A Game with Roxton Chapman
With the opening up of the professional game a number of young players decided to have a go. One of these was the then 17-year-old Roxton Chapman of Peterborough. There were a few raised eyebrows. Roxton was known as a promising young player who made hundred breaks now and again but who had never won anything and had never got very far in any Mini-Prix tournament. It was generally reckoned that he would have done better to have spent a few more years as an amateur, testing himself in the Amateur Championship. Be that as it may, Roxton did turn professional, and reports began to filter through that he was making some very good breaks in practice. When Mark Wildman reported some astonishing practice figures including one session with a three-figure average, it seemed time to go and have a look.
Roxton was born in Peterborough and has two older brothers also with somewhat unusual names starting with an R. Rudolph - the eldest - is a hundred break snooker player and Rupert a fifty break player. Roxton's father is interested in billiards and started the youngest of the brothers playing at home on a small table. Roxton left school at 17 and for some time worked in a snooker room belonging to Rileys on the nowadays so familiar basis of so many hours work in exchange for free table time. Wisely, in my opinion, he gave this up and is now a student at the Peterborough College of Further Education where he is following a B.Tech National Course In Business, Finance, and Computer Studies. But he still practices hard. Billiards influences have been Albert Salisbury, Des Heald, and chiefly Mark Wildman with whom he practices regularly. His highest break to date is 520 and he holds the Spalding league record with an effort of 260. Roxton plays little snooker but has made a couple of centuries. He is also fond of, and plays, cricket, tennis, badminton, and golf. Who says proficiency at billiards is the sign of a misspent youth?
Roxton plays at the Court Snooker Centre, Peterborough, where we used to have a Mini-Prix but no longer. It is a very pleasant and enjoyable drive from Nottingham through the Leicestershire countryside, by Rutland Water, and down the Al to Peterborough, on to the Court where we met one morning some weeks ago. We decided to play for two hours. Roxton broke, left me on and I made 49 which the young professional immediately followed with 105. I made 58 which Roxton followed with 51. I then had a rather lean period with best breaks of only 35 and 24 in a dozen or more visits whilst my opponent made breaks of 158, 48, 78, and a great effort of 211. This latter break was almost all at the spot end and largely by the floating white method which he made look easy. It was rather a surprise when he broke down at a pot from the spot. Further smaller breaks followed two of which ended as the top-of-the-table cannon was played just a little too slowly once resulting in failure to score and once in a cover. A further cover was circumvented with a very nice masse. I managed a few points towards the end to give the proceeding a semblance of respectability. Roxton certainly has the basic technique to be a very fine cueman indeed, he pots well, is a good positional player, thinks about the game, and never sacrifices the position to the score. He needs competitive play. Whether the current professional set-up will provide enough of this is in some doubt, whether Mark Wildman's prediction of him as future champion will be fulfilled remains to be seen. But the motivation is there and all players will wish him the best of luck.
Roxton Chapman: 0.105.51.24.0.10.158.5.48.0.0.78.211.0.39.38.28.73.9.0.37. Total 914, Average 43.5
Tom Terry: 49.58.0.0.35.2.13.0.0.2.2.24.13.6.7.5.0.24.11.42. Total 293, Average 14.6.
Towards the end of the game Mark Wildman came into the club and afterwards the talk turned to the masse and allied subjects. To my surprise Wildman said that one of the best players of the masse he knew was the lady snooker player Karen Corr. I was surprised, not that a woman should be able to masse, but that such a fine snooker player as Karen should have spent the time necessary to gain some mastery of the stroke. However a demonstration soon showed how good she was at the masse and how easily she could play some really big benders. Roxton too, played one particular stroke with a vertical cue which he was able to score every time, and which is quite spectacular.
