Matchroom Sport
Sporting event promotions company
Matchroom Sport is a British multinational sports promotions company founded by Barry Hearn. Founded in 1982, the company was initially involved in snooker and boxing, but as of 2026, Matchroom runs events and competitions across multiple sports including pool, bowling, golf, fishing, darts, table tennis, poker and gymnastics. The company is based in Brentwood, Essex. Matchroom has had broadcasting agreements in the United Kingdom with DAZN, Sky Sports, ITV, and the BBC.
History
Matchroom formed in 1982 concentrating on snooker management with the likes of Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor, and Jimmy White under contract. It sponsored two non-ranking tournaments, the Matchroom Professional Championship (1986–1988, restricted to its contracted players) and Matchroom League (1987–1994). A novelty song called "Snooker Loopy" by "Chas & Dave and The Matchroom Mob" reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in 1986, with five Matchroom players featured on backup vocals and in the video.
Hearn's first foray into boxing promotion was the Frank Bruno vs. Joe Bugner heavyweight clash in 1987 in front of 35,000 people at White Hart Lane.
The range of sports increased in 1994 with the Mosconi Cup, an event which sees teams from Europe and the United States compete in a 9-ball pool tournament. It has become a major event on the professional pool calendar.
The public source identifies “Matchroom Sport” as sporting event promotions company. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Matchroom, Sport and Sporting.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Matchroom Sport”, the useful work is to connect “sporting event promotions company” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1786678. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 2026, 1986 and 1988.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Matchroom Sport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Matchroom Sport primary sources, Matchroom Sport archive and Matchroom research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Matchroom Sport”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Matchroom Sport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.