The annual Greene King Tournament was resurrected this year after a
years hiatus (but our good Secretary, Brian Orton kept the trophy in safe
storage...his front room!).
After much work by Andy Rance, 17 players of past, present & future (including Specially Invited Guests) turned up for the 10.00am start on Saturday 14th September. This was a great attendance considering that this tournament always clashes with holidays, but despite notable absentees the entry list was sufficient for Andy to make 3 Groups for the Round Robin Stages. 3 would qualify from each Group A & B (6 players in each) & just 2 to qualify from Group C (just the 5 players in this one!).
The handicaps were pretty good as during the Group Stages, most of the frames were going down to the colours & most to the higher value colours! Considering Andy had to guesstimate some, ranging between -14 to +21, I think he did a good job!
After the GSMS Tournament back in May finishing around midnight, Andy chose the lesser frames format & the Group Stages were complete well before 6.00pm (thank goodness! Lol!).
After the Group Stages the Knockout Quarter Finals lined up. In the top half of the draw, Simon Ellam (vanquisher of D&DS&BL Singles Champion in the A v B 'derby' match on Weds!) won Group A & faced Invited Guest Lee Wood (from Challow) who was Runner Up in Group B-Well done Lee!!! Phil Hall (Invited Guest & current holder of the GSMS!) made the trip up from Devon & qualified as Runner Up in Group C to face Dave Greathead (Club Veterans Champion & League Over 50s R/Up) who was 3rd place in Group A. In the bottom half of the draw, Dave Rowe (Club Singles Champion) won Group C & faced his B Team Captain & Event Organiser, Andy Rance! And the last Q/F was the 'battle of the Captains' as C Team Captain Pete Beaumont faced A Team Captain Pete Billingham.
With the Knockout Stages littered with Captains, Vice Captains, Ex-Captains & Champions, the 'draw' was a quality line up with some mouth watering matches in prospect! As most of the non-League players bowed out in the Group Stages, it was evident from the handicaps that the experienced players had been required to produce their best to qualify. One 'perennial' player who didn't qualify (this time), was 79 years young, Don Sirrett! Now Don hasn't missed a Club All Day Tournament since the inaugural GSMS in 1996, so it was very fitting & with great pleasure that Andy Rance presented him with the Best Non League Player Trophy!
After much work by Andy Rance, 17 players of past, present & future (including Specially Invited Guests) turned up for the 10.00am start on Saturday 14th September. This was a great attendance considering that this tournament always clashes with holidays, but despite notable absentees the entry list was sufficient for Andy to make 3 Groups for the Round Robin Stages. 3 would qualify from each Group A & B (6 players in each) & just 2 to qualify from Group C (just the 5 players in this one!).
The handicaps were pretty good as during the Group Stages, most of the frames were going down to the colours & most to the higher value colours! Considering Andy had to guesstimate some, ranging between -14 to +21, I think he did a good job!
After the GSMS Tournament back in May finishing around midnight, Andy chose the lesser frames format & the Group Stages were complete well before 6.00pm (thank goodness! Lol!).
After the Group Stages the Knockout Quarter Finals lined up. In the top half of the draw, Simon Ellam (vanquisher of D&DS&BL Singles Champion in the A v B 'derby' match on Weds!) won Group A & faced Invited Guest Lee Wood (from Challow) who was Runner Up in Group B-Well done Lee!!! Phil Hall (Invited Guest & current holder of the GSMS!) made the trip up from Devon & qualified as Runner Up in Group C to face Dave Greathead (Club Veterans Champion & League Over 50s R/Up) who was 3rd place in Group A. In the bottom half of the draw, Dave Rowe (Club Singles Champion) won Group C & faced his B Team Captain & Event Organiser, Andy Rance! And the last Q/F was the 'battle of the Captains' as C Team Captain Pete Beaumont faced A Team Captain Pete Billingham.
With the Knockout Stages littered with Captains, Vice Captains, Ex-Captains & Champions, the 'draw' was a quality line up with some mouth watering matches in prospect! As most of the non-League players bowed out in the Group Stages, it was evident from the handicaps that the experienced players had been required to produce their best to qualify. One 'perennial' player who didn't qualify (this time), was 79 years young, Don Sirrett! Now Don hasn't missed a Club All Day Tournament since the inaugural GSMS in 1996, so it was very fitting & with great pleasure that Andy Rance presented him with the Best Non League Player Trophy!
