Snooker Review 2018-19 Season.

Snooker Review 2018-19 Season.

I am very pleased to report that the Wallingford Comrades Club has enjoyed an immensely successful year in snooker competitions this season, very appropriate in the Comrades Clubs Centenary Year.

However, before I start the review, on a very sad note, although not a Comrades Member, I must mention the recent loss of Vic ‘The Legend’ Hartley.  Vic was 87 years old & has been an integral part of Snooker especially within the local Didcot & District Billiards & Snooker League.  He has supported this league for the past 30+ years as a Player, Referee & also in the running of the League as Committee Member, Competitions Secretary, Treasurer & passionate supporter of it.  He probably spent more time at the Comrades than any other non-member having attended every Semi Final & Final held throughout his years in the Didcot & District.  He was a great friend to many & will be sorely missed by all that knew him.  Rest in Peace Legend & enjoy your Night Cap.

Club Summary

The Tanner Trophy for Players Player of the Season was proudly received by Phil Collins who set new records throughout the year.  He finished the season on immaculate 100% as he was undefeated in all Team matches.  He broke the Golden 1,000 in December (a month earlier than the previous benchmark of January!).  He accumulated over 2,000 points scored in the season. He made 42 breaks of 25 & above, including a League Highest & Club Highest.  He raised the bar in virtually every stat within the Club.  He had his first Gold Leaf moment winning the Club Singles & doubled up with the Club Billiards.  He won the Greene King & Gilbert Shepherd tournaments in the same year so he appropriately celebrated all these achievements on his birthday...

...which was the date of the annual end-of-season all-day Gilbert Shepherd Memorial Shield tournament, where he duly retained the GSMS Title with Simon Ellam as valiant Runner Up.

The annual Greene King all-day tournament has now become more Autumn than pre-season.  It was won by Dave Rowe who beat Alan Milton 2-0 in a rescheduled final on the Monday night, as we ran out of time on the Saturday of the tournament (first time ever!).

The Bill Billingham High Break Trophy for highest break in match-play was won by Phil Collins with an impressive 89 in the home league match v Fawley.

House Competitions

The Veterans Final was won by Simon Ellam who won on the black in the deciding frame v Pete Billingham.

The Billiards Final was won by Rob House who reached the 250 point target before Simon Ellam in a very closely fought match.

The Doubles was won by Tom Hamilton-Williams & Kev Higgs who beat ever-green & ever-keen stalwart pairing of Hugh Baker & Alan Wells.  They won 2-0 with Tom knocking in a sizeable 53 break in the opener.  This was also a first Comrades Gold Leaf moment for Kev (AKA Cuz).  Very well done & welcome to ‘the club’.

The Drawn Pairs was won by Jon Hawkins & Adam Goddard who beat fancied pairing of Rob House & Neil Tolley for Adam’s first Club Title.  Congratulations Adam & good ‘choice’ of partner.

The Singles was won by Stuart Foley who beat Dave Rowe 2-1 for his very first Comrades Gold Leaf moment.  What a First!  Very well done Stu.

Thank you to the Chairman, Brian Orton for organising all of the house competitions & Simon Ellam for organising Finals Day.  Certainly a lot less hectic than squeezing all the matches into a Finals Night.

League Summary

The A Team won & retained the Premier Division Title for the 6th consecutive year.  A fabulous achievement in the Comrades Centenary Year.  Part 1 done.

The B Team finished 4th in the Premier Division, which is a hugely creditable achievement given the sadly reducing size of the squad.

The C Team won the Division 1 Title with a week to spare.  Another fantastic achievement & accolade for Wallingford Comrades in its Centenary Year.  And testament to their new Skipper, Baz Alexander & his able deputies, but especially for their application & team spirit.

In the Chairman’s Cup the C Team faced Fawley in the Final which was held at Wantage.  Although the C’s had white-washed Fawley 5-0 in their league match a couple of weeks before in clinching the First Division Title, Fawley got their revenge as they won the Final, 3-1.

In the Jim Taylor Plate Cup, Wallingford B made it through as the first Wallingford team to make this Cup Final, held at RAF Benson.  In it they faced Abingdon RBL & although level after 2 frames, the B Team sadly succumbed, 3-1.

In the John Evans Cup the A Team faced tough opponents in the form of the re-formed Wantage B, the Final being held at Fawley.  Despite going 0-1 down they grittily fought back to win, 3-1 to add the Cup to their Premiership Title.  Part 2 was complete & the ‘T’ word was on!

The season finale was the Jim Taylor Cup Final & the A Team faced their old protagonists Wantage A at Barn Club, Didcot.  Chasing the coveted Treble & with Wallingford having gone 2-0 up they decided to do it the hard way.  After a valiant fight back to 2-2 by Wantage, Dave Rowe faced World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association Seniors Tour semi-professional, Neil Craycraft in the deciding frame.  Rowey played superb, winning convincingly 97-43, sealing the Cup & with it the elusive Treble.  Part 3... Done!

This was a momentous achievement by the A Team in adding the Jim Taylor Cup to the John Evans Cup, which will look fabulous in our Club Trophy cabinet next to the Premier Division Trophy - the much coveted Treble!  This feat has not been achieved by a Wallingford team since the A Team of the 1989-90 seasons ‘History Making’ first Treble Winners.  To recapture it in our Clubs Centenary Year... perfect!

