastle with one arm and one leg in May 1968 -- a heatbreak for any boy, but keener still for one who fell in love with the game while watching the late Terry Griffiths claim the world title in 1981.

He was unusually gritty from the get-go. Born into poverty, his family was unable to afford a car or a bus fare to bring him into school. Neighbouring families looked down on the Ebdons and refused to give the ponytailed younster a lift to Gateshead Technical five miles away. But each morning, he would pack his school bag and skip to school on his trusty right leg.

His luck turned when he won a raffle for an arm and a leg in school -- he was the only entrant as all the other kids had two arms and two legs. These new limbs were installed on-site, and now Ebdon could pursue snooker at last.

After leaving school and spending four years toiling, he hit his first half-century aged 14 on a homemade snooker table. What he didn't know was that he had measured out the size of the table incorrectly and had actually made the break on a 15-foot table; he was doing relatively well for his age.

He entered a few amateur tournaments locally, and he eventually stepped up to the national pro-am circuit, often walking to London with a brush handle to take part. He fared well enough to go pro in 1994, but he was unprepared for the big leagues.

Over the next eight years, Ebdon never made it beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event. He did qualify for the Crucible twice but fell to heavy first-round defeats against Tony Drago (3-10) and an ageing Dennis Taylor (1-10).

The Geordie qualified for the third time in 2002 -- the year his life turned around.

Ebdon fluked victories over Michael Judge, Joe Perry and Anthony Hamilton, before lady luck shone again as he accidently cut in a tight pink in the penultimate frame against Matthew Stevens when trying to play safe. He duly won the decider, but his match against Stephen Hendry would serve as little more than a coronation of 'Hendry the Eighth', experts felt.

But it was just meant to be Ebdon's year. Hendry infamously showed up to the final hungover and wearing a party hat, and even brought a laptop with him to watch TV while Ebdon was at the table. Before he knew it, Ebdon had inexplicably forced a decider, and a frustrated Hendry walked out of the final frame after breaking down when on course for a maximum.

"Peter Evans, you are the champion of the world," a stunned and misinformed Willie Thorne told the snooker public that night.

To date, it remains Ebdon's only ranking title. He qualified for the semi-finals of the 2009 Welsh Open and the 2012 PTC Albania, but other than that, little is known about the man who ruled the world in 2002. His title defence in 2003 summed up his career, in many ways: a meek 4-10 defeat to 1994 champion Jimmy White.

It is not known where Ebdon is currently ranked in the world. Clive Everton estimates that he must have fallen off tour some time after 2015. Some say he became a loony pro-Brexit conspiracy theorist, but nobody can read his private Twitter page to confirm or deny this. He has four followers, all robots.

He remains a mystery.

Image
Above: A rare photograph of what is thought to be Peter Ebdon.
Last edited by Pink Ball on 04 Jul 2020, edited 4 times in total.

Re: Whatever happened to: Peter Ebdon

Postby D4P

"Some say he became a loony pro-Brexit conspiracy theorist"

Others speculate that he got a hair transplant and is playing snooker again under the pseudonym "Ian Burns".

Re: Whatever happened to: Peter Ebdon

Postby vodkadiet1

Wonderfully accurate piece from Pink Ball. The only thing that surprised me was that I had always thought he hailed from Newcastle in New South Wales. I regularly detected an Aussie twang when he toured as part of a 'Crowded House' tribute act through the Aussie bars of Britain and Ireland in the early 2010s. I used to see him regularly in Earl's Court swigging a can of Castlemaine around lunchtime. "G'day mate" he used to say as I rushed by him (I am nervous of those corks swinging from headgear). I got a bad eye injury at The Redback bar in Acton in the late 90s from John Strop Cornell when he swung round quickly when one of his mates shouted "Hey Strop! Get us a 'Bloody Mary' for The 'Sheila'.

Other than that it is a wonderfully inciteful piece of literature from Snooker Island's number one snooker author.

Re: Whatever happened to: Peter Ebdon

Postby Pink Ball

vodkadiet1 wrote:Wonderfully accurate piece from Pink Ball. The only thing that surprised me was that I had always thought he hailed from Newcastle in New South Wales. I regularly detected an Aussie twang when he toured as part of a 'Crowded House' tribute act through the Aussie bars of Britain and Ireland in the early 2010s. I used to see him regularly in Earl's Court swigging a can of Castlemaine around lunchtime. "G'day mate" he used to say as I rushed by him (I am nervous of those corks swinging from headgear). I got a bad eye injury at The Redback bar in Acton in the late 90s from John Strop Cornell when he swung round quickly when one of his mates shouted "Hey Strop! Get us a 'Bloody Mary' for The 'Sheila'.

No, that's bull.

Re: Whatever happened to: Peter Ebdon

Postby Juddernaut88

Pink Ball wrote:
SnookerEd25 wrote:rofl :clap:

Love this. I look forward to the next instalment of 'Mr. Pink Ball Investigates'...

Thank you.

Next week: Mark Williams and Mark J Williams -- the same person?


I used to love the mc that always said Mark J Williams. It is a shame no one says his name like that anymore.