B.Q.R. has received a letter from Gloria Ruane, the Hon. Secretary of the Republic Billiards & Snooker Association. Gloria writes:- "the signs are good. Last year the quadrangular International between England, Belgium, Northern Ireland, and The Republican Killiney, Co.Dublin, gave the game of Billiards a much needed tonic. The interest generated by the International however was short lived, as it was looked upon by some regions as a once off fixture.
The forthcoming revival in Derby in October will no doubt ignite the interest once again, and with the news that Billiards is to be part of the Home International scene in Prestatyn in the future, we have no doubt that the younger players in the Country will be playing the game a lot more in the hope of gaining recognition at top level.
As for the National aspect, plans are afoot to introduce ranking points Tournaments in the coming season, thus giving all Players in all parts of the Country an equal opportunity to make their presence felt among the elite of Billiards in Ireland.
When in Derby in October I would like to study the successful Youth Billiards Leagues system operating in Teesside and other North of England strongholds, which have produced such Players of undoubted class as Mike Russell and Peter Gilchrist.
These plans will naturally take time to yield results, but in the meantime we will be bringing our strongest side to Derby with a certain degree of confidence, as at least three of the side will have played at top level last year, and anyone who writes us off as pushovers could be in for a mild surprise, as were some of the illustrious footballing nations in Italy earlier in the Summer."
Thanks Gloria, since when did anyone ever regard the Irish as pushovers? and, by the way, what's this about Prestatyn - do you know something that we don't? As regards the youth set-up Gloria will be pleased to know that Albert Hanson will be visiting Derby and be glad to talk to her about the Teesside Boys Organisation.
Gloria also sent details of the players to represent The Republic at Derby:-
Aidan Murray Won Republic of Ireland Billiards 1984 and 1990. All Ireland Champion 1990.
Victor O'Gorman Winner Irish Championship 1989. Winner Leinster Open 1989. Winner Irish Open 1990.
Toss Reilly Winner Irish Championship 1988. Beaten Finalist six times previously. Beaten Semi-finalist four times. Highest break in competition - 198.
Tommy Martin Semi-finalist 1972 and 1990. Winner 1973 and 1987 R/U in 1975 and 1977. Semi-finalist 1978, '79, '80, and '81.
represented Ireland in World Championship Belfast '87 Larry Drennan National Champion 1970/79, '83, '86. R/U on two occasions. Leinster Champion twice. Highest break 197.
Thanks once again Gloria - see you in Derby.
Sam Clarke, who played in the recent World Amateur Championship in Bangalore, writes to say that Paddy Donnelly, chosen to represent Northern Ireland in the Amateur International has had to withdraw through illness. Paddy has won the Northern Ireland Championship four times and is also the All Ireland Snooker Champion. That's pretty rotten luck. Recover soon Paddy - ready for next year's match.
Geet Sethi has confirmed that he recently made a break of just over 1600 in practice and that it took him one hour and twelve minutes. That works out at 4.5 minutes per hundred which must be just about as fast as the game can be played without the aid of the nursery cannon. Sethi is phenomenally quick at the spot-end, as quick as Russell, and the B.Q.R. Editor has on more than one occasion timed Mike, when in full flow, at just over four minutes in going from 100 to 200. Geet's break was in a practice session, is this the highest ever Amateur player break? Sethi, in conversation at Kenilworth, remarked that he thought that much of the game's Professional future might lie in India where there really was a lot of interest, sponsorship and T.V. coverage. In addition, the Indian Association was making great efforts to promote the game even more. As there has recently been two important Professional Tournaments and a World Championship in the Sub-continent it is hard to argue that this is not so. There is also talk that this year's World Professional Championship may be held in India. One stumbling block is that the Indian Players are not too happy about having to come over here to play in the qualifying matches. If the Championship were to be held in India then B.Q.R. thinks it would be absurd for Sethi and Ferreira to have to come to qualify, both are players of the highest quality, well worthy of exemption to the final rounds. Their absence from any major Tournament to be played in India is virtually unthinkable. These two, together with one player from the four semi-finalists of the recent World Amateur -if any of them turn Professional in time - should be joined by the top five in the ranking list, currently Russell, Dagley Williamson, Gilchrist, and Close. Australia would be represented by Robby Foldvari. There would thus be eight perhaps nine players exempted from qualifying. This would leave eight (or seven) places to be played for. This would have the advantage of cutting down the playing time for qualifying matches, those players who are just below the very best would be pretty sure of getting there, and the also-rans would really have something to play for. This would meet the quite reasonable wishes of the Indians; and the best players - based on the rankings, would automatically qualify. This would create a system similar to the one used by the Snooker people in getting players to the Crucible. If Billiards is to be made attractive to the public then the best players must be seen in action - Every Time.
Things are rather quiet on the Billiards front down-under at the moment the main competitions coming later in the year. Some Junior Championships have been played: - City of Sydney Under 15 Billiards B. Smith beat S. Worth.
B. Smith also reached the final of this one:-
| S. Lawler
| 597 | B. Smith
| 263 |
Well, well! B. Smith turned up again losing to S. Smith 381 - 320 in the Semi. In the final S. Smith lost to R. Cochrane 603 - 344.
B.Q.R. has received a letter from Mr. Peter Wide of Hohne Germany. Peter Wide is an old friend and opponent of the B.Q.R. Editor. An engineer by profession Peter has lived and worked in many different parts of the world though a native of Devon and an occasional opponent of Bill Andress in the Exeter Championships. He was the Nigerian Open Billiards Champion in 1980 and says that Billiards is quite a popular game there. Pete was also Singapore Billiards and Snooker Champion for several years. He is a great enthusiast for Billiards and is trying to get some interest going in Germany. B.Q.R. will be kept informed of any developments.
We have received a nice letter from Mr. Peter Chia who is Honorary Secretary of the Singapore Association. Peter will keep us informed of any developments in his part of the world.