Having been invented on the billiard tables of the British Raj in India, snooker has always been a quintessentially British game, its values reflecting the good gentlemanly conduct of the Empire. At one time it used to be my favourite sport – back in the days when the stars of the game were what were rather quaintly called the ‘home nation’ players: people like Ray Reardon, Doug Mountjoy, the young Steve Davis, and Dennis Taylor.

Even those breaking through to impact the game from other countries were mainly those from former British colonies – ‘Steady’ Eddie Charlton from Australia and Cliff Thorburn of Canada, though that other Canadian, the white-suited Kirk Stevens, was never really acceptable to the gentlemen of the game.

Yesterday, however, proved to be a notable day in the history of the sport, for the Masters championship final was fought out by China’s Ding Junhui and Marco Fu (though Fu is from the former British colony of Hong Kong – now safe again in China’s hands). The game is apparently exploding in China with many thousands regularly playing to a high standard.

Snooker, of course, is only a game. But the shift in power from the old empire to the new that is happening on the green baize is maybe just a reflection of what is happening in international politics and economics too.