2015-16: Summary of the season

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The Burton and District Clubs Snooker League’s Annual Presentation took place at Belmont Services Club in Swadlincote last Friday. A good turnout was entertained by comedian/singer Terry Woodpecker whilst Fiona and her girls produced a lovely buffet for all present. There was a bottle raffle and a superb signed shirt raffled thanks to Pete Maguire. The main purpose of the evening though was to hand out the prizes to all winners after another great season.
In Division Two, the two Woodville sides had a scrap for the bragging rights in their club with the A team just coming out on top in the end….but this was only to finish 5th and 6th. Promotion was always going to be between 4 sides that were up there all season…Swad Snooker Centre D, Spot On C, Swad Cons B and The Baulkline. For a long time, it looked like Spot On C would run away with the league but as the season went on they faded and in fact on the last day they failed to raise a side and due to that they finished 4th.. That meant a well deserved promotion to Swad Snooker Centre D for the Bloors and one of our main sponsors David Wain….

The runners up spot went to Paul Hollis, Ross Hollis, Ged White, Bob McNulty and Vince Draper of Swad Cons B. The winners will be playing out of Rolleston next season-they lost only twice all season-and they are Wayne Smith, Tom Lucas, Jon Sully, Mick Taylor,Billy Ashton, Mark Storr and Simon Seabridge from The Baulkline .

The highest break prize in the division was 53 from Simon Seabridge from The Baulkline. In the Averages table, notable mentions should go to Bob Birch, Ged White, Andrew Bloor, Jared Cronje and Tom Smith but the two best players came from the champions. Tom Lucas only lost 6 frames all year but the winner with an incredible record of 46 wins from 48 frames and an average of 95.83% was Wayne Smith.
As usual rather like the Championship in football, Division One was a real see-saw of a division with anyone seeming to beat anyone else with lots of draws and narrow 5-3 wins. The whole division was only separated from top to bottom by 52 points as opposed to well over a hundred points in the other two. In fact, there were no 8-0 wins all season.

At the bottom Tutbury B, Alrewas B and Belmont C struggled all season and despite all 3 teams rallying at the end, the drop was inevitable. The lead at the top end changed no end of times. Swad Snooker Centre C led the way to start by virtue of winning their first 7 games. Alrewas C were always up there and secured promotion on the last day of the season.

Rolleston A recovered from their usual sluggish start to the season and in the end were worthy runners-up. Their team included Joe Docksey, Ant Rushton, Bobby Cliff, Rich O’Dell and James Wilkinson.

The winners started the season with 6 straight 5-3 wins and didn’t have anything other than a 5-3 or 4-4 result until weeks 15 and 16 when they won 6-2. It was this consistency that gave Chimneys C -their team was Trevor Heath, Tony Clements, Steve Gaunt, John Hardy and Andy Jenkins

In this division there were 79 breaks over 30, 19 of these were over 40 but there were only two over 60. Martin Hurdman had a nice 61 but the winner with a cracking 67 was Karl Hancox.

In the averages, there were 7 players who averaged over 75% so notable mentions must go to Micky Morris, Steve Cockeram, John Richardson, Jon Swift, Nick Harcombe and Karl Hancox. This list does not include Ant Rushton who won all 28 of the league frames he played but does not qualify as he didn’t play enough frames. In the end the winner playing for relegated Belmont C was Mark Press with 81.58%.

In the David Wain Insurance Premier Division this season soon turned into a league with 3 mini leagues. At the bottom, Stapenhill A struggled and despite recording 8 draws were unable to win a match. Alrewas A were on the wrong end of some close matches and were also relegated. Chimneys B or Belmont B were also likely to join them on the last day as they suffered defeats but a draw for Chimneys A was not enough to save them so they were relegated as well. In the middle after Chimneys B, the other two promoted sides retained their status-Swad Cons A and Burton Cons B. At the top it was the usual suspects of Belmont A, Ashby Ivanhoe A and Burton Cons A who pulled away.In the end Ivanhoe were runners up for the third year running team included Mick Kirk, Ant Moore, Ian Rennocks, Daniel Blunn and Steve Butler. The winners and doing so for the 9th straight year, having not lost all season and in fact only drew once was Burton Cons A. Their team included Mick Simpkins, Graham Stevens, Owen Jones, John Shilton, Stuart Roberts and Darren Coady.

In the high breaks table there were 258 thirty plus breaks so about 10 a week;33 were 50 plus but the high break of 91 would have been a ton if not for a massive kick on the green was made by John Shilton.

In the averages, notable mentions go to Owen Jones, Ian Archer, John Shilton, Wayne Brewin and Andy Grainger, all of whom averaged over 73%.The winner was Graham Stevens, who only lost five frames all season.

In the Baulkine Presidents Cup, the divisional winners were Spot On C, Burton Cons C and Ivanhoe A. The final was played out at Woodville and the runners up were Burton Cons C. Ivanhoe A ran out the winners

A special award sponsored by Trevor Heath was given to Karl Hancox for his magnificent 112 made in a first round match.

The final of the new Orme Plate competition was a cracking match between Chimneys B and Ivanhoe A which could have gone either way.In the end it was Chimneys B who were runners up, including Lee Cooke, Steve Lane, Steve Butterworth and Loz Kennerson with Ivanhoe A winning the new Plate.

The Orme Shield had strong runs to the semi finals for Tutbury A and Swad Cons A with an even better one for Division One side Burton Cons C but it was one step to far in the final. Their team included Ian Shrive, Matt Hucker, Tom Egginton and Lee Louch.The winners of the newly revamped Orme Shield were Belmont A including Ian Archer, Fran McNulty, Wayne Brewin ,Shaun Gebbie and Josh Gebbie

In the billiards competition, the runner up was Graham Stevens from Burton Cons. The winner was Steve Ford from Stapenhill Institute.

The Geoff, Sheila and Graham Hinsley handicap doubles was won by Jon Fletcher and Simon Smith with the runners up Carl Poulton and Tom Smith. The Jason Hyde Handicap Singles was won by Ant Rushton with runner up Fran McNulty.

The over 50s competition, The Jack Dyche was won by Mark Vaughan 3-2 in a tight final against runner up Bill Stewart.The Arthur Edwards Scratch Doubles was won by Jon Fletcher and Simon Smith making it a rare double of doubles with Ant Moore and Mick Kirk runners up.

The Tony Fagan Funeral Directors Evershed Vase was a good competition from start to finish and this time, the line up in the last 8 was particularly strong. In the semis Karl Hancox lost to John Shilton whilst Andy Grainger beat Owen Jones. The final was a great match at Burton Cons and the runner up was John Shilton. The winner mixing a good blend of safety and attacking flair winning 3-1 on the night was Andy Grainger.

Finally the season end’s Ken Shipton Memorial Competition took place at Belmont. This is played by those across the 3 divisions who have been the most consistent all season. It was another good day with a full turnout and many close matches. Bob Birch rolled back the years to win through to the quarters and Tom Lucas and Karl Hancox did well to reach the semis. The final though was contested by two of Burton’s top players down the years..It was a top quality match with a number of 30 plus breaks mixed with some cracking safety…despite going 2-0 up the runner up in the end was John Shilton. The winner after many seasons away from the game was Graham Stevens

Another great season and thank to all who have helped make it so. In all 314 players played league snooker this year. In particular thanks to all of our sponsors especially David Wain, Tony Fagan, The Baulk Line and Premier Blinds. The AGM will be on 14th July with a view to starting up again at the start of September.

By Mike Buckland