Snooker Loopy

"Now old Meo, we all know's got loads of dapper suits,London-bred and he keeps his head, though he's got Italian roots,Emotional when he keeps his cool, till he reaches the final,But whether he wins he whether he don't "I always pipe me eyeballs."

So I played snooker today. Where I play’s got all these old pictures on the wall of the 80’s players in classic pose. My game was played under the watchful eyes of Tony Meo and John Virgo. Virgo was in full late 70’s pimp mode, wearing a flared suit with one hand holding a cue and the other in his pocket, holding his balls. But I call it the Tony Meo table because Tony never spent what felt like five life times being Jim Davidson’s goofy TV snooker stooge. Although when I was a kid Virgo used to make me laugh when he’d arse around during his TV matches doing impressions of the other players. Also Meo was a boyhood friend of Jimmy White’s and one of the match room boys of the 80’s snooker boom, probably giving about 75% of his winnings to Barry Hearn in the process. But still, we’ll always have snooker loopy.

Here's a link to an article from one of my favourite writers Jonathan Rendall (looking forward to his Mike Tyson book later this year) mentioning Meo and White as travelling teenage snooker hustlers. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,708304,00.html My highest break was a prodigious 15 (red, pink, red, pink, red) and tomorrow I'm setting off on my very own UK snooker hustlering tour. If you frequent a working mans club, BEWARE.