ALBERT HANSON MEMORIAL BILLIARDS INVITATION

South Bank Albion SC, Middlesbrough. Sunday 9th March 2003

John Hartley's ambitious new Pro-Am tournament reached a successful conclusion at 11.15pm on Sunday 9th March. The event which was staged as a memorial to Albert Hanson, the "Mr. Billiards" of Teesside, involved 36 past and present players from the Boys' Billiards League, of which Albert was a co-founder. Using the two tables of South Bank Albion Club, 30 minute qualifying games were arranged over two evenings (29th December and 2nd February) with the winners meeting the seeded professionals in the concluding stages. All games were handicapped and played as a straight knock-out.

In addition to the more usual names, the field also included Mike Dunn and Jon Birch, who since starting their careers in the Boys' Billiards League have become established Snooker professionals. Neither of these players had appeared in a billiards match for some years, but both showed that the skills they had learnt in their formative years had been well remembered. Jon Birch in particular displayed a touch which suggests that he still finds time amongst his snooker commitments to fit in some practice at the three-ball game. In fact, Birch could probably have done without his 80 points start as he cruised through the competition to place his name on the trophy for this inaugural event.

His most difficult game came in the final against that hardest of competitors, Geoff Charville (+100), who, for the first 10 minutes, denied Birch the semblance of a chance. However, Birch maintained his composure and after taking the lead with an 81 break he drew steadily away to clinch an ultimately easy victory.

Charville, who always seems to be present at the final stages of these pro-am events, had earlier recorded a great win over Dave Causier (scr). Receiving 100 points, his position looked hopeless as Causier, making the top break of the night with 141, recovered his handicap and took a 65 points advantage. With typical determination, Charville held the table, putting together an unfinished run of 74 to see him achieve a terrific come-back.

By far the most impressive scoring in any of the games came from Lee Lagan (+40) who made two centuries to eliminate Mike Dunn (+80) in the quarter-finals. This helped him to an impressive 421 points in his allotted 45 minutes with an average of 46.8. However, he did not carry this form through to the next round, where he lost to Geoff Charville.

Jon Birch's path to the final included a surprisingly easy win over a lack-lustre Chris Shutt (scr.) who could only muster at top break of 25! Birch on the other hand, finished this match with an unfinished run of 132, outpointing the World No.4 by an impressive 184 points, excluding his start!

Brian Thompson and Vera Selby travelled down from Tyneside to assist with the refereeing on the night and they were supported by local referees John Hartley and Callum Robinson. The closing stages were well supported by various members of Albert Hanson's family and the prizes were presented by his brother Kevin. In addition to their trophies, Jon Birch collected £160 from the cash donated by diverse sponsors, and Geoff Charville took £80 as runner-up. Unfortunately there was no prize for the most smartly dressed player, which would surely have gone to Darren Kell, the event deserving more attention to this detail by most competitors, especially the professionals.

Jon Birch is presented his trophies by Kevin Hanson after winning the inaugural Albert Hanson Memorial Pro-Am at South Bank Albion.