Snooker: Rebel trio survive vote

THE LAST act of the game's civil war was played out in Preston yesterday afternoon with a final resounding victory for the game's three rebels.

The former world champions Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor, and Jason Ferguson, survived a vote of no confidence at a two-hour long extraordinary general meeting of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The trio had been campaigning against the former WPBSA chairman, Rex Williams, who resigned last Friday along with another director, Bob Close.

Despite that development, the EGM still had to take place. But there was no sting in the tail for the trio, who had campaigned to remove Williams from office since the shock dismissal last month of the chief executive, Peter Middleton.

The motion to remove Taylor was defeated 48 votes to 15, 49-14 in Davis' favour, with Ferguson, the least well-known of the threesome, having only one vote cast against him.

The dismissals of Williams and Close were also approved, as players twice voted 50-13 against them staying in office.

The first major tournament to be staged since the outbreak of peace in the game, the Regal Masters, begins in Motherwell today with Stephen Hendry aiming to claim his third title this season. The Scot has already emerged victorious from the Champions Cup in Croydon and the British Open in Plymouth.