A new chapter, a new Chairman, a new atmosphere, and A still smiling at the end of what must surely be the most hectic week of his life. Peter Gilchrist withstood all the pressure heaped upon him from the worlds finest Cuemen then producing not only his finest breaks but all the varying tactical play mat can be conjured up in match-play billiards. Prior to this tournament at Ashover the Professional Billiards players held a meeting in Liverpool and requested the existing Chairman Clive Everton to resign from the Billiards Section of the WPBSA. Further requests to resign from the Main Board of the WPBSA, under the Chairmanship of Rex Williams, was refused by Mr. Everton. Despite all the unrest within the Association at this time Peter, the elected new Chairman of the Billiards Section, travelled to the most beautiful village of Ashover in the Derby Dales to perform in the Strachan British Open in a manner that can only be described as magnificent. This beanpole of a man, 6ft. 5in. tall, simply deserves to succeed in leading Billiards up the ladder of popularity.
The World Matchplay at Liverpool and the British Open at Ashover, both sponsored by Strachan, have produced a team of billiard players more concentrated on attacking top of the table play than in previous years. Greater knowledge is being displayed bringing greater confidence in match-play which promises excellent entertainment for the future. Surely now is the time for a change in the rules to revert back to the old baulk line rule of crossing baulk in every 200 points (between 180 - 200). Too few Professionals at the moment are threatening 1,000 breaks, they should be encouraged to display breaks of this magnitude, this in turn would encourage the Amateurs to follow.
Making the game more difficult widens the Pro-Am gap tremendously so where are the new set of professional players coming from? To learn Billiards correctly the Amateur rule for losing hazards should be raised to the old limit of 25, keeping the pro's to 15. This way shorter games by points and time would be encouraging for Amateurs competing against Pro's in Pro-Am tournaments.
Competition is essential for improvement and in my opinion Sunday Pro-Am tournaments with the different rules applying to Amateurs and Professionals would become more acceptable to Amateurs and would help to narrow the gap for this kind of tournament.
Also, I think the old safety miss rule, would be beneficial to the game and should be re-instated forthwith. In my opinion also, the touching ball rule is not fair as it gives advantage to a player having played a bad shot. I believe the striker should play away as in Snooker. I can not also see the benefit of cannon limitations which should be thrown open unless a mini Lindrum comes along, this would be a time to re-address the problem.
Having recently turned 30 years of age, I hope I have not yet reached my peak at the game so people anticipating a decline in my dedication to the table because I have taken over as Chairman of the Billiards can think again. Having some young blood on the Committee is a step in the right direction for Billiards. I may be a little young for such a role but all the advice I need is only a phone call away—namely to Rex Williams. I have also realised over my years in the game that Billiard players and lovers of the greatest table game are very close knit so I know that I am going to get all the support that I need. Thank you.