Billiards tournaments which are open to all amateur and professional players are a pretty rare occurrence these days, but one such event took place at the Cambridge Snooker Centre on Sunday 31st October 2004.

Following soon after his first tournament win on the Amateur Billiards Circuit, Phil Mumford not only organised this affair, but provided the starring performance. In the semi-final he required just eight visits to the table to complete his match against English Champion, Matthew Sutton, returning the incredible average of 79.7, a statistic which has not been seen since Lee Lagan was dominating the Amateur game. His total for the one hour game was 558, including breaks of 137, 114, 78, 77 and 89 unfinished.

There was a total entry of 28 for the main competition with a subsidiary Plate event being held for first-round losers. Despite some intense and enthusiastic promotional work by the organiser, none of the top English professionals could be persuaded to avail themselves of the opportunity. However, a welcome appearance was made by Roxton Chapman and Nalin Patel, both of whom were required to concede 150 points in their matches by virtue of having been amongst the top 16 in the last published WPBSA ranking list (2002-03 season). Also making up the number of current professionals was Clive Everton, who, like all these players, was taking his first chance of competitive play since the World Professional Championship in Prestatyn in March.

Amongst the "retired" professionals putting in an appearance were Mark Wildman, David Rees and Des Heald. The latter, together with Mark Wildman, established the important Mini-Prix series of one-day tournaments in the 1980's which was a forerunner of the present Amateur Billiards Circuit. Heald's last reported appearance in a billiards tournament was in 1995, during the time that the Amateur Circuit admitted professional players.

The long period of inactivity showed in the play of the professionals, all except Roxton Chapman failing in their first match. Although Chapman had looked in good form, making two centuries in his first match, he found that 150 points was too much to concede to his next opponent, Matthew Sutton, who won by an 84 point margin.

The final resolved itself into a contest between Phil Mumford and the veteran, Steve Crosland, whose victories on the day had included a narrow 2 point win against Paul Dunning in his second match. Playing in his usual solid style, Crosland built up a commanding lead of almost a hundred points at one stage, and although Mumford fought back strongly, he was still 28 points in arrears at the conclusion.

Sponsorship was received from a local businessman which covered the cost of referees and administration, allowing the whole of the entry fees (£570) to be distributed as prize money. Crosland received £250 for his victory with Mumford collecting £100 as runner-up. Clive Everton showed gradually improving form to win the Plate event and a consolation £75.