The South Bank St Peters billiards squad of Neil Hutchinson, Mark Wallis and Tommy Murphy won the billiards section, ahead of joint runners up, Redcar Workingmen's (Andy Mackay, Gillie Hartshorn and Ron Bickerdyke) and South Bank Albion (Jeff McKeown, Trevor Walker and John Hartley). The highest billiards breaks were made by Darren Kell (141) and Neil Hutchinson of St Peters took the prize for the highest break by a plus-handicap player (97) and the most wins during the season.
The League Individual Handicap, the Darren Kell Billiards Trophy, was won by Billy Bousfield of Eston Institute. In the final, Bousfield (+100) had a 400-376 victory over South Bank Albion player John Hartley (+80).
The final stages of the Individual Championship for the Albert Hanson Memorial Trophy, were held at Eston Institute on Wednesday 17th April and Robin Wilson eased to his last title win, being excluded next year due to age limitation. In the semi-final he overcame the promising Craig Murphy 189-121 in their 30 minute game. Murphy making the highest break of the match with 41. In the final, Wilson established an early lead over Dean Richardson with breaks of 37 and 55 and thereafter was never threatened. Richardson came back with a break of 36 but could never quite get close enough to pressurise Wilson, who always looked totally in control, the final score being 167-121 in Wilson's favour. Earlier, Richardson had defeated his Redcar team-mate Andrew Fairley 137-100 in the semi-final.
| Dean Richardson 33 | 137 | Andrew Fairley 100 | |||
| Robin Wilson 36, 36, 34 | 189 | Craig Murphy 41, 34 | 121 |
| Robin Wilson 55, 37 | 167 | (9.3) | Dean Richardson 36 | 124 | (6.4) |
The team from Ormesby made it a clean sweep of trophies this season when they added the President's Cup to their League Championship and League Cup successes. Applying a handicap system based on League positions, Ormesby conceded 150 points to Eston Institute in the final. However, Robin Wilson immediately recovered this deficit by winning his 30 minute game 297-38, including breaks of 170, 78 and 65. With Dominic Mulhall, Jason Thomas, Michael Price and Trevor Snaith making it five wins for Ormesby out of the six games played, they finished comfortable winners by 902-470.
The Individual Billiard Handicap was won by Darren Kell (Ironopolis)(- 50) who defeated Mark Graham (Priory)(+20) in a nail-biting final at the South Bank St. Peter's Club on 25th April. Although Kell had recovered his handicap with just over half the match completed, Graham hung on and was within seven points of game when Kell snatched victory with 29 unfinished. Final score Kell 200 (av 6.8) - Graham 193 (av 3.3).
The Ironopolis team comprising Geoff Charville and brothers Darren and Gary Kell, finished at the top of the Billiards League with a comfortable 16½ point margin over their nearest challengers, the Hemlington club.
Lee Lagan (Hemlington) left it late in both the season, and his amateur career, to take the League's highest break with 118 which he made against the Samualsons Club in one of the last games of the current season. The previous high break of 117 unfinished had been held by Lagan's Team-mate, Mark Hatton. The League plays games of 120-up from a level start.
Veteran Keith Corner (Marske WMC) won the League's Individual Billiards Handicap, defeating the holder, John Hartley (Redcar Lit), 250-210 in an evenly fought contest at Carlin How Club on 23rd April. Both finalists were playing from a handicap of -90.
In the Team Handicap, Redcar Lakes squad of Mark Andrews, Dave Beckett and Gary Beckett took the England Cup when they defeated Redcar Literary Institute by two games to nil in the final at Saltburn Conservative Club on 15th July. A closely fought match saw Andrews set his team on the path to victory with a narrow 200-193 win over seventeen year-old Andrew Fairley (rec.45) and Dave Beckett then clinched the title when he recorded as similarly close victory 200-190 over Barry Chapman (rec.15). The Lit´s third player, and anchor-man, John Hartley, did not get the chance to play.
The Billiards section of the Stockton League was won by the Stockton Buffs Club, represented by Steve Boston, John Stiff and ex-professional snooker player, Paul Reeve. Highest break of the 120-up games was 113 by Tony Mackinder. The Billiards Knockout Cup was won by Hardwick, who beat Newtown 'A' in the Final. Results (Hardwick names first) Graham Alderson bt Mark Devlin, Mick Beevers lost to John Hartley, Steve Maxwell bt Callum Robinson.
The Southfield League, which operate non-handicap billiards and snooker games on Monday nights for clubs in the Middlesbrough area, have become the first in the region to allow professional players to compete. For next season they have introduced special rules allowing one billiards professional per team who will be required to score 180 per game against the usual 120-up for the amateurs. Snooker professionals will also be allowed to compete, conceding 21 points per frame. This is expected to give a welcome boost to the game in the region, allowing the growing number of local billiards professionals to exhibit their skills on a regular basis.