The North West Blog - North West Billiards and Snooker Association

Another new event for the North West

Michael Waring on 20/03/2023

North West Amateur Team Championships

This is a brand new competition inviting teams from the North West to compete against teams from across the region and a chance to play at the BRAND NEW state-of-the-art North West Snooker Academy where the semis and final will be played, using two tables that were both used at last years World Championships at the Crucible in Sheffield.,

1. Each team will consist of SIX players, a squad can consist of a maximum of ten amateur players. All players in each team must be of amateur status and live in one of the following regions (Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside).

2. There will be four groups of four teams, each group played on a round-robin basis. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the quarter finals of which will be played on the same day.

3. Each match will be played over six frames on two tables, one point will be awarded per frame. Should the match end up being tied at 3-3, a blue ball shoot out which involves all six players from each team, will decide the winner of the match.

4. Four groups will be played in Preston and Liverpool over the weekend of 27/28th May. Groups A and B will be played in Preston on 27th May whilst Group C and D will be played in Liverpool on 28th May.

5. The semis and final will be played at the brand new North West Snooker Academy in Liverpool on Sunday 18th June and will be streamed live.

6. Entry for each team is £125. The draw will take place on Tues 25th April. The first sixteen teams to pay entry fee will be in the competition – no exceptions.

7. Prize money as follows:

Winner: £1000

Runners Up : £500

Semis : £175

Highest Break: £50

There is also a prize (bottle of champagne) for the Player of the Tournament.

8. The team name must include an area, town/city or district of the North West, or even a registered league (NOT A COUNTY) …You can even add a name of your choice, for example Preston Panthers, Liverpool Lionesses, Widnes Warriors etc,

If an area has two teams registered, the competition secretary will give each team an A or B status etc.,

9. Dress code for the competition is smart casual (no jeans or trainers allowed).

HOW TO ENTER

Send your team via WhatsApp with Team Name, Team Captain and squad to 07850030916

The 2023 North West Amateur Snooker Championship – The Last 16

Michael Waring on 17/02/2023

8 players from the Preston qualifiers will join the 8 from Liverpool at the Stephen Hendry Snooker Club in Preston on Saturday 29 April.

Andy Williams, Emre Eves, Michael Wrigley, Marc Daugherty, Andy Rae, Dave Holcroft, Gaz Edwards and Jason Lawrence qualified from Preston.

Reigning champion John Whitty, who is aiming to win the title for a record fifth time, Simon Blackwell, Alex Millington, Ian Brumby, John Welsh, Josh Thomond, Mick McKeever and Bob McCune all qualified from the qualifying event at George Scotts in Liverpool.

Alex Millington’s break of 115 is the current highest break of the tournament.

North West Open 2023

Michael Waring on 17/01/2023

More, and very exciting, news coming very soon!

North West Open 2022

Michael Waring on 29/01/2022

The Lancashire area qualifiers for this years North West Open will take place at the Stephen Hendry Snooker Club in Preston on Saturday 5 March.

The Liverpool area qualifiers will take place at George Scott’s on Sunday 3 April.

The last four players remaining from each qualifying event will go forward to the Grand Finals which will also be at George Scotts on Sunday 8 May.

All matches will be on a KO basis with all matches being Best of Five frames.

The draws will take place the weekend before each event.

All players will be notified of the draw and their scheduled match time as soon as possible after the draw.

There will be NO cash payments accepted on the day of the competition.

All entries should be received before the closing dates –

Lancashire: Friday 25 February at 9pm

Liverpool: Friday 25 March at 9pm

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL PLAYERS MUST BE OF AMATEUR STATUS AND BE RESIDENT IN THE NORTH WEST OF ENGLAND.

DRESS CODE: Smart Casual (No jeans /T-shirts/ trainers allowed.

Entry fee is £20

To enter: Please send Tony Cook a message via WhatsApp or SMS to 07850030916 – saying which event you would like to enter.

Please don’t call. Tony is likely to still be in America and either performing, travelling or sleeping!

