Tony Meo

Tony Meo
Born	4 October 1959; Tooting, London[1]
Sport country	England[1]
Nickname	The Cat; Meo, Meo[1]
Professional	1979–1997[1]
Highest ranking	10 (1984–1986)[1]
Career winnings	£621,126[2]
Highest break	147: ; 1988 Matchroom League[2]
Century breaks	54[2]
Tournament wins
Ranking	1
Non-ranking	7

Tony Meo (born 4 October 1959) is a retired English snooker player.

Career

Meo was a schoolfriend of Jimmy White in Tooting, South London, and the pair regularly skipped school to play snooker together.[3] At 17 Meo became the then youngest person known to have made a maximum break of 147. He turned professional in 1979. In 1980 he made his World Championship debut and was only defeated 10-9 by Alex Higgins.

In 1984, Meo reached the final of the Classic, facing his World Doubles partner and world number one Steve Davis. The match went to the deciding frame, and Meo only needed to clear the colours to win the title, but missed after being distracted by a shout of encouragement from a spectator. Davis went on to win the frame and match, and used his winning speech to call for an audience ban on alcohol.

With Davis, Meo won four World Doubles titles, and was also part of the victorious England team at the 1983 World Team Classic. His only ranking title came at the 1989 British Open, beating Dean Reynolds 13–6 after beginning the tournament as a 200–1 outsider. In the same year, he reached the semi-final of the World Championship, losing 16–7 to John Parrott.

In 1986, Meo was one of five players under Barry Hearn's management (along with Davis, Terry Griffiths, Willie Thorne and Dennis Taylor) who appeared on "Snooker Loopy", a hit single about the game recorded by Chas & Dave.[1]

Slipping rapidly down the rankings, Meo retired from professional snooker in 1997 and now runs a watch and jewellery shop in Hatton Garden.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	1978/ 79	1979/ 80	1980/ 81	1981/ 82	1982/ 83	1983/ 84	1984/ 85	1985/ 86	1986/ 87	1987/ 88	1988/ 89	1989/ 90	1990/ 91	1991/ 92	1992/ 93	1993/ 94	1994/ 95	1995/ 96	1996/ 97
Ranking[4]	[nb 1]	[nb 1]	[nb 2]	18	24	15	10	10	11	20	31	14	15	34	38	51	69	75	75
Ranking tournaments
Asian Classic[nb 3]	Tournament Not Held										NR	A	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
Grand Prix[nb 4]	Tournament Not Held				3R	SF	1R	3R	QF	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ
UK Championship	Non-Ranking Event						2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	LQ
German Open	Tournament Not Held																	LQ	WD
Welsh Open	Tournament Not Held													2R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
International Open[nb 5]	Not Held			NR	LQ	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	QF	1R	Not Held		1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
European Open	Tournament Not Held										1R	1R	2R	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	WD
Thailand Open[nb 6]	Tournament Not Held					Non-Ranking Event				Not Held		2R	1R	2R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	WD
British Open[nb 7]	NH	Non-Ranking Event					QF	QF	1R	1R	W	2R	3R	LQ	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	WD
World Championship	A	1R	2R	1R	QF	1R	2R	1R	1R	LQ	SF	2R	2R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Scottish Masters	Not Held			A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A
The Masters	A	A	A	SF	1R	1R	QF	1R	SF	A	A	1R	QF	WD	LQ	LQ	A	A	A
Irish Masters	A	A	A	QF	QF	QF	1R	QF	QF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A
Pontins Professional	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	SF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A
European League[nb 8]	Tournament Not Held					A	Not Held		RR	RR	RR	RR	RR	RR	A	A	A	A	A
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters[nb 9]	Non-Ranking			Tournament Not Held				Non-Ranking			LQ	Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Open[nb 10]	NH	Ranking Event									NH	2R	Tournament Not Held				Ranking		NH
Classic	NH	Non-Ranking Event				F	1R	3R	3R	2R	2R	2R	1R	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open	Tournament Not Held													3R	MR	NR	Not Held
Former non-ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters[nb 11]	F	2R	QF	Tournament Not Held				A	A	A	R	Tournament Not Held
International Open[nb 12]	Not Held			1R	Ranking Event								Not Held		Ranking Event
Pontins Brean Sands	Tournament Not Held				W	Tournament Not Held
UK Championship	A	2R	QF	SF	SF	QF	Ranking Event
British Open[nb 13]	NH	SF	LQ	RR	RR	LQ	Ranking Event
Tolly Cobbold Classic	A	A	A	QF	A	QF	Tournament Not Held
New Zealand Masters	Tournament Not Held						1R	Not Held			A	A	Tournament Not Held
Thailand Open[nb 14]	Tournament Not Held					W	RR	RR	A	Not Held		Ranking Event
Singapore Masters	Tournament Not Held						RR	RR	Tournament Not Held
Pot Black	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	Tournament Not Held					A	A	A	Not Held
Australian Masters[nb 15]	NH	A	A	W	SF	QF	SF	W	QF	A	NH	R	Tournament Not Held				A	A	NH
Tokyo Masters	Tournament Not Held									QF	Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Masters	Tournament Not Held					SF	SF	SF	QF	A	QF	NH	A	A	Tournament Not Held
Asian Classic[nb 16]	Tournament Not Held										SF	Ranking Event
Matchroom Professional Championship	Tournament Not Held								1R	1R	QF	Tournament Not Held
Norwich Union Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held										RR	A	A	Tournament Not Held
English Professional Championship	Not Held		F	Not Held			SF	W	W	QF	1R	Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay	Tournament Not Held										A	1R	A	A	A	Tournament Not Held
International League	Tournament Not Held											W	Tournament Not Held
London Masters	Tournament Not Held										A	SF	A	Tournament Not Held
Shoot-Out	Tournament Not Held												1R	Tournament Not Held
World Masters	Tournament Not Held												3R	Tournament Not Held

Performance Table Legend
LQ	lost in the qualifying draw	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)	QF	lost in the quarter-finals
SF	lost in the semi-finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament
DNQ	did not qualify for the tournament	A	did not participate in the tournament	WD	withdrew from the tournament

NH / Not Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.

