I’m a former snooker champion – now I live a very different life running a print company

ANTHONY HARRIS has swapped his life as a professional snooker star to run a printing company.

The 53-year-old is best remembered for winning the English Amateur Championship in 1986.

X @Anthony02375433

Former amateur snooker champion Anthony Harris, right, now owns a printing business[/caption]

The English Amateur Championship is the oldest and one of the most prestigious titles for any aspiring snooker player to win.

And Harris did just that at 18-years-old after travelling to the Library Theatre in Bradford.

Playing Geoff Grennan in the final, Harris secured a tremendous 13-9 victory.

This made him the third-youngest-ever player to win the Amateur title in the 70 years it has run.  

He then turned professional in 1986 after beating Tony Putnan 5-1 in the final of a qualifying event in 1985.

His career mainly saw him finish in the last 96 or 128 of events but Harris did reach the last 32 of the 1989 English Professional Championship.

Since retirement from the professional game, Harris has taken part in many World Seniors matches including getting to round 2 of the 2015 and World Seniors Championships.

And he has also opened his own printing business called Mainstream Print, in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.

He has built a huge clientele including Warwickshire County Cricket Club, the NHS, The World Snooker Tour and TGI Fridays. 

Harris did make several attempts to get back on to the professional tour via the Q School, sadly with no breakthrough to date.

But his career was held back by one thing – a fear of flying.

The avid Aston Villa fan had just won the snooker English Amateur Championship and was invited to play in New Zealand, a 54-hour journey via Los Angeles and Hawaii.

Harris said: “I had never flown before.

“It wasn’t too bad getting on the plane, but as soon as it took off, I didn’t like it and was worried about coming home.

“You know, I was short of breath, sweating and feeling anxious – just generally tight all over really.”

And just months later he visited South Africa on an exhibition tour which consisted of many short internal flights which Harris hated.

He said: “Historically, the English amateur champion did a tour of South Africa.

“So we flew everywhere.”

After returning to the UK, Anthony decided that flying was out of the window.

He would not board another plane for 36 years, turning down international snooker tours in Latvia and Canada.