Evening all.

The season is nearly at a close, not long before the annual Stute party...er I mean presentation night.

I thought it may be time to suggest a few changes to the league for next year.

1) Make it ALL 1 LEAGUE (A & B teams), not 1st and 2nd teams.

2) Reduce the 6 man team to a 5 man team (this would help those who have struggled to get a 2nd team over the past few years and would also have players challenging for places.

3) Move the snooker handicap to -28, if the billiards can go to -48, then the snooker can sustain -28. (There are some players who should be on -28)

4) If a team is a man short, instead of cancelling or losing a game, or in the case of billiards 100 points, allow the opposing team captain to choose which player of that team can play again.

Your thoughts......

Joe

Other alternatives:

1/ Run the billiards and snooker as separate entities - a single billiards league where you have six players and can choose to enter one or two teams per club. Run the snooker as two divisions with promotion and relegation from the end of next season (1 up, 1 down plus 2nd bottom div one plays runner up div 2 in an aggregate only play off for a place in div one)

Anything going up for consideration must be raised at the AGM and under Rule 4, notice of motion for the AGM must be with the secretary 14 days prior to the meeting.

The league would fair better, imo, if a delegate from each club MUST attend league meetings. I believe HPSC are as guilty as other clubs of not doing so.

GOOD EVENINGS........ I THINK MR.H & MR.P ARE QUITE RIGHT, SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE TO GIVE THE LEAGUES A BOOST, IT IS SLOWLY GRINDING ITSELF TO A HALT :(

You want to suggest a change to proceeding, good idea

Good Luck

Some people cant do change, say no more

I know a few clubs aren't keen on the billiards so it may be a case that billiards becomes an opt-out game. The only problem with that is that people will only play every other week if that's the case. Changes have to be made as far as some clubs are concerned but I'm not sure how. I guess you've got to keep as much as possible on a Thursday but many players go out Tuesday and Thursday anyway.

I'd say that a show of hands would be needed from all concerned parties as to what they want. It's fair enough asking for change but if nobody proposes an alternative in terms of league structure, how fixtures would work, etc., then it's not exactly fair to criticise DD for working with a formula that's stood for years. He's been flexible with the extra second division snooker matches.

Personally I'd take it one step at a time - first step would be an amalgamated billiards league that could run on a couple of Tuesdays as well as the Thursday; when I started, there were always a couple of weeks at the start of the season and the start of the new year where we played matches on Tuesdays to fit everything in. Obviously all players in one billiards league would give the high flyers in the second division a chance to prove themselves if they've not been able to break into the first team.

I'd keep it at six in a side but put no pressure on clubs to field two teams. Gut feel of teams per club would be useful and some would probably relish the challenge of billiards against Messrs Tully, Duncan and co. Obviously handicaps may take a couple of seasons to even out but that's a small sacrifice for keeping billiards going. I'm happy to draught a fixture list based on a guestimate of which clubs will field however many teams. I'd expect Libs and Stute to field two, not sure about the rest.

the extra second div snooker has been good but we need this to apply to second div billiards aswell ie extra games and all these fixtures should start in september and not on a bit of paper but on a yellow laminated sheet like in the eccles league so everyone can see it ........as for handicaps we can use a different formula...ie lose or gain a point for all games won or lost the previous season

There used to be a logical formula for it posted at the Legion when I played there. I assume that still applies - 20 off at snooker/25 at billiards for 100% wins, so long as you've played a minimum number of games.

It wouldn't take much of a system to resurrect that, assuming that it's not the case already.

GOOD EVENINGS...... I QUITE AGREE THAT THE BILLIARDS LEAGUES SHOULD BE FORMED AS ONE LEAGUE. AS MR.P QUITE RIGHTLY STATED,SEASONS USED TO START WITH A COUPLE OF WEEKS OF..TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, THEN AFTER CHRISTMAS SAME AGAIN.AS FOR HANDICAPS WHY NOT LEAVE THEM FOR THE FIRST SEASON TO SEE HOW IT GOES,COS IM SURE TEAMS LIKE CHURCH 2ND,LIBS 2ND, ETC WOULD MORE THAN COMFORTABLY HOLD THERE OWN AND THEY WOULD RELISH THE CHANCE OF UPSETTING A FEW TEAMS INCLUDING THEIR OWN " 1ST TEAMS " :o

ok so lets go with this a single billiard league.....mind you pres cons 2nd team is so bad they will need plus 99 handicaps

been doin a bit of maths cos none in shop...a single billiards league would have 13 teams therefore 24 matches each team...if play 4 tuesdays as in past leaves 20 weeks of billiards and 14 weeks snooker...so can easily do it especially if some more tues games.. and just a note..individuals comps why is there such a rush to get these started some people dont even have chance to see the sheets..these should start much later and can easily fit in with 20 weeks of billiards...ok back to work now

GOOD IDEA HURRICANE.ALSO INDIV. KNOCKOUTS & TEAM KNOCKOUTS COULD ALL BE DRAWN IN ONE GO SO YOU KNOW WHO YOU COULD MEET IN THE NEXT ROUND,ALL GAMES TO BE PLAYED NEAR THE END OF THE SEASON , ON CONSECUTIVE WEEKS ,. THIS WILL KEEP MORE PEOPLE INTERESTED LONGER . WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

I think you're better using Tuesdays for the comps and spread them throughout the season - postponements become a problem if you don't leave gaps.

What needs to be taken into consideration, though, is how many clubs would put in a second string if that was optional rather than preferred. Would, say, Carlton bother? I'm sure Libs and Stute would, but not sure about the others.

I agree, the extra billiards league matches can be slotted in at the start of the season and the start of January and two teams in the same division is not a problem - we have that situation in the bowling league and it works fine.