He was an amateur.
New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995) and Thailand Classic (1995/1996)
The event was also called the Professional Players Tournament (1982/83–1983/1984)
The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)
The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1983/1984–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)
The event was also called the British Gold Cup (1979/1980), Yamaha Organs Trophy (1980/1981) and International Masters (1981/1982–1983/1984)
The event was also called the Professional Snooker League (1983/1984) and the Matchroom League (1986/1987–1991/1992)
The event was also called the Canadian Open (1978/1979–1980/1981)
The event was also called the Australian Masters (1979/1980–1987/1988) and Australian Open (1994/1995)
The event was also called the Canadian Open (1978/1979–1980/1981)
The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)
The event was also called the British Gold Cup (1979/1980), Yamaha Organs Trophy (1980/1981) and International Masters (1981/1982–1983/1984)
The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1983/1984–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)
The event was also called the Hong Kong Open (1989/1990) and Australian Open (1994/1995)
The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995) and Thailand Classic (1995/1996)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1984	The Classic	Steve Davis	8–9
Winner	1.	1989	British Open	Dean Reynolds	13–6

Non-ranking finals: 10 (7 titles, 3 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1978	Canadian Open	Cliff Thorburn	15–17
Runner-up	2.	1981	English Professional Championship	Steve Davis	3–9
Winner	1.	1981	Australian Masters	John Spencer	Aggregate Score
Winner	2.	1983	Pontins Brean Sands	Silvino Francisco	9–7
Winner	3.	1983	Thailand Masters	Steve Davis	2–1
Runner-up	3.	1984	Malaysian Masters	Terry Griffiths	Round-Robin
Winner	4.	1985	Australian Masters (2)	John Campbell	7–2
Winner	5.	1986	English Professional Championship	Neal Foulds	9–7
Winner	6.	1987	English Professional Championship (2)	Les Dodd	9–5
Winner	7.	1990	Matchroom International League	Jimmy White	Round-Robin

Team finals: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team/partner	Opponent(s) in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1982	World Doubles Championship	Steve Davis	Terry Griffiths & Doug Mountjoy	13–2
Winner	2.	1983	World Team Classic	England	Wales	4–2
Winner	3.	1983	World Doubles Championship (2)	Steve Davis	Tony Knowles & Jimmy White	10–2
Runner-up	1.	1985	World Cup	England A	All-Ireland	7–9
Winner	4.	1985	World Doubles Championship (3)	Steve Davis	Tony Jones & Ray Reardon	12–5
Winner	5.	1986	World Doubles Championship (4)	Steve Davis	Mike Hallett & Stephen Hendry	12–3

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1978	Pontins Spring Open	Steve Davis	6–7

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1978	British Under-19 Championship

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References

Eurosport. 2010. Then and Now: Tony Meo. [Online] Yahoo! and Eurosport (Updated 6 May) Available at: http://eurosport.yahoo.com/06052010/58/tony-meo.html Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 16 March 2010]. Archived at https://www.webcitation.org/5pXh2Uqhp.
http://cuetracker.net/Players/Tony-Meo/Career-Total-Statistics
"Player Profile: Tony Meo". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
"Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

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[AMA-5] He was an amateur.

[6] New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.

[7] The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995) and Thailand Classic (1995/1996)

[8] The event was also called the Professional Players Tournament (1982/83–1983/1984)

[9] The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)

[10] The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1983/1984–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)

[11] The event was also called the British Gold Cup (1979/1980), Yamaha Organs Trophy (1980/1981) and International Masters (1981/1982–1983/1984)

[12] The event was also called the Professional Snooker League (1983/1984) and the Matchroom League (1986/1987–1991/1992)

[13] The event was also called the Canadian Open (1978/1979–1980/1981)

[14] The event was also called the Australian Masters (1979/1980–1987/1988) and Australian Open (1994/1995)

[15] The event was also called the Canadian Open (1978/1979–1980/1981)

[16] The event was also called the Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986)

[17] The event was also called the British Gold Cup (1979/1980), Yamaha Organs Trophy (1980/1981) and International Masters (1981/1982–1983/1984)

[18] The event was also called the Thailand Masters (1983/1984–1986/1987 & 1991/1992) and the Asian Open (1989/1990–1992/1993)

[19] The event was also called the Hong Kong Open (1989/1990) and Australian Open (1994/1995)

[20] The event was also called the Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Dubai Classic (1989/90–1994/1995) and Thailand Classic (1995/1996)

[Eurosport-1] Eurosport. 2010. Then and Now: Tony Meo. [Online] Yahoo! and Eurosport (Updated 6 May) Available at: http://eurosport.yahoo.com/06052010/58/tony-meo.html Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 16 March 2010]. Archived at https://www.webcitation.org/5pXh2Uqhp.

[cuetracker.net-2] ttp://cuetracker.net/Players/Tony-Meo/Career-Total-Statistics

[3] "Player Profile: Tony Meo". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2018.

[Ranking_history-4] "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 December 2017.