The Premier Division High Break Trophy was won for the third year in succession by Phil Collins, who knocked in a sublime 89 break v Gordon Izzard of Fawley.

Both the One Frame Shoot Out & Doubles Shoot Out Tournaments were sadly not run this year due to lack of entries.

In the Captains Cup last Wallingford player standing was Pete Billingham.  He bowed out in the Semi Finals to the reigning holder & eventual winner, Laurence Harvey of Marlborough A.

In the Billiards Wallingford were guaranteed the trophy with the Semi Finals containing 4 Wallingford players.  Dave Baker & Pete Billingham made it to the Final which was held at Fawley.  Bakes regained the trophy after a years sabbatical & retained it for Wallingford after Rob House’s success last year.  Very worthy successors.

In the Over 50s Wallingford were also guaranteed the title with A Team team-mates Nigel Barker & Pete Billingham facing each other in the Final, also held at Fawley.  It was a gritty battle which Pete won, 3-0 making a sizeable 47 break in the last frame & lifted the title for the first time.

In the Novices Cup Alan Milton played very well to reach the Final which was held at Abingdon RBL.  Sadly he was Runner Up to Mark Andrews of Wantage A by a 0-3 score-line.

In the 2 Man Team two Wallingford Pairs made it to the Semi Finals & Finals Night, held at Wallingford.  A Team team-mates pairings of Phil Collins & Tom Hamilton-Williams and Pete Billingham & Kevin Higgs made it through their respective Semis to face each other in the Final, guaranteeing that this Trophy was also coming back to Wallingford.  Phil made telling breaks of 42 & 45 in the opening 40 minutes v Cuz & Pete made a 60 v Tom, but it wasn’t enough to stop Phil & Tom lifting trophy for a 3rd successive year.

The Doubles Cup was another guaranteed to be Wallingford bound as it was an A v B match.  Andy Rance & Rob House from the B Team faced Pete Billingham & Kevin Higgs of the A Team in the Final, held at Wallingford where Pete & Kev won 3-1.

The Blue Riband Singles Final was a re-match of the Over 50s Final, which may be a harsh confirmation to the reality that we’re all getting older.  Nigel Barker faced team-mate Pete Billingham in the Final which was played at Wallingford.  Nigel played superbly & won by a 3-1 score-line to lift the trophy for the first time.  Having been Runner Up several times to his ex-team mate Ollie Hoeblyn back in his Oracle days, it was testament to how hard Nigel has practiced this season to get his game back.  Very well done Bagger.

Wallingford Comrades Snooker Players will be collecting no less than 18 trophies this year at the AGM & Presentation Night at the Marlborough Club.  That consists of 10 prestigious Winners & 8 valiant Runners Up trophies.  This is a wonderful & momentous achievement by all the Teams, Pairs & Individuals & a record trophy haul by the Comrades, appropriately in our Clubs Centenary Year.

Acknowledgements

I would like to offer thanks to Kev Higgs as A Team Vice-Captain, Andy Rance as B Team Captain & All Day Tournaments Organiser, Baz Alexander as C Team Captain plus his able deputy, Vice-Captain Mark Tinsey.  They all put in tireless hours & much thankless hard work.  I know just how much you all have done & what time, effort & organisational skills (& stress) is involved.  Thank you.

I would also like to thank ALL of the snooker players for their efforts & enthusiasm throughout the year.  You have all represented the Comrades Club to our highest traditions & achieved a record breaking year, very well done.  And without you guys there wouldn’t be competitions & I would have nothing to post on the Snooker Blog or FaceBook.

The Comrades hosted Semi Finals & Finals of the 2 Person Team, plus the Finals of the Doubles & Singles events.  The quality of the tables was commented on throughout the season by many players from visiting clubs who are envious of our excellent facilities.

The snooker players would like to thank the Comrades Club & the Committee for their continued investment in our facilities.  These have seen another good sustained return in revenue throughout the year.  Compared with other Clubs we are in an enviable position of having a plethora of players who all have a healthy appetite for competition, dedication & loyalty to this Club.  This is to be commended & encouraged as hopefully this enthusiasm & our continued successes will entice more new members, snooker players & ultimately teams to bolster the D&DB&SL.

A huge Thank You to John Beardsley for his tireless high quality maintenance & preparation of the tables.  No job is too big or small & without him the Snooker Tables would not be kept to such a consistent high quality.

And a massive Thank You to our wonderful Club Stewards Oz & Lucy & their bar staff.  Their hospitality extended to the away teams & also the consistent high quality of the food has been top notch.  We have always had a great reputation for our snooker suppers, so much so that other Clubs now feel obliged to reciprocate & host us with hot food, so thank you.  Your influence is beyond these four walls.

Also a very special ‘Shout Out’ to all the WAGS, AKA Snooker Widows.  Without your understanding & support the players & teams would not have achieved all that they have.  We are truly blessed to have you in our lives, thank you.

Finally, thank you to all of the Social Media Snooker Readers.  The Club runs Snooker pages on both Facebook & also the Snooker Blog & both prove very popular with lots of healthy banter & comments.

And lastly, Gavin Twigg of the Centenary Committee would not let me close this review without a plug for the Centenary Snooker Event.  Tickets are still available for the Steve Davis Exhibition Night on Sunday 23rd June 2019 at £30 each, just click the Events link on the Clubs Website.

Have a great summer break & see you all in September when we start the 2019-20 Season.

Comrades Snooker Rep & A Team Captain, Pete Billingham.