ROBERTS, BILLIARD CHAMPION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 126, 15 September 1876, Page 3

ROBERTS, BILLIARD CHAMPION.

The following interesting facta about raited from a Melbourne contemporary, will dottbttess be of interest at tho present moment :- Roberta has not only surpassed hi* ovm father, the billiard champion of England for twenty-one years, hat thrown into the buckgreund the great Cools, am! for two yoara no-- one has been able to cope with W claim upon the ISO guinea cnp which constitutes the championship trophy, ami which he must held for five years before lio car* call it hi* own. Although Roberta baa risen to such eroiuunce in his vacation, he is stilt a very young man—not yet thirty- years oUI. He was born in 1847, at &\rdwtefc, Manchester, liis fattier being that Roberta wh» visited Melbourne twelve years- agt-v. when he wa» iiv the prime of the wonderful powers which bad enabled him to completely revolutionise billiards—much in the same way aa whist has also- been revolutionised—' Midi raised it from a game of comparatively indifferent pretensions into one of llvst-rate- science. This brought into the world,, and the elder Roberts keeping an intensive billiard! saloon, it was no> wonder that the son acquired exceptional slriit with his cue at a very early age. When lie was eleven years oM he played a prtbtte match at the George Hotel, Liverpool, unit his performance was deemed surprising, flic* father prophesied fr<-nw tbu nvst that his sot* wonM beat everybody ulho. The lad was not, however, allowed to sacrifice his education tt* billiards, and oonse([uently it was not uutrt IMS tliat he uKiun- appeared in pttolte. He then, being ■nineteen years old, played in a great nanilium?; (for a service of plate) at St. Jamest* 66u&uLon<&m» with sixteen of the best )>l«fw3sin - England, including Coot:. .Ruitofto (senior) alone started at scratch, but lie waa unsuccessful!, and his son carried off the prise. Altogether the latter hiis played in seven great handicaps, and iVoa the four largest of tlieni/. Paring the iiuxt few years he was more or less asaf»uiiited with his father at the SSavitte Hotwe moms, Leicester Square, London, and there it was that he made that extraordinary and rapid improvement in play which oventualty raised hint to his, present preeminence, and also enabled! him, while taking hid father's place, to avenge fit* defeat.

lb was it* February, 1870, that the veteran fvofiierts lost his championship, ffnd hey earlier in life, met with player* »l)l(i ti<» copy with htm, instead of Wing ((icifo ■peinceptt, owning fit* rival Bear his Uirono, tie would perhaps have improved mxa his own play, and still kept the lead, but ho was past the prime of ttfc'e, and W. CooTe, a young player of extraordinary merit,, managed to defeat him.. Tlir mutch excited great attention, and the Pl'bco of Wales and his suite, with » ittwd of notabilities among the * l upper tm," were present.. The play was- niagimicunl In a gam© 1,260 up, the " undent'" was tfie first to score 1,600, Imt his. opponent nevertheless, won oy 117 points. It is well to remark parenthetically that these scores included nothng from " spot " strokes, which are by an tituved baulk and spot, and pockets eonMtaraMy narrowed at the jaws, pondered impossible on *' championship" tables. Cook's, triumph, however, lasted but a Httkj white, £hv young .Roberts eanic botdty forward to sustain the family name-. Wieuout toss of time he challenged the new ohampion, and defeated hita by 4£?o points, ni' thereabouts, in a 1,600 up game. I>wriiijt th© following year or tw»> the younger Roberts had in championship games rather poop sneuess, but in 187'4 he swctuedicd in iigaitt wresting Cook's laurels from Win, wid he can now boost that out of the eight Warn he has played for the championship to lias won four.