Editorial
Albert Hanson
Albert Hanson is to go into hospital for an operation. Albert has had something of a rough passage of late. Amongst other things his house has been burgled a number of times. Albert is a tireless worker for billiards on Teesside, and he was heavily involved in the formation of the EABA and the subsequent negotiations which led to the merger with the EASB. All readers will wish him a speedy recovery.
Southampton and District
Mr Peter Green, Chairman of the Southampton and District Billiards and Snooker Association has written inviting secretaries of other associations to contact him regarding the possibility of arranging an inter league friendly. See item on P18.
The ABC and the Pro-Am
Attendance at the ABC (Amateur Billiards Circuit) tournaments have this year been rather disappointing. Guildford 19; Thorne 40; Nuneaton 38, Widnes (Pro-Am) 37. This seems to be a continuation of a trend from the last two events of last season, Spondon and Stoke, where there were 34 and 37 entries. The previous three tournaments had been much better - Morley 52 (Pro-Am), Huntingdon 57, and Nuneaton 51 (Pro-Am.) Various reasons have been offered as to why there should have been this falling off, and there is an interesting letter on the subject from Brian Harvey (Bridgwater) on P22. Whatever the reasons there are two considerations which would seem indisputable. The first is that almost all the players would prefer the tournaments to be open and that many of them are indifferent as to whether or not they are handicapped (BQR is in favour of some measure of handicapping,) The second is that there seem to be so few active billiard players that a division between amateurs and professionals makes no sense at all. Amateurs need the stimulus and interest provided by our great professionals, and the professionals need the support of the grass roots - such as they are. An agreement has been reached whereby ABC promoter Derick Townend will make his tournaments Pro-Am, for which the Professional Players committee will provide some sponsorship. Derick has also agreed to arrange the dates of one or two of the tournaments in order that the Indian players can participate.
There will be those who will disagree with this. But the great majority of players will surely be in favour. There has been recently some worrying trends - and not only in ABC turnout. Billiards has most definitely made something of a come-back over recent years but there are signs that it has come back about as far as it can and may even be in reverse. Those billiard players that there are, for the sake of the game itself, must be united.
Tournament Format
It is possible that more players might be encouraged to enter one-day tournaments if they could be sure of getting a reasonable number of games. Whilst there will always be those players who are eliminated in the first round of both main competition and plate, there are also those who win the first round against similar or less-skilled opposition, only to run into a much stronger player in the second round. These players are in many ways worse off than the man who loses in the first round but feels confident of getting a decent run in the plate. One way of getting round this may be seen in the, "Double elimination," system as outlined in a letter from Mr Peter Gray of Australia (P21) It could be well worth a try.
Yellow Balls
The recent Grand Slam played in Bangalore saw the introduction of a yellow cue ball so as to make the game easier to follow on television. In conversation with Peter Gilchrist, the champion remarked that it had seemed to make no difference to anyone. When asked what course most players took after winning the string he said that the invariable choice was to break off - with the white ball!
The British Film Institute
The archives of the BFI are just down the road from where Jock McGregor lives. Jock, having heard that, in the early years of the century, J. P. Mannock played some billiards for the cameras, went hunting. He didn't find Mannock but he did come across some interesting bits and pieces of billiards that have been filmed over the years. Any interested reader should contact Jock, address available from BQR.
Cushions
Mr Derek Varley writes to ask if anyone has ever designed a controlled test on the reaction of cushion rubbers. How long do the rubbers last, when do they pass their 'sell-by' date? The only test I have ever seen Derek is the one where a table-fitter hurls a ball up the table with all the force at his command and then makes some such remark as, "Five lengths, that's OK. " Anybody out there know anything different?
