WHY ARE SNOOKER TABLES GREEN...???

ACCORDING to the Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Snooker the game was originally played on grass (?!) "so

 when the game was brought indoors and played on a table, the green cloth was used so as to make the 

playing surface look like grass."

THE MANUFACTURE of snooker tables in standard green stems from a decision in Plymouth Petty 

sessions on 8 December, 1871. Before then tables had been made in a variety of colours but were most 

often orange. In the poor lighting of the day it was difficult to see the exact movements of the ball against

 the table. This often gave rise to disagreements and disputes between players. In the case before the

 court Arthur Terry, a marine, was charged with "occasioning violent harm to one Riland Metcalfe in the

 course of a melee which ensued between them following a dispute regarding movement of the balls in a 

game of "the snooker". Terry was found guilty but allowed to leave the court unpunished because in the 

opinion of the magistrate "Terry was not of full blame, the colour of the table being in part at fault." The 

magistrate then recommended that "henceforth the cause of harmonious play would be advanced if the 

snooker tables were manufactured in standard green, giving strong contrast to the red of the ball."