Tony will contact you to advise you of the bank details

You may only enter one of the events!

***FUTURE COMPETITIONS NEWS***

We will be announcing details of an exciting new competition starting in September which will be called the North West Snooker Masters. We will also be bringing back the North West Junior Championship in June this year which will be for the Bob Tonge Trophy.

The 2020 North West Amateur Snooker Championship

Michael Waring on 17/11/2021

At long last we can get the 2020 event played!

Although we will have to miss out on 2021, at least this event can now be bought to a conclusion.

The finals will be played at The George Scott Snooker Club in Liverpool on Sunday 5 December starting at 10:00am.

Lancaster Qualifiers

1. Anthony Wall
2. James Silverwood
3. Ian Martin
4. Josh Corless
5. Mark Ainscough
6. Dave Holcroft
7. Kevin Harris
8. Steve Scott

Merseyside Qualifiers

1. Mark Richardson
2. John Welsh
3. Jamie Jones
4. Eddie Lott
5. Andrew Pennington
6. Brian Robertson
7. Adam Brown
8. Mikey Roberts

Please Note: The draw will be done on the day. Any player that arrives after 10am will be docked one frame and another frame for every subsequent 10 minutes.

Dress Code: Smart

The Prize Breakdown will be announced on the day.

Coronavirus Update

Michael Waring on 16/03/2020

16/03/2020

Unfortunately we have taken the decision that it would be unwise to continue with the Grand Final on 5 April.

The event will be held at a future date, possibly the end of May after Q School.

13/03/2020

Due to Coronavirus we will have to monitor the situation in regards to North West Open Grand Finals on 5 April.

We have a duty of care to the players and we will make announcements as soon as possible if we need to postpone.

Lancaster Qualifier – Report

admin on 20/02/2020

In spite of atrocious weather conditions, 40 players turned up in Lancaster to contest the northern section of this tournament.

The tie of the preliminary round saw James Silverwood beat Farakh Ajaib 3-2. James had an 89 clearance, 88, 48 and 45, and Farakh breaks of 42 and 34 in the frames he won.

Other impressive performances came from Ian Martin who made a 56 break in the first frame of his 3-1 victory over David Stephenson, and Danny McDonald who beat experienced Gary Knowles 3-0 aided by a 54 break.

The next round of matches again saw Silverwood rise to the challenge, defeating the holder Simon Blackwood 3-1, with breaks of 51, 48 and 46. Other notable performances were by Kevin Harris who beat Richard Alston 3-1 with 4 breaks over 40.

Other good breaks in the first two rounds were made by Jack Cullingan, 84 and 56, Steve Scott, an 80 clearance, a 69 from Michael Cousins and 50’s from Mike Nixon and Josh Mulholland.

The qualifying round saw young newcomer Anthony Wall narrowly defeating Tyler Whittaker on the final pink. Silverwood struggled against Alan Pearson who led 2-0 but hit back to take the next 3 with a top break of 53. Jack Culligan hit the highest break of the day, a 90, in the first frame of his match against Ian Martin, however Ian took the next 3 to qualify. Josh Corless was particularly impressive in beating Mike Nixon 3-0 with breaks of 67, 47 and 45.

The other qualifyers with consistent performances were Mark Ainscough, Dave Holcroft, Kevin Harris and Steve Scott. A special mention should be made. Josh Naylor, a local lad with cerebral palsy, playing in his first tournament outside league play acquitted himself very well in spite of losing his match 3-0.

Tournament director Eddie Fielding.

Draw for the Lancaster Qualifier

Michael Waring on 12/02/2020

The Lancaster Qualifier for the NWBSA Open Amateur Snooker Championship 2020 will take place on Sunday 16 February at Squires Snooker Centre in Lancaster.

All Matches Best of 5
Smart Dress Code

Players in the Prelim Round matches M1 to M9 should be at the venue in time to start at 10:30am.
Matches M10 to M14 can start as soon as a table becomes available.

