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Is there anyone on this forum who would like to talk about the old billiard players, teams, leagues etc?

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13 minutes ago, lakerman said:

Is there anyone on this forum who would like to talk about the old billiard players, teams, leagues etc?

Snooker players yes, billiards players no.

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I love playing billiards, you have to have such a completely different mindset. We have a yearly comp at our bowls/snooker club.

Know nowt about players or leagues though.

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I played billiards in the 80's for Firth Park WMC. and then Sheffield lane WMC.  Great days (or nights I should say ). I met many people over the years who I would not have met otherwise. It was a sad day for me and many others when the league folded. The trouble was that no young players were coming through and the older players were either getting too old or passing on.  There were two leagues that hosted billiards, one was part of the Monday night games league and the second was the Tuesday night league ( this was a better class league). As well as the usual league games and cup ko games there were individual comps for players, One unique comp was a billiards pairs ko and players played off a handicap. over the years I,  and a partner managed to win the trophy twice and were runners up twice. That's not to say we were two of the best players in Sheffield because as I say it was a handicap comp. There were some fantastic billiards players around at the time. I miss those times .

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I played snooker for Bellhouse wmc, won a few trophys, but never played billiards.. remember a good player from Firth Park..

Ken Phelan..

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Tuesday night...Sheffield and District Billiards League.

I played for Hillsborough WMC.

I still have a few trophies in a box somewhere up in the loft.

 

I remember Eric Ball from ( was it Pitsmoor Cons ). A real gentleman.

 

What was the name of the brilliant player...from, if I remember correctly, Dial House Club.

He was highly handicapped and often made large breaks. He was a joy to watch. 

 

Teams in the league I remember....

Hillsborough WMC

Firth Park

Darnall Cons

 Lane Top

St. Stephens 

 Handsworth

 Stocksbridge 

 

What others?

 

 

 

Edited by Allen

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19 hours ago, Padders said:

I played snooker for Bellhouse wmc, won a few trophys, but never played billiards.. remember a good player from Firth Park..

Ken Phelan..

When I joined Firth Park WMC at 18 yrs of age I used to play with Ken Phelan ( or should I say he played and I got the balls out of the bags). What a player he was. Like a few more of his time I think they could have turned pro if they were around today. Jack Seffers was another I played with. Happy memories.

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12 hours ago, Allen said:

Tuesday night...Sheffield and District Billiards League.

I played for Hillsborough WMC.

I still have a few trophies in a box somewhere up in the loft.

 

I remember Eric Ball from ( was it Pitsmoor Cons ). A real gentleman.

 

What was the name of the brilliant player...from, if I remember correctly, Dial House Club.

He was highly handicapped and often made large breaks. He was a joy to watch. 

 

Teams in the league I remember....

Hillsborough WMC

Firth Park

Darnall Cons

 Lane Top

St. Stephens 

 Handsworth

 Stocksbridge 

 

What others?

 

 

 

Eric Ball played for Burngreave cons.  He was a real gent as you say. I grew up with his son Brian.

Other clubs - Woodseats (two clubs) Shiregreen - Bellhouse. Quite a few of the clubs had two sides in the league.

 

I think the player you are thinking of was Eddie Birkenhead. He played for a few clubs over the years. He was probably the best player by far during that time.

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This might be of interest to older players in particular, if not already aware of an Exhibition Match of Billiards and Snooker played at the ESC Sports Club on 16th January 1946. I was taken to see Horace Lindrum (Australian nephew of Walter Lindrum), Sydney Smith (Killamarsh) and F V Stacey (Northern Area) Amateur Billiards Champion in that Exhibition Match. Two months later Horace Lindrum lost to Joe Davis in the 1946 World Championship (for the third time!).

Wikipedia provides information on Lindrum and Smith though I haven't found anything about the amateur F V Stacey, can anyone help out?

Clearly there was a considerable interest in Sheffield in billiards even though snooker was rising in popularity even before WW2.

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My Grandad, Les Ellis played billiards and was quite a player. Im sure he was the only man to win the Richardson Cup 3 times. 

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I remember that name Les Ellis. I can't remember who he played for but I seem to think he was an  excellent player. I don't remember the Richardson cup . Can you enlighten me please?

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Hi lakerman, sorry my mistake it was The Marshall cup that my Grandad won. He played for Upper Heeley  club i think, 

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