Known for his break building, Anthony ‘The Sheriff of Pottingham’ Hamilton has made over two hundred competitive century breaks in his career. Currently ranked 42nd in the world, we chatted to him about having one of the silliest careers out there...
What do you get up to during and between tournaments?
You have an hour or two on the practice table in the venue, get some food down you, chill out, get mentally ready and wait for your slot. It’s just like a day’s work but a bit of a weird one. In the old days I’d do six hours a day, six days a week. Now I have a chronic neck condition so I do a lot less, but when I practice I try and make it as productive as possible. I do a couple of hours at my local club and I spend all day there. It’s a great club to be at and it feels like I’ve done a full day’s work when I actually only do about two hours of graft. Most players play every day coming up to tournaments to make sure they’re sharp. If you were a family man you wouldn’t get to see your kids that much, I’m not sure how some of those marriages are surviving... Maybe it’s because their husbands are away more.
You’ve been playing the Welsh Open - what’s the atmosphere like there?
The competition is all saved for when you’re at the match table. Every other moment we have a laugh to make the day go quicker and when you get your suit on, it’s business time - everyone’s an enemy and you start blanking each other. We’re on the same tour, the same plane, the same hotel. It’d be too much stress to be at each other’s throats all the time. As soon as you finish on the table, you’re back out having a beer and having a laugh again.
How did you develop to a professional standard?
I got a mentor when I was about fifteen or sixteen, an old guy called Frank Callan who taught Steve Davis and John Parrott. Even before then you knew you were gonna be a good player if you had aptitude for this daft sport. I could lock myself in a room for eight hours and wanna be in there for sixteen, the only reason I’d stop was to go to bed. When you find something you’re good at, sometimes you become totally obsessed with it and want to perfect it. If you’ve done that up until the age of twenty, you’ll be a good player by then.
When did you reckon you could make a career out of it?
We used to play in “Pro-Ams” where only pros and amateurs could enter. It was all cash in hand, £1,000 for the winner. I knew I was proper when I won my first one of them, with players like Ronnie, Ebdon and Dave Harold. When I got to sixteen, I told me dad that I didn’t wanna do A-Levels and I wanted to play snooker full time. He said “And you should.” I was shocked. Half the snooker players are the same, they leave school, play full time and don’t do anything else until they retire. It’s silly and very weird.
What are the strongest and weakest points of your game?
Break building is probably my strength and long potting would be my weakness alongside being old and knackered.
Where did “Sheriff of Pottingham” come from?
There was a guy called Alan Hughes who used to do the speech before players came into the arena and he started calling me the Robin Hood of snooker. But because the potting ‘em thing rhymed with Nottingham, that was it. I’d rather be the one nicking from the rich to give to the poor.
A friend reckons he saw you at a techno rave in Marcus Garvey back in the day…
They would have done. I was a full raver back in the day, out every Friday, every Saturday. I used to listen to techno and garage which was a different class back then. Nottingham was the best nightclub city in the country bar London. You would work in the week, then you were out. The rest of what happened, you can’t publish. Just enjoy yourself while you’ve got the chance.
Is there anything in particular you miss about Nottingham now that you’re living in London?
I miss the city centre. I used to live at the bottom of The Park, so you could just nip into town whenever you wanted to. Obviously I miss the family, but I do come up to Nottingham seven or eight times a year to see them.
Did you have a regular snooker club you were part of when you were in Nottingham?
I used to play Pegasus in Arnold, the one Michael’s at now. He basically nicked my spot about five minutes after I’d left, and even to this day the lads in there say I’m a better player than him. He hates it. I played in there from when I was about fifteen until I was about twenty eight, then moved down to London for a change of scenery.
Do you have a special relationship with your cue?
I’ve had the same cue since I was fifteen. I had a crappy cue when I first started and I said to me dad that I wanted a proper good one. It cost fifty quid which is nowt now. I went up to Manchester, picked it off the rack and went “that one looks nice, that’ll do.” It’s been around the world with me two times but I’m thinking about changing next season. The other one will never get chucked though, it’s my piece of wood and it’s always been with me. 27 years I’ve had this thing, it’s older than some of the girls I’ve been trying to chat up.
If you could trade in your snooker talent for anything else, what would it be and why?
I’d love to be a film director. I’m into all kinds of films, especially foreign films – there are a lot of good Scandinavian films that are coming out these days. A film lasts forever as your work, I’d have loved to have done that.
If you could play anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Steve Davis, end of story. He’s a legend on and off the table, he’s funny as fuck, we all love him. When I was a kid, Steve Davis won everything. People were booing him in the street cos he won everything. It’s only the British that would do that, if he was American, he’d be President by now.
A couple of people have been banned for spot fixing, have you ever been approached for anything like that?
I was approached once a few years back before the World Championships. It wasn’t to throw the whole match but just a couple of frames and the money they were offering was really good. I remember thinking “Jesus, just for a couple of frames!” But straight away, I was like “nah, come on.” It just didn’t make any sense. If you get caught it’s a life ban, it’s not morally right and it would have put me off in the World Championships for the rest of the match. It’s not something that’s rife among British players but they can’t keep tabs on the gangster related gambling in China and Thailand. It’s all underground so I don’t know how they’re gonna sort that out. We all know who’s about to chuck a match though, from rumours on social media.
Are you snooker loopy?
Not at all. Once I’ve finished, that’s me done. I won’t play another shot, probably won’t watch it again. It’s like having a life sentence. Once you get let out, you’re not gonna wanna go back. I can’t wait to get on with my life.
Anything else you want to say for LeftLion?
Thanks to the public of Nottingham. Even though I fled the city, they still support me. Michael and I appreciate it because we’re given all the support we can get and it means a lot. We’re both Forest fans too, so come on the trees!
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