NORTH EAST BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP
Gateshead Snooker Centre - 11th June 2000
All games one-hour
A senior billiard tournament returned to Tyne & Wear in the shape of a one-day handicap event sponsored with £150 prize money from local company, Northumbria Instruments. This attracted a total of 37 players with a large proportion from the Teesside area and many of those from the Teesside Boys' League. The oldest competitor, and also the only lady entrant, was Vera Selby, now in her 70th year, who dominated Ladies billiards in the 1970´s winning the Amateur Championship nine times.
The handicaps, allocated by organiser Stan Chambers and John Hartley, could have been something of a nightmare, but actually helped to produce some excellent games and close finishes. Even so, from the 36 matches on the day, only six saw a handicap advantage being converted into a win.
The preliminary round quickly set the high standard for the competition which lasted throughout the day. Particularly impressive was Allan Scott who since winning the national under-16 title in 1994 had dropped out of the game completely. Without any other indication of his form he was given a handicap of -60 but he made light of this as he rattled in 458 points to easily concede Dean Richardson 90 points.
Scott again registered the highest one-hour total in the first round with a score of 496 although Lee Lagan and Darren Clark also passed the 400 mark with 455 and 443 respectively. Darren Kell, who was drawn against his brother Gary, posted an early target for the highest break with a run of 134.
The second round saw Allan Scott eclipse his previous performances as he dominated his game against Andy Clark putting together a top break of 102 and four others over ninety in an incredible one-hour total of 762! It was later revealed that Scott has recently taken to the game again and has been practising regularly in Middlesbrough with professional players Chris Shutt and Paul Bennett. The speed of his play was certainly reminiscent of Chris Shutt, and his stated intention to tackle the national circuit next season can only spell trouble for the established players.
Lee Lagan and Darren Kell maintained the high standard of play, Lagan defeating Terry Beagrie (rec.200) by 538-295 while Kell had a 406-282 victory over Darren Clark (rec.130). Local referee Bryan Thompson (rec.100) showed he was no mean exponent of the game, progressing to the quarter-finals with a narrow 17 point victory over national circuit player Tony James. Thompson, dressed immaculately, was in stark contrast to the ranks of track-suits, football shirts and jeans worn by most of the other competitors.
In the quarter-finals Thompson was matched against Vera Selby (rec.30), who had emerged a narrow 5 point victor from her previous match against Paul Jones. This contest was another close call, but this time the decision went to her opponent by a margin of just 10 points. Craig Brown (rec.130) had the honour of holding the other cue as Lee Lagan moved into top gear. Finding top-of-the-table, he held the position to give an object lesson to a large group of young spectators who gathered eagerly around the table, and incidentally record his highest break in competitive play with a masterful run of 294. His massive 668 aggregate total adding to the day's entertainment.
In a remarkably consistent display, Mark Hatton's 368 total was within 10 points of his wins in the previous three rounds. However, it was not enough to overcome the 70 points he was conceding to Allan Scott, who went through to the semi-finals with a 63 point victory. Darren Kell also moved forward to a clash with Lee Lagan. Consecutive breaks of 81 and 79 recovered the 120 start he was conceding to Richard Beckham and thereafter he improved his position to win by 47 points. Frantic searching through the record books has failed to reveal the last time an amateur player had made a 700+ aggregate score on a one-hour match. Now Allan Scott surely secured a record by making two such totals in one day. His semi-final match against Bryan Thompson (rec.40) turned into an exhibition as with top breaks of 148 and 101 he put together another massive total of 715. Lee Lagan progressed to the final with a 47 point victory over Darren Kell. An early break of 82 helped him into a substantial lead and despite late breaks of 60 and 77, Kell could not quite close the gap.
Allan Scott (rec.90) was looking a handicap certainty against Lee Lagan in the final, but with so little recent match practice, how would he deal with meeting the player who is acknowledged to be the best amateur in England? Lagan started strongly and with a series of useful breaks closed remorselessly on his opponent. After 40 minutes a 53 break by Lagan put him in front for the first time. To his credit, Scott responded immediately with a break of 76 and thereafter it remained a desperately close match. Lagan again took the advantage when a break of 50 put him 19 points in front with just three minutes remaining. Scott again responded. A break of 20 put him in front again by just one point, and with perfect top-of-the-table position looked a certainty to play out time. But sensationally he miscued, giving Lagan a final chance. It was certainly not an easy one, but with his cue-ball firmly anchored against the top cushion and less than a minute on the clock, he played a wonderful centre pocket in-off and continued to hold the table with 16 unfinished to clinch an exciting win.
So ended a great day of billiards on Tyneside. Lee Lagan collected £60 for his efforts and on this occasion had certainly been made to work for his money. Allan Scott, the most exciting discovery on the day, had scored over 3,100 points in his 6 hours play and must surely be a contender for the highest honours in the coming season. Stan Chambers deputised for Northumbria Instruments representative Stephen Oxborough to present the prizes in what many will hope to see as an annual event.
The Plate was won by John Hartley who defeated Stan Buckle 274- 139 in the final. Buckle conceded after 45 minutes of the one-hour match, preferring to watch the exciting conclusion of the main competition between Lagan and Scott.
Champion supporter
Amongst the mainly youthful audience watching Lagan's masterful break of 294 at Gateshead was an elderly gentleman who had been taking a particular interest in all the day's proceedings. This turned out to be Sid Robson who was the Northumberland & Durham Miners' Billiards Champion in 1951. One of the top amateur players in his day, Sid had himself made a competitive break of 663 in 1954 which was the best by any player in the country that year, winning the National Breaks competition organised by the BA&CC. Sid recalled that his break had been made mainly with red ball play. "We could all play top of the table as well" he said "but we liked to mix it up a bit". Watching every round of the games from start to finish—over six hours play— he added, "It's great to see billiards being played in the region again".