Joe Swail

Joe Swail

Joe Swail at the 2011 German Masters
Born (1969-08-29) 29 August 1969
Sport country Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
Nickname The Outlaw
Professional 1991–2012, 2013–
Highest ranking 10 (2001/02)
Current ranking 60 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £1,196,249[1]
Highest break 142 (1999 China Open Qualifying)[2]
Century breaks 116[3]
Best ranking finish Runner-up (2009 Welsh Open)
Tournament wins
Minor-ranking 1
Non-ranking 6
joeswail.com

Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a professional snooker player from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Championships but only one final. Swail is renowned for playing well at the Crucible Theatre, having reached the last 16 on four further occasions. He is also a former English amateur champion and N. Ireland amateur runner-up, and has captained Northern Ireland internationally.[4] He was Irish champion in 2005.

Career

Swail has had a very mixed history in the rankings. He took just two seasons to reach the Top 32, and three to reach the top sixteen, but only remained there for one season,[5] before sliding out of the Top 32 after winning just two matches in 1997/1998. His 2000 Crucible achievement made him the second player (after Rex Williams) to return to the Top 16 in the rankings after dropping out of the Top 32 in between. He climbed to No. 10 after his 2001 semi-final, but dropped to 16–27–30–40 in the next few years, finishing with a nightmare season in 2004/2005. He then bounced back with an impressive and consistent showing in 2005/2006 that brought him back into the Top 32. He came close to the Top 16 in 2006/2007, finishing one place short at 17 despite beating Mark Williams in round 1 of the 2007 World Championships from 0–4 down[6][7] He came from 7–9 behind to beat Judd Trump 10–9 in qualifying for the 2008 World Championship.[8] Swail scored a comprehensive 10–4 victory over Stephen Lee in the first round at the Crucible, before a 12–13 defeat by Liang Wenbo in the second round, after a trademark comeback from 8–12 down, due to a bad miss on the brown in the decider. This caused him to again miss the top 16, finishing the season in 20th place.

He started 2008/2009 poorly, with four successive first-round defeats. His first victory of the season was against Liang Wenbo in qualifying for the 2008 UK Snooker Championship. He then reached his first[9] ever ranking final in his 18-year professional career at the 2009 Welsh Open.[10] Swail led the match 5–2, but never won another frame, losing 9–5 to Ali Carter.

After finishing 69th the end of the 2011/2012 season, outside of the top 64 that retain their professional status, Swail dropped of the tour after 21 years as a professional.

As an amateur, Swail played in many of the Players Tour Championship events. At the Paul Hunter Classic, Swail defeated players such as Jimmy White, Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins en route to the final, doubling the black ball in a final frame decider against Hawkins. In the final, he was defeated 1–4 by Mark Selby. This not only booked his place on the tour for the following season, but also qualified him for the PTC Finals in Galway, Ireland, where he defeated Stephen Maguire 4–3, despite being 0–3 down. He lost 0–4 in the Last 16 to fellow Northern Irishman Mark Allen. At the 2013 World Snooker Championship, Swail entered the Pre-Qualifying rounds for amateur players, he won 3 of these matches, as well as his Last 96 and Last 80 matches against Pankaj Advani, and Adam Duffy respectively. He lost his Last 64 match against Mark Joyce 7–10, picking up £4,600 for his efforts.

After regaining his professional status due to his performances in the previous season's PTC events, Swail was able to play in ranking events during the season. He lost in the Last 96 of the Wuxi Classic, 2–5 to Ken Doherty, in the qualifiers for the Australian Open, he beat Darren Cook 5–2, before losing 4–5 in the Last 96 to Pankaj Advani.

Playing style

Swail is known for his very unorthodox way of cueing up. Instead of keeping his cue-arm vertical as most players do, Swail cues up with his arm bent at least 45 degrees outwards, and his elbow towards his back. Although it appears to be extremely difficult to actually pot balls when cueing like that it has worked for Swail and provides him with an abundance of cue power.

Personal

Swail is congenitally hearing-impaired, and his brother Liam is completely deaf.[11] He has told BBC that he regards this as an advantage for snooker, as he is less likely to be distracted by crowd and other background noise. The two-table nature of the Crucible Theatre, in which cheering from the other table can often occur as a player takes a shot, may be one reason his World Championship record is especially strong.

