Eight teams of four players comprise the Worcester Billiards League, with individual games being of one hundred up plus handicaps ranging from Owe 125 to Receive 35. Since the number of teams in the league has fallen to eight, the sides have played each other four times during the season, and perhaps again in the team knockout cup, so there is no shortage of billiards being played.
The runaway Champions of last season, St. John's "B", are finding things a little tougher this time around but still lie jointly top of the table with Callow End at the mid-way point. However the handicappers appear to have got things pretty much right, as a mere five points separate the top six teams, while the bottom side are only a further four points adrift.
A young player, Jason Watts (GWR), has the best record with eleven wins out of twelve, chased hard by veteran Ivor Palmer (Callow End), who has been successful ten times in twelve outings, while the highest break to date is an effort of 76 from Darren Painter (St. Stephen's "A"). Prior to the start of the current season, a coaching evening was arranged at St. John's Working Mens Club, and an exhibition match followed two weeks later between local man John Smith and Peter Shelley.
Shelley brought the house down with a century, constructed in his own inimitable style, at his final visit, and he stayed on talking to club members and demonstrating various strokes until late evening. The two presentations have certainly revived local interest in billiards and surely point a way forward towards how the game could be helped at grass roots level. Already John Smith has a coaching evening arranged at another league club, and these initiatives have without doubt made the future of billiards in Worcester just a little more secure—Report: John Smith.