The 1972 Pot Black was a professional invitational snooker tournament that was broadcast in 1972. The tournament was held between 29 December 1971 and 1 January 1972 in the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, and featured six professional players. All matches were one-frame shoot-outs.
Broadcasts were on BBC2 and began at 21:00 on Wednesday 12 April 1972. The tournament in this year was reduced to six players. There was a qualifying stage in which each competitor played three matches. The leading four then played in a round-robin group, from which the top two players qualified for the final. Alan Weeks presented the programme, with Ted Lowe as commentator and Sydney Lee as referee.
The tournament featured its first overseas player, Australia's Eddie Charlton (making his TV debut), who went on to win the tournament by beating Ray Reardon 75–43 in the final, broadcast on 26 July.
Main draw
Qualifying group
Player 1ScorePlayer 2Broadcast Date John Spencer0–1 Eddie Charlton12 April 1972 Ray Reardon1–0 John Pulman19 April 1972 Fred Davis0–1 Rex Williams26 April 1972 John Spencer0–1 Ray Reardon3 May 1972 Eddie Charlton1–0 Fred Davis10 May 1972 John Pulman0–1 Rex Williams17 May 1972 John Spencer1–0 Fred Davis24 May 1972 Ray Reardon1–0 Rex Williams31 May 1972 Eddie Charlton0–1 John Pulman7 June 1972
Round-robin
Player 1ScorePlayer 2Broadcast Date Rex Williams1–0 John Spencer14 June 1972 Eddie Charlton0–1 Ray Reardon21 June 1972 Rex Williams0–1 Ray Reardon28 June 1972 Eddie Charlton1–0 John Spencer5 July 1972 John Spencer1–0 Ray Reardon12 July 1972 Eddie Charlton1–0 Rex Williams19 July 1972
Final
References