Swail's nickname, "the Outlaw", is a pun on his name "Joe Swail" and The Outlaw Josey Wales, the 1976 film. He has a son, also called Joe,[12] and supports Liverpool F.C.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1991/
92		 1992/
93		 1993/
94		 1994/
95		 1995/
96		 1996/
97		 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17
Ranking[13][nb 1] UR[nb 2] 53 25 12 19 17 22 36 28 16 10 16 27 30 40 30 17 20 22 39 54 UR[nb 3] 100 72 64 53
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 4] Tournament Not Held MR 1R
Indian Open Tournament Not Held LQ 2R NH 2R
World Open[nb 5] LQ 1R 1R SF QF 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R SF 2R 1R 2R 3R RR QF LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ Not Held LQ
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 6] Tournament Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event 2R
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ A LQ 1R LQ LQ
European Masters[nb 7] LQ QF LQ 1R SF 1R Tournament Not Held 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R LQ NR Tournament Not Held LQ
English Open Tournament Not Held 3R
International Championship Tournament Not Held A LQ 3R LQ LQ
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held 1R
UK Championship LQ QF 1R 3R 1R 2R 2R 2R 5R 6R 2R 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ 4R 1R
Scottish Open[nb 8] NH LQ QF 1R 2R 3R 1R 1R 3R QF 2R QF 1R Tournament Not Held MR Not Held
German Masters[nb 9] Tournament Not Held 1R LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held QF LQ A LQ LQ LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR A
Welsh Open LQ SF 3R QF 1R 2R 1R SF 2R QF QF 2R 2R 2R 3R 2R 1R F LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR
Players Championship[nb 10] Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open[nb 11] Tournament Not Held NR 1R 1R 1R 1R Not Held LQ QF 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ
World Championship LQ 1R LQ 2R LQ LQ 1R LQ SF SF 1R 1R 2R LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Ranking & variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held Variant Format Event
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ A LQ LQ LQ WR 1R WR LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A A A A
Championship League Tournament Not Held RR RR RR A A A A A A A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 12] Tournament Not Held A A A A A A 1R A
Former ranking tournaments
Classic LQ Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open[nb 13] LQ MR NR Tournament Not Held
Dubai Classic[nb 14] LQ LQ 1R 1R QF LQ Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Not Held Non-ranking 1R NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 15] SF 2R QF 1R 2R LQ 1R 2R LQ 2R 2R NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
British Open LQ 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R SF 2R 3R 2R 3R 1R Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event 1R LQ LQ NH NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR 1R 2R 1R Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 16] Tournament Not held Non-ranking A LQ LQ Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 17] Not held NR Tournament Not held LQ A LQ LQ LQ NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Malta Grand Prix Not Held SF A QF A A R RR Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters A A A SF SF A A A A A 1R Ranking Event Tournament Not Held
Scottish Masters A A A A A A A A A LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held QF Ranking Event Tournament Not Held
Malta Cup Ranking Event Tournament Not Held Ranking Event RR Tournament Not Held R
World Seniors Championship A Tournament Not Held LQ A A A 3R 3R NH
Former variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held 1R 1R A A 1R SF RV
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
DQ disqualified from the tournament
NH / Not Held event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ↑ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1991/1992–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  6. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
  7. ↑ The event was called the European Open (1991/1992–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
  8. ↑ The event was called the International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  9. ↑ The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  10. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  11. ↑ The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  12. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  13. ↑ The event was called the Strachan Challenge (1992/1993–1993/1994)
  14. ↑ The event was called the Thailand Classic in 1995/1996 and the Asian Classic in 1996/1997
  15. ↑ The event was called the Asian Open (1991/1992–1992/1993) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
  16. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  17. ↑ The event was called the Australian Open (1994/1995) and Australian Masters (1995/1996)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2009 Welsh Open England Carter, AliAli Carter 5–9

Minor-ranking event finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1992 Strachan Challenge, leg 1 Netherlands Mazrocis, StefanStefan Mazrocis 9–4
Runner-up 1. 2012 Paul Hunter Classic[14] England Selby, MarkMark Selby 1–4

Non-ranking wins (5 titles)

Amateur wins (2 titles)

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Career-total Statistics for Joe Swail – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "1999 China Open – Centuries". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Profile on Sporting Life". Sporting Life. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  5. ↑ Profile on Global Snooker Centre
  6. ↑ "World Snooker Championship 2007 – Day 4". The Tablet. 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  7. ↑ "Donaldson applauds Northern Ireland Snooker Players". uuptoday.org. 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 March 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  9. ↑ The Strachan Challenge which Swail won in 1993 only carried a fraction of the points of a regular ranking tournament so is often dismissed as a ranking tournament since most of the top pros did not compete in it.
  10. ↑ BBC Sport: Snooker – Swail makes semis after epic win
  11. ↑ http://www.learntosign.org.uk/events/northernI.htm
  12. ↑ "Profile on northernshow.biz". Northern Show Biz. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  13. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  14. ↑ Swail entered the tournament as amateur, having been relegated from the main-tour the previous season, so he received no ranking points.
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