The 1989 Matchroom League was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that was played from 16 January to 14 May 1989. It featured ten players with seven from the Matchroom stable minus Dennis Taylor which he got relegated the previous year. He and fellow relegated player Joe Johnson were replaced by Alex Higgins and John Parrott who plays alongside Stephen Hendry as the non Matchroom players. Matches were played mostly around sports and leisure centres and town halls across the UK and overseas countries with matches played in Iceland, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Monaco and France.

Steve Davis topped the table and won the tournament for the third year in running. Cliff Thorburn recorded a maximum break in his match against Jimmy White at Crawley and become the first player to have made two maximum breaks in competition.

Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: Winner: £70,000 Runner-up: £30,000 3rd place: £25,000 4th place: £20,000 5th Place: £17,000 6th Place: £15,000 7th Place: £13,000 8th Place: £11,000 9th Place: £9,000 10th Place: £5,000 Highest break: £5,000 Total: £220,000

League phase

Ranking DAV PAR HEN THO WHI MEO FOU THO GRI HIG FrameW-L MatchW-D-L Pld-Pts Winner Steve Davis x 5 5 6 2 6 5 7 7 5 48–24 8–0–1 9–24 John Parrott 3 x 3 7 4 6 5 5 5 7 45–27 6–1–2 9–19 3 Stephen Hendry 3 5 x 3 6 5 4 5 6 5 42–30 6–1–2 9–19 4 Cliff Thorburn 2 1 5 x 7 4 5 5 3 5 37–35 5–1–3 9–16 5 Jimmy White 6 4 2 1 x 3 1 4 5 5 31–41 3–2–4 9–11 6 Tony Meo 2 2 3 4 5 x 4 4 5 4 33–39 2–4–3 9–10 7 Neal Foulds 3 3 4 3 7 4 x 4 2 5 35–37 2–3–4 9–9 8 Willie Thorne 1 3 3 3 4 4 4 x 5 5 32–40 2–3–4 9–9 9 Terry Griffiths 1 3 2 5 3 3 6 3 x 5 31–41 3–0–6 9–9 10 Alex Higgins 3 1 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 x 26–46 0–1–8 9–1

If points were level then match wins, followed by most frames won determined their positions. If two players had an identical record then the result in their match determined their positions. If that ended 4–4 then the player who got to four first was higher.

16 January – Dolphin Centre, Darlington John Parrott 5–3 Terry Griffiths 17 January – The Iceland Hotel, Reykjavík Steve Davis 5–3 Neal Foulds 19 January – Queensway Hall, Dunstable Cliff Thorburn 5–3 Stephen Hendry 20 January – Warwick University Willie Thorne 4–4 Jimmy White 21 January – Torbay Lesuire Centre, Paignton Tony Meo 4–4 Cliff Thorburn, Thorburn replaced Higgins 6 March –Spa Grand Hall, Scarborough Tony Meo 5–3 Terry Griffiths 7 March – Stoke Rochford Hall, near Grantham John Parrott 5–3 Willie Thorne 8 March – Hawth Theatre, Crawley Cliff Thorburn 7–1 Jimmy White 9 March – Watford Leisure Centre, Watford John Parrott 5–3 Neal Foulds 10 March – Aston Villa Sports and Leisure Centre, Birmingham Jimmy White 5–3 Alex Higgins 11 March – Central Hall, York Jimmy White 5–3 Terry Griffiths 12 March – The Dome, Kelham Hall, Newark Neal Foulds 4–4 Willie Thorne 12 March – Greenhills Sports Centre, Drogheda Cliff Thorburn 5–3 Alex Higgins 13 March – Civic Theatre, Barnsley John Parrott 6–2 Tony Meo 14 March – Swansea Leisure Centre, Swansea Steve Davis 6–2 Tony Meo 15 March – Rhydycar Leisure Centre, Merthyr Tydfil Willie Thorne 5–3 Terry Griffiths 16 March – Hereford Leisure Centre, Hereford Neal Foulds 4–4 Stephen Hendry 18 March – Perdiswell Sports Centre, Worcester Steve Davis 7–1 Willie Thorne 19 March – Fairfield Halls, Croydon Stephen Hendry 5–3 John Parrott 19 March – Ostend Casino, Ostend Neal Foulds 7–1 Jimmy White 23 March – Dundonald Ice Bowl, Dundonald, Belfast Willie Thorne 5–3 Alex Higgins 25 March – Sands Centre, Carlisle Steve Davis 5–3 Stephen Hendry 27 March – Crowtree Leisure Centre, Sunderland Steve Davis 6–2 Cliff Thorburn 27 March – Amsterdam Stephen Hendry 5–3 Tony Meo 3 April – Stantonbury Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes Neal Foulds 4–4 Tony Meo 4 April – North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax Tony Meo 5–3 Jimmy White 5 April – Howebridge Leisure Centre, Wigan Steve Davis 5–3 John Parrott 6 April – Thornaby Pavilion, Thornaby-on-Tees Neal Foulds 5–3 Alex Higgins 7 April – Mansfield Leisure Centre, Mansfield John Parrott 7–1 Alex Higgins 7 April – Turku Terry Griffiths 5–3 Cliff Thorburn 8 April – New Victoria Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme Stephen Hendry 5–3 Willie Thorne 9 April – Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate Stephen Hendry 5–3 Alex Higgins 9 April – Beach Plaza Hotel, Monte Carlo Steve Davis 7–1 Terry Griffiths 10 April – Municipal Hall, Colne Cliff Thorburn 5–3 Neal Foulds 4 May – Northcroft Recreation Centre, Newbury Alex Higgins 4–4 Tony Meo 5 May – Bath Sports and Leisure centre, Bath John Parrott 4–4 Jimmy White 6 May – Granby Halls Leisure Centre, Leicester Stephen Hendry 6–2 Jimmy White 7 May – Towngate Theatre, Poole Arts Centre, Poole Stephen Hendry 6–2 Terry Griffiths 8 May – St David's Hall, Cardiff Terry Griffiths 5–3 Alex Higgins 9 May – Meadowside Centre, Burton upon Trent Cliff Thorburn 5–3 Willie Thorne 11 May – Royal Centre, Nottingham Steve Davis 5–3 Alex Higgins 11 May – Mulhouse Tony Meo 4–4 Willie Thorne 13 May – Norwich Sports Village, Norwich Terry Griffiths 6–2 Neal Foulds 13 May – Marseille John Parrott 7–1 Cliff Thorburn 14 May – Brentwood International Centre, Brentwood Jimmy White 6–2 Steve Davis

References