Prelim Round

10.30am Start
M1. J Tart v A Pearson
M2. J Silverwood v F Ajaib
M3. D Stephenson v I Martin
M4. P Govan v S Croft
M5. M Wilcock v J Snape
M6. M Nixon v W/O
M7. M Simm v D Hicks
M8. R Alston v W/O
M9. G Knowles v D McDonald

11.30am
M10. M Ainscough v J Simpson
M11. A Stackhouse v D Holcroft
M12. P Burns v N Morris
M13. A Jeffers v W/O
M14. T Arnott v V Gemson

Round of 32 (approx Midday roll on/roll off )

Winner M1 v T Lamb
Winner M2 v S Blackwell
Winner M3 v M Cousins
Winner M4 v J Culligan
Winner M5 v J Corless
Mike Nixon v J Cassidy
Winner M7 v J Wibberley
R Alson v K Harris
Winner M9 v D Taylor
Winner M10 v J Purcell
Winner M11 v A Veitch
Winner M12 v J Mulholland
A Jeffers v Z McClelland
Winner M14 v D Wilcock
A Wall v M Salmon
T Whittaker v J Naylor

Players who reach the LAST EIGHT, will qualify for the Grand Finals on Sun 5th April in Liverpool

Carlisle Qualifier Cancelled

admin on 11/01/2020

Due to the lack of entries, the qualifier due to be held in Carlisle has been cancelled.

Those who chose to do so have been transferred to Lancaster.

Simon Blackwell is the North West Open Amateur Snooker Champion 2019

admin on 10/04/2019

Simon Blackwell receiving the Pontins Cup from Eddie Fielding

On Sunday the 7 April 2019 the last 16 of the North West Open Amateur Snooker Championship was played at the George Scott Snooker Club in Liverpool

The first round began with Alex Taubman in fine form beating Tony Kinsella 3-1 with breaks of 52, 90 and 76.

Robert Marshall could not repeat his fine form from the Lancaster event losing easily 0-3 to Leo Fernandez. Leo made breaks of 39, 44 and 49.

Clayton Humphries had a comfortable 3-1 win over Jack Bradford, finishing off with a 73 break.

Junior player Paul Deaville continues to improve, winning the first frame against Mark Salmon on the black, then recording an 80 break in the next frame before wrapping up the match 3-0.

Andy Milliard had a titanic battle with David Holcroft. David made an 86 break to level the match at 2-2. However, Andy replied in the decider with 82.

In the remaining matches, Simon Blackwell beat Jamie Jones 3-0, Sean Maddocks beat Jason Tart 3-1 and Mike Nixon received a walk-over with the non-attendance of Danny Hicks.

The first quarter-final was a cat and mouse affair, with Alex Taubman taking the opening frame. Leo Fernandez levelled with 33 and 36. Alex again took the lead, aided by a 48 break. Leo dominated the fourth frame with a top break of 38. Alex at last produced his best form and took the decider with a 68 break.

Paul Deaville continued his fine form, defeating Clayton Humphries 3-1. Paul had a top break of 55, while in the only frame Clayton won, he made an 80 break.

Andy Milliard started off well against Simon Blackwell, winning the first frame with a 50. From then on, it was downhill as Simon won the next three.

Sean Maddocks played out a marathon match against Mike Nixon. Sean established a 2-1 lead before Mike hit back with a 56 break. The decider was a very tense affair with Sean trailing for most of the frame before snookering Mike on the blue and eventually potting the pink for the game.

The semi-final produced straight forward wins for Taubnan over Deaville, three nil and Blackwell over Maddocks, three one.

The final started with Taubman taking the first frame with the aid of a thirty nine break. There then followed an exhibition of consistent power potting by Blackwell who reeled off the next four frames in style to take the magnificent silver trophy, on loan from Thurston’s museum, a replica trophy and the five hundred pound winners cheque.

Alex received a cheque for two hundred and fifty pounds and a trophy.

Robert Marshall had the highest break of one hundred and nineteen, worth fifty pounds.

John Twist refereed the final stages and received a commemorative medal.

Report submitted by Eddie Fielding.