Fans find out why snooker table is green

Mark Selby and Luca Brecel are competing for the snooker world championship title, but fans are only just finding out why the baize is green.

Even before Bank Holiday Monday's conclusion of the championships, both Selby and Brecel had already made history during the tournament.

Brecel put together the biggest comeback in history, winning 11 frames in-a-row in his semi-final, to book his first ever Crucible final.

Four time winner Selby waited until the final two to write his name in the history books, putting together the first maximum break in the final, making his 147 on Sunday night.

We've all watched a bit of the snooker, even if it was when our dad had it on TV, or played it a bit at a snooker hall, and realised we were much better at pool.

But how many of us have really stopped to wonder exactly why the table we're playing on is green, and not any other colour possible?

Most would have thought it might be to do with the table also signifying the green of a playing field in many other sports, be it football or lawn bowls.

Snooker is a direct descendant of the likes of croquette, also played on grass, and billiard games were initially played outside, so the green of the snooker table is related to that.

However, there's also a second theory, that has a much more interesting past to it than just looking a bit like the grassy fields of other sports.

Selby plays a shot in the final. Image: Alamy

According to some, the tables used to be a variety of colours, and that orange was one of the most popular choices for the baize.

It was supposedly used up until the 1870s, despite the fact that the movements of the red balls could sometimes be tough to spot in certain lighting.

Indeed orange tables would surely cause more issues with the reds than the green does with the one green, just ask those who were playing during the protests during the world championships.

A disagreement between two players, Arthur Terry and Riland Metcalfe, in 1871, due to the orange table, supposedly ended up in 'violent harm,' towards Metcalf.

It's claimed Terry was found guilty but left unpunished because a magistrate blamed the table, something I do whenever I'm playing snooker.

In closing the case, the magistrate called for orange to stop being used and instead the use of green baize on all the tables, leading to far less violence...