Smashed senior snooker players start to go potty

Certain sports throw up stark images of drunken revelry and out-of-control bright, young stars celebrating their high-octane success.

But the Diary can reveal this is now spreading to some of the country’s most senior sportsmen – senior snooker stars to be precise.

The inaugural Seniors Snooker tournament witnessed the re-emergence of some of the sport’s finest, and oldest, talents – stars of yesteryear such as Doug Mountjoy, John Virgo and Willie Thorn.

Yet it seems the prestigious Royal Automobile Club, of London’s Pall Mall, saw more than its fair share of reds and pinks being potted – red wines and pink gins that is, not to mention plenty of the black stuff – as the game’s finest caught up on lost drinking time.

As one witness says: “These guys don’t get out that much any more, so they have to make the most of it.”

And bully for them. Sadly, the wildest one of the lot – Steve Davis – was otherwise engaged.