HOLIDAYS behind us. More billiards in front of us. Best news of the day is that the Yorkshire Evening News, covering a large area with Leeds as its centre, will promote billiard and snooker handicaps next competitive season.
We have done no more than inspire this splendid promotion idea, but are satisfied that, but for the new activity of the B.A. & C.C., it could not have been born. The Yorkshire Evening News will do this job well. We here feel sure that the 20,000 entries mark will be reached.
Further, we are convinced that the billiard and snooker players in the area indicated will be deeply appreciative of this further indication of the interest of the Yorkshire Evening News in their games.
More billiards, and I imagine better billiards, will come out of the scheme devised by Mr. John C.
Bisset for the standardisation of undersize tables. A sub-committee worked towards laying down standard dimensions for a six-foot table (the nine-foot will, it is presumed, be tackled later). The Control Council adopted the sub-committee's findings, and they have passed a B.A. & C.C. regulation prescribing certain dimensions for official six foot tables. Manufacturing houses will produce tables according to these dimensions, and official plates will be affixed to the productions guaranteeing to the purchaser a B.A. & C.C. standard table. It is hoped eventually to promote a championship on the six-foot table.
The planning of the playing surface on these six-foot tables enables the half-ball loser to be played into top pockets from the red on the spot with the cue-ball at the middle pocket, and the cross-loser from the spot from a top-pocket position into the opposite pocket. In short, the player will have half-ball shots on the six-foot pretty much the same as he has them on the full-size table.
The long-loser from the middle spot is played with the cue-ball at either extremity of the "D."
Talking of small tables. In a south-country hotel last month I saw a really interesting game at volunteer snooker played on a six foot table. The only red was spotted between the pink and the left side cushion. I had an enjoyable hour on this table, which was not short of patronage, even though the weather was summery enough to make outdoor exercise a bit of a toil.
George Bartlett, of Luton, sends n> a declaration by Mark Twain: "Billiards is better than all your doctors." Correspondent says that is a "gold brick" for publicity purposes. Bartlett has lots of things to say about billiards and snooker, and I regret that space cannot be spared to give some of his pithy comment here. Thank you, George Bartlett!
Control Council member, Mr. E. Hell, has made three journeys; entailing some boo miles of travelling, for the purpose of examining candidates under the B.A. & C.C, Certification of Referees Scheme.
He is chairman of the Northumberland and North Durham Association, whose annual reports show that the Association donated £21 from its funds last season to the help of worthy objects. The district championships had 16 entries for billiards and 18 for snooker. Splendid for the game, these activities.
At Grimsby, Mr. L. Atkinson, a man full of knowledge of billiards and its allied games, and an enthusiast, is endeavouring to form a Billiard Association. He is promised splendid support by the leaders of the Grimsby League, professional players, and by prominent sportsmen of the district. The district has some fine players.
As a result of Mr. Atkinson's activities it is hoped there will be some of them in next season's amateur championships. One of the first jobs Mr. Atkinson and his colleagues in the new Association will tackle is that of the certification of referees. Mr. Atkinson himself already holds a certificate. Grimsby readers interested in the new Association or in the referees scheme are invited to communicate with Mr. Atkinson, at 78, George Street, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.
In the course of the next two or three months, at least before next competitive season is well on the way, it is hoped to have district associations functioning in many parts of England. The promise of assistance from influential people is most gratifying. Progress, I confess, is slow, but the sinews of billiard organisation, like those of war, are expressed in time and money. We could do with more support in our efforts towards acceleration of progress.