Ganderton lining up a second shot at stardom

Now, after a 20-year break, Mark Ganderton is preparing to make his comeback on the green baize.

The Dudley potter takes on Andrew Doherty this Sunday in his first match at Q School, with his ultimate aim a place on the World Snooker Tour.

For Ganderton it is an emotional return to the sport he walked away from two decades ago.

Having turned professional in 1992, he competed at major championships and was a regular on the exhibition circuit alongside his close friend, Jimmy White.

But the death of his father, Alan, in 1999, would ultimately change the course of his life.

“Losing dad was a massive loss,” says Ganderton. “He was my biggest supporter, who had been with me every step of the way on my career.

“He was the reason I got into snooker in the first place, watching him play when I was a kid at Coseley Working Men’s Club.

“I was 27 when he died. They say when you suffer a loss like that it either makes you stronger and you crumble. I guess I crumbled.”

Ganderton found himself having to take over his father’s pork scratching business.

Encouraged

“There was so much going on and I guess you could say I just lost my love for snooker,” he says. “If truth be told I went off the rails a bit. I didn’t pick up a cue for the best part of 10 years. For a long time I just viewed it as a part of my life which was in the past.”

Ganderton’s return to the sport came after he was encouraged to play in a local league game by Brandhall Conservative Club.

From there, his passion has steadily been rekindled, helped by the encouragement of White, who remains a close friend and godfather to his two eldest children, Mark and Natalie.

Support has also come in the form of sponsorship from two local businessmen, Clive Ellis of H Bellingham Ltd and Paul Dandy, who runs a painting and decorating service.

“The Conservative Club asked if I could help them out when they were short of a player for a game,” says Ganderton.

“I took a little convincing at first but I played OK and made a 70 break. Gradually it all started coming back and you start thinking: ‘Hey, I’m not bad at this!’

“It’s the club community who have helped me get back into it. They’ve really got behind me.

“So has Jimmy. He said to me: ‘Why don’t you have another crack at it?’

“Rory McLeod, who is in the world top 32, is another close friend. He has been travelling over from Northampton to practice with me.

“The sponsors have been superb and I could not have done it without their support.

“At the moment I am working four days on and four off. On the days off I have been practicing between four and five hours a day.”

Ganderton, who has worked chiefly on the roads since first hanging up his cue, refers to his time on the professional circuit the 90s as the “mad years”.

He would regularly spend three of four days a week at White’s flat in London and says: “It was like rock and roll.

“We were going out to parties all the time, hanging around with a load of celebrities. The trouble is you end up living a lifestyle of being famous before you’ve actually made it in the game.

“Looking back now, I learned a lot of life lessons.

“I’ll tell some of the stories to lads I work with now and you can tell they don’t believe them.

“Then Jimmy will be playing an exhibition nearby, we’ll go along and he’ll come over and have a chat with me. You can see their faces change!”

While Ganderton is again targeting success on the baize, at the age of 47 he insists the boxing gloves have been hung up for good.

He won the PKA National and Midland titles during his heyday but joked: “I’m too old for the kickboxing now! Back in the 90s of course, the fact I did both got plenty of attention.

“It was a friend of mine who convinced me to give it a go and I really enjoyed it.

“People don’t believe me when I say this because on the face of it the two sports are so different, but it did actually help with the snooker.

“When you are fighting you have to stay calm and not panic. I did find that helped my temperament when it came to snooker.”

Ganderton says he is approaching tomorrow’s match with an “open heart and open mind”.

The recent exploits of Gary Wilson and Dave Gilbert, who reached the semi-finals at the World Championships, has provided further inspiration.

“I’ve known both of them for a long time,” explained Ganderton. “Gary actually quit the sport to become a taxi driver for a while so it just shows what can be achieved.

“I think Q School is a great thing. It has opened up the sport to more players.

“This feels like the right time to do it. The last couple of years my life has settled down and I feel in a very good place. My game is probably better than it has ever been.

“I know it is going to be tough but I feel I am going in with nothing to lose and everything to gain.”