Simon won through in his Q/F & faced Phil in
the Semi Final who 'fluked' a blue (was that a 'Greathead' v Greathead!?) to
beat Dave.
Dave Rowe (despite playing his Captain & with the veiled joked threat of 'I can always drop you' from Andy) won through his Q/F & faced Pete Billingham who overcame Pete Beaumont.
So the semi finals began. Simon v Phil was a repeat of the GSMS Final, but Simon couldn't quite capture the form he had in that event & bowed out 2-0 to Phil who qualified for his second successive All Day Tournament Final!
Pete knocked in a 34 in winning his first frame v Dave Rowe who was straight back on level terms when Pete played a loose safety shot on the green in the second. In the decider it was a close affair & Dave slotted in some of his lovely trademark long pots to pile on the pressure! It ended up being decided on the pink & Dave left a shot to the middle for Pete to clinch it.
Dave Rowe (despite playing his Captain & with the veiled joked threat of 'I can always drop you' from Andy) won through his Q/F & faced Pete Billingham who overcame Pete Beaumont.
So the semi finals began. Simon v Phil was a repeat of the GSMS Final, but Simon couldn't quite capture the form he had in that event & bowed out 2-0 to Phil who qualified for his second successive All Day Tournament Final!
Pete knocked in a 34 in winning his first frame v Dave Rowe who was straight back on level terms when Pete played a loose safety shot on the green in the second. In the decider it was a close affair & Dave slotted in some of his lovely trademark long pots to pile on the pressure! It ended up being decided on the pink & Dave left a shot to the middle for Pete to clinch it.
During the SFs, a group of the C
Team new boys, Joey Edwards & Luke Wells & friends (both having played
in their first Comrades All Day Tournament & succumbed at the Group
Stages), came back in to watch & practice! How keen are they!? Brilliant to
see & heartening for the future of the Comrades Snooker Teams!
So, in the Final it was the ex-A Team Captain,
Phil Hall to face the player he named as his successor in that role, Pete
Billingham! Phil had put Pete out of the GSMS in the Q/F & started in a
similar vein, potting clean, cueing smooth & scoring regularly! He ran away
with the first frame & Pete was struggling after his titanic battle v Dave
Rowe in the S/F. Phil continued this form in the second (aided by a few
'Sorry's') & with just pink & black on the table, Pete needed a snooker
to avoid defeat & the white wash! After moving the black off the rail &
a few attempted safety shots, he laid a peach of a snooker with the pink in the
open! Phil missed the 'get out' & Pete took pink & a long black to
level it at 1-1! In the deciding frame it was one way traffic with Pete racing
to a 58-1 lead with 3 reds left! A few shots later it was all over & after
his worst defeat as Captain (the 0-5 drubbing by the B Team on the Wednesday
before), Pete had prophetically written below the 0-5 which Simon had written
on the dry wipe board, 'It's not the adversity, it's how you respond!'. Perhaps
after the 2nd frame snooker required, he should have added 'And NEVER give
up!'?
Pete later said 'Well, I couldn't let Phil take ALL our trophies to Devon! You know what Pirates they are down there!'
Pete later said 'Well, I couldn't let Phil take ALL our trophies to Devon! You know what Pirates they are down there!'
And he also bagged both High Break prizes with
his 49 in the Group Stages & the 34 in his S/F.
A great day was had by all & a few of the players hung around for the later stages to watch & helped out with refereeing the S/Fs & Final (Thank You Nigel Woods, Andy Rance, Simon Ellam & Dave Rowe! Plus spectators Gavin Twigg & his Father in Law Mark Kelly).
A HUGE Thank You to Oz & Lucy & their Bar Staff for feeding & watering us all day-lovely chilli!
Thank You to Brian Orton for sorting out Sponsorship from the Brewery, Greene King.
And last, but by no means least, thanks are due to Andy Rance, the event organiser. Without his expertise on the computer & organisational skills, there wouldn't be tournaments! And as you can see from the photos, he was ably assisted in the presentations by his impromptu Master of Ceremonies, Simon Ellam!
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