Snooker balls instead of Mozartkugeln

Thanks to extensive TV coverage, snooker on the continent is now regaining much of its popularity it had some ten years ago. So, what's going on in the snooker scene in Vienna, Austria?

Even in the year of celebrating the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous Mozartkugeln are not the only balls the Austrians love. Snooker is becoming more and more popular again - not yet as it was in the mid-nineties, but the game of snooker attracts a growing range of players again.

Main reason for this renewed popularity, is the extensive TV coverage of the WSA Main Tour. Unfortunately, the BBC is not available on cable TV in Austria, but Eurosport and the German D:SF [which broadcasted the Premier League this season] are. Okay, Austrian viewers have to live without the expert opinions of Steve Davis and John Parrott, but they don't miss the real action on the table.

Exciting snooker on TV makes many viewers want to play the game themselves. In recent times, more newcomers to the game have picked up a cue, and more experienced players enter the tournaments. Snooker re-lives in Austria!

The snooker scene is mainly concentrated in the capital Vienna, although cities like Salzburg and Graz do have a lively scene as well. Vienna hosts two snooker clubs. The first, called 15 Reds, is the more competitive one. Most of Austria's top players [like Garry Balter and Hans Jack Nirnberger] are members of 15 Reds. The other club is called SEBC, which also hosts a bunch of good players, but which also focuses on tournaments for hobby players, as well as English billiards.

Someone who wants to play snooker in Vienna, can hardly do so without visiting the Köö [pronounced like cue in German], a series of ten Billiardcafés spread over eight different districts of the city. Köö is the true home of snooker in Vienna, and is also one of the main sponsors, as Köö-owner Johann Hirschhofer provides free use of his snooker tables for officially organized tournaments by the clubs or by the ÖSBV, the Austrian snooker association. Normal table rates are about € 8,50 per hour.

Köö also hosts a range of training sessions for beginners as well as experienced players. For instance, there is currently a Basiskurs going on in which certificated trainers teach new players all the basics of the game during six weekly sessions of two hours each. A good attempt to keep the star of snooker rising in Austria in the near future.

In the next report on Austria's snooker scene, we will meet some of the top players and see what makes them tick - on and off the table.

©  text: Eric Willemsen [Vienna]