The future of Billiards

[JonLonergan]

Ive only recently got into billiards and find it just as rewarding, if not more so than snooker.

In my area there is no billiard league at all, and the number of clubs in the snooker league is declining.

There are only two players that i know of in my area that can play billiards to a decent standard but very rarely do they actually play it.

It helps a great deal with snooker and in my opinion is well worth putting some practise in for anyone.

[Souwester]

Good to see that EASB has shown some imagination with a combined billiards and snooker tournament next season: two frames of snooker, 200-up billiards and a further 2 frames of snooker. Maybe that might attract some snooker players to try billiards. Who knows they might even like it!

[ninefooter]

I play in "The Isle of Axholme" league which is in North Lincolnshire. The number of teams has declined to less than 10 now and I wish more players would take up the game to avoid further decline. It's a great game and definitely improves cueing skills, which can only help improve your snooker. Certainly works for me, so come on you snooker players, help keep this game alive and improve your snooker at the same time. It's a players sport and not a spectators sport as with snooker, but is very enjoyable though.

[franksandellsnooker]

The game is far from dying. A new website was launched this week world-billiards.com which aims at players old and new. The best possible instructive site English billiards.org is a must for all players aspiring or established. The EABA. promote the game and are active in a new coaching in initiative and in the amateur billiard circuit.(ABC.) tournament series.
The quality of play at the IBSF. championships in Carlow was breathtaking. Consider this if you think the game is boring - Mike Russell in his final with the Aussie Mathew Bolton was averaging just over four minutes per hundred in his major breaks and this in open play ie. top of the table together with its in offs cannons and pots required to reach or return to the top.Nursery cannons were rare.
You can see an overview of the game on my website franksandellcuesport.co.uk

[ninefooter]

Thanks for your upbeat reply which was very refreshing. I've looked at the websites mentioned and shall certainly be making contact with them. I don't think the game is boring and am sure that anyone who plays, also find it enjoyable to watch. I think the general public consider it boring in comparison with snooker and therefore there is very little interest in taking up the game and there aren't many esatblishments around where to get started, compared with yesteryear, (in th UK). Many snooker clubs no longer have members who know how to play the game and dedicated billiard clubs are very rare in the UK. Anyway, keep up the good word and here's to a brighter future for billards. Cheers.

[roykay]

Anyone wishing to take up/learn billiards or anything else connected with the game please contact me.
You can do this by registering with world-billiards.com then register with their forum. The tab is at the very bottom of the sites home page. Then you can send me a personal message. Also of great interest and help is Martin Goodwill's site englishBilliards.org
this site and his book English Billiards for Snooker Players is very very good for people starting to play the game and others.

Roy Bacon Glasgow

[jimhassel]

Yeah its true. There is good future available in Billiards also. Now lots of people trying to develop their skills in this game. So we can hope a good future of this game.

[sberry]

Great game, was taught to play by a proper billiards player but I stopped playing all cue games about 6 years ago when the local club closed and work got in the way but am now starting to play again, though my old practice partner has retired for good.

[Timo]

It would be good if we had a few more teams playing in our billiards league. With only 7 teams now we play each other 4 times to make a season out of it.

[claret and amber]

I started playing about 5 years ago in the south bradford league.
9 teams in the league / 6 man teams + dominoes
200 up with handicaps
I think it is a good standard and is played in a very good spirit.
Mark Hirst and Richard Lodge play in the league and are always good to watch.

[Cyril]

Love watching the video's on youtube of the tv tournament in the 80's. It was a funny format played against the clock but entertaining. I like the match where dear old Fred Davis puts Hurricane Higgins to the sword. Alex to his credit was keen enough to give it a go but played a most unorthodox game!

[tommy-thomas]

Great game, not played half enough, when I started playing sixty years ago in N. Wales we all kind of looked on snooker players as inferior beings, if there was a choice it was mostly Billiards or Pool. Billiards has helped me immensely, my weekly partner, good player, always marvels as to how I judge angles and pace either laying or getting out of snookers, I can only attribute it to those early years playing billiards. Trouble is, I can't find anyone to play these days.

[sixofclubs]

I have just started to play billiards after becoming a bit fed up with snooker recently, or more specifically how poor I am at getting out of snookers and also laying them!

What I have discovered is a lovely, flowing game that seems to reward artistry and imagination without all the mental clutter of worry about technique.

I played my first 'frame' last Thursday in a match in an eight man league at the Cueball in Derby and of course I lost but it was a lot of fun and I'm already seeing things on the snooker table that I hadn't noticed before.

[fred.england]

Me and my practice partner sometimes have a game after snooker. I really enjoy it as well.

The game really opens your eyes to a whole new world a angles, cannons and in-offs and I think that by playing the game, it would be HUGELY beneficial to some of our up and coming youngsters in the club who are just starting out in their snooker career. Sadly though, in our club especially it is a game on the decline as It's very rare I see anyone playing billiards.

[sberry]

Billiards knowledge and ability is hugely beneficial for snooker not just in teaching angles and positional play but also in teaching the snooker player some shots he simply doesn't know or wouldn't know.

Both the websites mentioned are very good and if somebody is looking to learn or play the game there are some good coaching books such as this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1310262151...84.m1558.l2649 and I am listing some others this week too, check the other items for sale, both billiards and snooker books, balls, cues and other bits will be coming up very soon