WEEKLY UPDATE 28th APRIL

Four Individual Snooker quarter finals this week and three of them were played at Princeville

Trevor Kershaw reports that he played well in the first frame against Jeremy Dixon and won it 61-37. Jeremy then adopted a more conservative approach in winning the second frame 41-15 and continued this successful strategy in the third frame, to take that 61-38 and with it the match. On the other table Chris Jarvis defeated Ian Ford 2 - 0 with frame scores of 64-47 and 61-52. The third match appears to have been the closest of the night, as Brian Robinson took the first frame 75-69, against Mick Cockcroft, with Mick taking the second 77-34 to draw level. The third frame went to the black, which I'm told Mick potted using the long rest for a 58-53 success. In the one match not played at Princeville, Richard Bowes beat Ihjaz Hussain 2 - 0, with very convincing frame scores of 62-27 and 75-19. Richard comments that there were 5 breaks over 20 and that he was using a cue not used for over 3 years, after the tip and ferrule had 'disintegrated' on his regular cue.

This coming week sees the quarter finals of the Billiards Pairs competition with two games at the Deaf Centre.  I understand that both the other two games will be played at Princeville.

At last week's League Committee Meeting the draws were made for the semi finals of all three individual and pairs competitions and these can be found on the Merit and Pairs page. The Finals Night and Presentation Evening will be held at Gt Horton Conservative Club on Tuesday 21st May

With the season coming towards the end, a date was also fixed for the Annual General Meeting, which is Wednesday 10th July - reminders will be issued nearer the time

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary

 WEEKLY UPDATE 22nd APRIL 2024

A very late update this week, for which I apologise - and while I'm in an apologising mood, I've discovered that my previous attempt to update the Merit and Pairs page with the quarter final draws, seems to have been unsuccessful. This has now been corrected, along with last weeks Billiards Quarter Final results. Please note that the the Snooker Quarter Finals are tomorrow (23rd) and the Billiards Pairs next week (30th). The draws for the semi finals will be made at the League Committee Meeting on Wednesday (24th) and the Finals Night has been booked at Gt Horton Conservative Club on Tuesday 21st May.

There were only two matches played last week, as Brain Haigh had to concede to Richard Bowes due to a family health issue, which may have prevented him from taking part in the later rounds of the competition if he were to progress. Gareth Kershaw and I played a couple of weeks early, as we were both out of the country on the due date. As far as I recall it was a fairly lengthy affair, with the balls showing great affinity for the cushions. According to Gareth, I scored about 80 points while he got 6 in the middle of the game, manly because I managed to dig out better than he could - although I did have a break of 34 somewhere in among. Final score was 200-176 - so by no means a one sided affair. The game between Chris Jarvis and Jeremy Dixon certainly looks to have been fairly one sided, as Chris won 200-113, so having played two rounds of this competition he is yet to win by less than 50!!. Dave Howarth won the other game, against fellow Pudsey player John Allan. According to Dave he was lucky enough to get most of the running, and didn't leave John many starts when he missed, while John said that Dave deservedly won as he played well and he (John) never caught up (Aren't these Pudsey chaps so polite to one another!!)

This week's Snooker sees three games at Princeville with Trevor Kershaw, Chris Jarvis and Mick Cockcroft at home to Jeremy Dixon, Ian Ford and Brain Robinson respectively. The other game is between Richard Bowes and Ihjaz Hussain.

Sadly, I also have to report the deaths of two former players in the league, which have recently come to my attention. Chris Thorp died unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago and I've been told that Karl Ludi died just before Christmas, although I was unaware of that until recently

Chris first played for Princeville in the mid 1970's and after a few years playing in both the Bradford and Pudsey Leagues, he switched to Tetley Street along with Richard Lodge. He played there until 1987 but then dropped out of the league until returning to Princeville in 2000, where he played until mobility issues prevented him from continuing. The highlight of his career appears to have been in 2010/11 when his handicap was 95, but for the rest of the time he was always between 100 and 120.

Karl by comparison was a one club man throughout, and for much of it, off a much lower handicap. I don't think he was playing in the league when I started in 1961/62 but by the time I became secretary in 1967 he was playing bottom board in Gt Horton Methodist first team. As something of an unknown he won the Snooker Merit twice in the late 1960's . When individual handicaps were introduced in 1971 he started on 50 and from the mid 70's to mid 80's he was always around the 20 to 30 mark. Only in the last 20 years did he get above 60 and although his handicap continued to rise he remained a Gt Horton player until they resigned from the league  following the pandemic

May they both rest in peace

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary

 WEEKLY UPDATE 11 APRIL 2024

An early update this week, as I'll be in Ireland for the next 8 days (so probably a late update next week!!).

Just the one match to report on, and it was a closely contested affair in the final of the Play Off competition. The scores were close throughout and the match was not short of  excitement, possibly in part because it was played in the regular league format with all three games on one table. First up were Peter O'Connell (85) for Deaf Centre B and Steve Gatenby (90) for Princeville D. Steve was always in front but never by more than about 20, and that was the state of play with 6 minutes to go, when Peter mounted a late charge. With time running  out and Steve by now only 4 in front, Peter scores 3 and then in his haste to get in another shot miscues, at which point the bell sounds before the balls can be spotted up, leaving Steve the winner by 3. 1 - 0 to Princeville D but only 3 points in the aggregate.

Next up were Peter Wood (85) against Mick Cockcroft (20). For the middle 30 minutes of this game scoring was very even, but only after a first 10 minutes in which Mick had reduced the deficit to 20. With around 10 minutes to go and still trailing by 11 Mick made a break of 31 - the highest of the night - to go 20 in front, and then pulled further away to win by 33. 2 - 0 to Princeville D and 36 in the aggregate.

However, there was a big handicap difference in the final game, with Ihjaz Hussain on 40 and Chris Jarvis on minus 40, meaning that the home man needed to hang onto 36 of the 80 he started in front for a home victory.. At halfway the difference was down to 50 but still all to play for, and from that point scoring was fairly even, until a break of 24 from Chris reduced the deficit to 28 with less than a minute to go. Ihjaz hurriedly scored three but a rushed final shot failed to produce a score, leaving him the victor by 31, but the aggregate to Princeville D by 5 for a 3 - 1 away win. Congratulations to Princeville D

This result means that one trophy goes to each of our three venues this season. League Champions Pudsey A. Knock Out Competition winners Bfd Deaf Centre. Play Off winners Princeville D

This coming week is the quarter finals of the Individual Billiards Merit. The draw can be found on the Merit and Pairs page. There should be two games at Princeville and two games at Pudsey, but it might not work out quite that way. Results and reports on all four games next week when I'll also do an update to the Players Table to take account of the final match reported above

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary