To the Editor.
I have read with great interest the very able article on "Should Red-Ball Play be Curtailed" by Mr. Riso Levi which appeared in the April issue of The Billiard Monthly.
I think that the writer puts the matter in a nut-shell when he says "Time enough to talk about limiting the in-off game when Gray ceases to draw the public."
I have a vivid recollection of the crowded houses when Gray first played in Manchester some three years ago. I also fully endorse Mr. Levi's comment that "legislation which hits dearly for its object the suppression of the game of one player would be grossly unjust."
I have heard it stated— though I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the statement—that one of the governing bodies intends going into the question as to whether it is advisable or not to limit red-ball play, but that before dealing with the matter they will get the opinion of the leading English professionals on the point. I can hardly believe that any legislative body would take so farcical a step. It is only natural that any professional who has any aspiration to championship honours would only be too glad to see Gray's game killed, for every one of them must know in his heart that gigantic breaks can be made off the red ball with ivories just as well as with composition balls, and the time will assuredly come when Gray will make them.
It may not be very sportsmanlike for a professional player to help by means of legislation to crush a formidable rival but after all it is perhaps only human nature, which is nearly always more or less selfish, and one does not expect to find professional billiard players less selfish than the average man.
In my humble opinion men competent enough to act as a legislative body are quite able to deal with the question without seeking professional opinion, which in the very nature of things cannot possibly be unbiassed.
In a matter of so much importance they should move very slowly. If a time comes when "many" young players make great breaks at the in-off game—the older players never will—and the public gets as tired of these as it was of the old big spot-stroke breaks, then a drastic restriction would be wise legislation.
To-day any restriction of the in-off game would, in my opinion, be a retrograde step.
A. Manton.
3, George Street, Prestwich,
Lancashire.
To the Editor.
It is with pleasure that I have seen the progress of The Billiard Monthly, as I think that billiards ought to be as much looked after as golf in the matter of journalism.
My immediate object in writing, however, is to raise a question which I hope you will keep to the fore. Why may not an amateur engage in a match with a professional in games for which money is taken at the door.
In cricket gentlemen play against and with professionals and are not penalized in any way. Why should they be in billiards?
Why not advocate in your paper the playing of billiard matches between amateurs and professionals, with the proviso (gratuitous in itself but necessary from an administrative point of view) that the amateur receives no payment whatever or share of the admission money. There are many leading amateurs who would be pleased to have the opportunity of meeting professionals, and such games would be good for all concerned.
Well-Wisher.