In a snooker season significantly interrupted by a worldwide pandemic and it was always understandable that not all competitions or matches could be completed; some were never started and we had an unprecedented 2 World Championships at the Crucible within 6 months of each other. The club competitions for 2019–20 were significantly impacted and were not finally completed until October 2021. Sadly, there was also no Dave Watts Memorial Pairs Trophy played during the summer months and snooker clubs were closed for long periods
There was no 2020-21 league season due to Covid and the 2019-20 season was brought to an abrupt halt with five weeks of the season remaining. Our four teams in the Efficiency League had all competed with mixed results before matches were suspended. In May 2021 the Efficiency League asked clubs to play the remaining four fixtures during the months of June 2021 and as a club we decided that we would not be able to agree with this decision. Quite rightly, we saw this as an unnecessary risk and explained this in writing to the league. As a result all four teams forfeited the final four matches of the season scoring zero points.
The A Team remained safely in the Premier League and was never at risk of relegation even though they conceded 20 points and four losses to other teams. Amarjit Boora played in 20 of the season’s matches and won 14 giving him the best record of our premier league players. A special mention must also go to Martin Hollingworth who has been an A team stalwart for many years, helping the club to compete in the Premier League and always proving a tough opponent. Martin has moved away from the area and we sent him our best wishes and thanks.
The B team got off to a very poor start in the league season, losing the first four matches and never really recovered their position. Added to the concession of the last four matches of the season 5–0, then it is unsurprising that they were relegated from division one to division two. The two performances worth mention were Steve Powell who won 6 of his 16 matches and a warm welcome back to Dickie Plaice who won 5 of the 10 matches that he played. We are hoping that the B team can achieve promotion this season back to division one and they are currently well on course to achieve this.
The C and D teams finished 11th and 14th respectively in division three. There is no relegation procedure from this division and so both teams pick up the competition again this season hoping for better results. In the notable individual performances Craig James won 16 of his 21 matches for the C team and for the D team, Craig Cartmell was the winner on 15 occasions of his 20 matches. It is with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Kenneth Cartmell this summer. ‘Our’ Ken was the captain of the D team for many years and did a fantastic job of bringing together his players. He was a worthy opponent in single frame snooker and will be greatly missed by all.
In the 2019-20 club competitions that were eventually completed, Paul Turton won the Open defeating Martin Hollingworth in a very close final. Paul also ran out the winner in the final of the club’s Billiards Handicap Competition defeating Steve Powell in an excellent final. This competition was decided by the final break made by Paul in a ‘come from behind’ win and was as close as one can possibly imagine. Our commiserations to Steve on a well-played final.
Finally, in a long delayed Snooker Handicap final, Brian Parkin emerged victorious defeating the previous winner Tom Hancher in an excellent final. Congratulations to Brian as the outgoing club president on a match well played.
We can only hope that this year’s competitive snooker at the Grenville does not suffer from the similar interruptions and that all matches are played in the same excellent spirit of competition and friendliness.