Allison Fisher Blilliard Player in Billiards Snooker Directory

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In 1995 a young woman from Peacehaven, East Sussex, said goodbye to England and headed for America. Allison Fisher was 27 and the womens world snooker champion - as she had been nine times, in fact. Frustrated by the continued apathy of administrators and the media towards the womens game, Fisher decided to translate her skills to a sport, pool, and a country, the United States, where they would be more appreciated. That her departure scarcely registered comment underlined the wisdom of the move: against such indifference, there was little future for her in Britain. Ten years on, Fisher has a new identity and career. Meet the self-styled Duchess of Doom, a pool aristocrat whose domination of the blue baize surpasses that enjoyed by Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry on the green surface in the Eighties and Nineties. But while the US has opened up new ambitions, horizons and, lets not be coy about this, fortunes, an article on her personal website reveals that her tastes still remain rooted in the homeland: shell take tea over coffee, baked potato over fries, and Christmas over Thanksgiving any time. As to her favourite scent, that would be freshly cut grass. You can take the girl out of England. The Duchess of Doom seems like an inapposite moniker for one whose accent is more the English south coast than south Kensington and whose blonde, good looks radiate charm. On the other hand, this is a woman who in her first full season in pool claimed eight international titles. Two years later, that end-of-season return had risen to 13 tournament victories. Even Hendry and Davis (or indeed Fisher in her own former career) never inspired the same sense of foreboding in their opponents. Fisher now speaks of her snooker-playing days with a mixture of fondness and scorn. I was signed up by Barry Hearns Matchroom League, which was great since I was playing the top professional guys. I started off as the warm-up act, then progressed to the actual league. That meant competing against the likes of Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor and Willie Thorne. Probably, the highlight was beating Neal Foulds in one of those events. While the experience was good, the attitude of some of those guys was disappointing. It was like being in a mens drinking club. I like a beer as much as the next person, but I was also trying to further my career. Meanwhile, world titles were relentlessly accumulated. Rather than sating her ambition, however, these only confirmed the limitations of her profession. Matters reached a head at the 1995 world championship in India. It was one of the most disastrously organised events Ive been to. Here we were in a Third World country with Third World facilities being paid Third World money. I came back and told my mum I was going to the States and that I would never play snooker again. True to her word, she flew out for a tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has lived there ever since. As soon as I walked into the pool hall, I knew it felt right. I only came ninth but the tournament organiser asked me if I fancied staying on to compete in another one a week later. I won that. If anyone had asked me a year before if I fancied going to the States to make a living, I would have laughed at them. But it was the best thing I ever did. It is ironic that Fisher, who struggled to promote herself on the back of the mens snooker boom in the Eighties, is now enjoying fame and wealth in pool, while the game she left behind has failed to capitalise on its former popularity. As for the duchess title, she accepted it as a necessary step towards raising her profile. Besides, she points out, princess and queen had already been taken so it was the only one I was left with. Duchess, princess or queen, some men will never tolerate a female pool player being their superior. Fisher knows the type. Ill beat a guy and then he and his mate will put up a thousand bucks and challenge me to some contrived game. Its all rather pathetic. But Im used to it. Memember, from the age of 14, I was beating grown men in snooker halls. Of England, she says: I go back about twice a year. I miss the architecture, the scenery and, of course, you cant beat an English pub. Spoken like a true expat. If Allison Fisher were a British tennis player or athlete with the same level of achievement, she would be a national celebrity. As it is, she remains only the self-styled Duchess of Doom. It may not mean anything in Burkes Peerage but in the pool halls of America it is as good as royalty.

 

Website: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1404046,00.html