1979 Pot Black


The 1979 Pot Black was a professional invitational snooker tournament, which was held in the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. 8 players were competing in 2 four player groups. All matches were one-frame shoot-outs except the final which was played in the best of 3 frames on a one-hour programme.
Broadcasts were on BBC2 and started at 21:00 on Friday 29 December 1978 Alan Weeks presented the programme with Ted Lowe as commentator and Sydney Lee as referee.
This tournament had the TV debut of Steve Davis who played veteran namesake Fred Davis on the programme transmitted 19 January and won the frame 83-23 but failed to reach the semi-finals. The first Pot Black champion Ray Reardon regained the title 10 years after his first beating reigning champion Doug Mountjoy 2–1.

Main draw

Group 1

Player 1ScorePlayer 2Broadcast Date
Ray Reardon1–0 John Spencer29 December 1978
Eddie Charlton0–1 Graham Miles12 January 1979
Ray Reardon1–0 Eddie Charlton26 January 1979
John Spencer0–1 Graham Miles9 February 1979
Ray Reardon0–1 Graham Miles23 February 1979
John Spencer0–1 Eddie Charlton9 March 1979

Group 2

Player 1ScorePlayer 2Broadcast Date
Doug Mountjoy0–1 Perrie Mans5 January 1979
Fred Davis0–1 Steve Davis19 January 1979
Perrie Mans1–0 Fred Davis2 February 1979
Doug Mountjoy1–0 Steve Davis16 February 1979
Perrie Mans1–0 Steve Davis2 March 1979
Doug Mountjoy1–0 Fred Davis16 March 1979

Knockout stage