Following several e-mails between Phillip Welham from Kings Lynn and Andrew Grice of Vienna the above event was happily culminated by the visit to West Norfolk of a party of Billiard players from the Vienna Billiards League in Austria. A friendly and a most enjoyable event was the reward for Phillip and Andrew's efforts.

The "field" comprised five Austrians, three amateur players from Northern Ireland, two professionals (Roxton Chapman & Paul Bennett) along with ten E.A.B.A. members.

The format being four groups of five players played on a round-robin basis. 2 players to qualify from each group into a knockout format from the quarter-finals onwards.

There were no shocks in the group stages where Paul Bennett produced four centuries and Roxton Chapman two. The Austrians despite not winning a game against home opposition, displayed good knowledge considering the short period of time their league has been formed. Michael Kruziger and Werner Rieschl in particular showed solid techniques and with experience will become competitive at this level. All displayed good touch at the top of the table, which obviously comes from their Carom background.

In the quarter-finals, Roxton Chapman was lightening quick off the mark with the day's highest break of 242 on his first visit to the table. The clash between Paul Bennett and Phillip Welham was in doubt until Bennett's run of 149. A century from Phil Mumford which ended with a safety shot was the contributing factor in his victory over the Northern Ireland Association's secretary Davey Pogue, while a century for David Nichols accounted for Lincoln's Rob Hall.

In the semi-finals, Phil Mumford took the most of several opportunities to build a decisive early lead over David Nichols while in the all professional encounter, Paul Bennett World Ranked No. 11 comfortably accounted for Roxton Chapman ranked three places higher.

The Final was somewhat disappointing with fatigue appearing to set in for both players after what had been a long day. Phil Mumford aided by several forty breaks comfortably accounted for his professional opponent to take the title.

Thanks should be expressed to The Maltings Q Club for the use of their facilities and also to Tournament Director Clive Scott along with EABA referees David Smith, Peter Cooper & David Richardson.