The Lincoln area has seen Billiards grow over the last couple of years mainly due to the efforts of League Secretary Bernie Barker and league Chairman Roger Clark. Bernie devised the Lincoln individual billiards league which is now in its third season and last year they had five divisions of players. The players are put into groups of similar abilities, with the Premier and 1st divisions playing 1½ hours duration and the others 1 hour duration. For the first two years former under-19 all England billiards champion Tony Mathews won the premier league as well as the high break trophy, his highest was a break of 147. Tony as now left the area and is no longer playing. He will be sadly missed. His ability to come from the brink of defeat and construct a sizeable breaks in the last few minutes was remarkable. Time and time again Tony had the ability to step up one gear.
The other divisions have all been very close with most players capable of beating each other and several games have been won by just one or two point's. In fact, during the three years the League has been operating, two games have resulted in a tie.
The presentation of the individual league was in the form of a competition, played off league handicaps, and again Tony Matthews dominated the competition.
During it´s history, no single team has dominated the County League, with the championship being shared around the clubs. Last season saw the youngsters from Breaks Snooker Club lift the trophy. Team captain Roger Clark hardly played, but his ability to pair the players correctly was a big factor in their success. The team consisted of newly crowned under-16 All England champion Peter Gamblin, former finalist of the under-19 All England Championship Matthew Lee, and semi-finalist and Lincoln junior champion Wayne Bean. Over the last five years the handicap system was altered every week with five points being deducted or added every time the players has played, again this has improved the standard of play.
The Lincolnshire County league has just been reformed with its first season coming to a conclusion. Although the billiards has only four teams, two from Grimsby and two from Lincoln, the standard has been very good. A surprise visitor to Lincoln was that of former World Professional Champion and club owner Ray Edmonds, along with son Alan, who play for Grimsby "B". Alan has made a break of 102 and Ray is averaging 570 points.
The championships will be played in September when the players are starting their new season. If anyone in the Lincolnshire area is interested in playing in the County league please contact Bernie Barker on 01522- 056-0166.
Lincoln also hope to be staging some billiards coaching week-ends with current World Billiards Champion Mike Russell. Mike will also be playing in the Lincoln League, although only a few games, it is a big coup for the League.
For several years Lincoln have staged a regional qualifying round of the All England Billiards Championship as well as the English under-16 and 19 tournaments (the latter two having record entries this year) and the Junior team final. On this point the Lincoln Association would like to thank Breaks Snooker club for their help in staging the events and to Brian Briggs for supplying the match balls. Brian is a table fitter from the Sheffield area and is constantly seen in Lincoln at the various clubs in the town.
In the Eastern Counties billiards league Lincoln have done very well, winning the second division, runners up in the first, and Tony Matthews getting to the final of the Eastern Counties individual event. Two Lincoln players have won the Eastern Counties “most improved player”. They are Mick Challen and Alex Lawford. Both will have coaching lessons from Mark Wildman. Lincoln Reports: Bernie Barker.
The annual Junior Billiards Classic was held at the Social Club, at Massingham and drew an enthusiastic entry. Home players took the honours in both events, with Neil Attew winning the under-19's competition and Robert Pettar the Under-16´s.
John Stobie won the Lincolnshire Senior Billiards title for the fifth consecutive year, bringing his total number of wins to seven.
The Spalding & District League has just completed another very enjoyable season, its 51st in all. The presentation evening at the Springfields Restaurant Complex was a great success mainly due to the hard work done by our excellent committee.
The League has about 450 registered players, of which about 80 play in the handicapped billiards league. This year there were 16 teams of three players who took part and the Pinchbeck "A" team finished top of the League after a very close finish which went to the last game of the season.
Rob Childs (Crowland RBL) won the scratch singles championship, while Jim Thompson (Donington "B") won the handicap event. Mick Johnson took the highest break trophy with an effort of 128. A special award was made to John Manton (Spalding Consti) who at nearly 90 years old still plays every week in the billiard league and also appeared in the Billiard Shield final. John is the oldest player ever to appear in the final of this event. He practises twice a week and also does voluntary car transport for the local Health Authority. The League's President, Mr. Bill Parker, made the award to John saying that it showed that age is no barrier to enjoyment and success where the game of billiards is concerned.