Sadness at delayed honour for late snooker champ

Ray Reardon was world snooker champion six times in the 1970s

Former snooker world champion Ray Reardon is finally to be given his home county's highest honour, several months after he died.

Reardon, who won the world title six times, will be awarded the freedom of Blaenau Gwent, with a scroll awarded to his family probably next year.

However, councillors voiced their disappointment it was only being awarded following his death at the age of 91 in July.

One, Wayne Hodgins, called the honour "long overdue", and another, Derrick Bevan, said the honour was good, but he was "disappointed as we should have done it years ago when he was still alive".

In September, councillors agreed to bestow the freedom of the county on Reardon, who dominated the sport in the 1970s, racking up half a dozen world championships between 1970 and 1978.

Last week that decision was rubber-stamped at an extraordinary meeting of the council, which agreed the wording of the award as: "In recognition of Ray’s great contribution to and achievements in the sport of professional snooker not only in Tredegar and Wales but also globally."

Reardon, who was born in Tredegar in 1932, worked as a coal miner and a police officer. He won six consecutive Welsh amateur snooker championships in the 1950s and the English amateur championship in 1964 before turning professional in 1967.

He was nicknamed Dracula because of his distinctive widow's peak hairstyle, became a household name, and was awarded the MBE.

Ray Reardon was the first Welsh player to win the world snooker title

In 2016, the cup awarded to the winner of the Welsh Open was named the Ray Reardon Trophy in his honour.

Hodgins said of the freedom of the borough: "I fully support this, it was long overdue and unfortunately the gentleman has passed."

He recalled how the player had helped bring the sport "into the limelight" on the Pot Black TV show. Reardon won the first series on the BBC in 1969.

Bevan said Reardon was "one of our heroes when we were children" and "a real character".

Another councillor, Jonathan Millard, called the honour "totally overdue" for "a Tredegar lad through and through, he’s someone who gave back to the community”.

Councillor Chris Smith said there would be “a small ceremony to present the freedom of the borough scroll to Ray’s family".