Under 30’s 2023

[JB]

This will be held on 26th November 2023 @ Totteridge start time TBC

Entry fee will be £5 per player

1. Daniel Wheal
2. Melissa Beach
3. Michael Wilson
4. Joe Oakley
5. Andrew Pearce
6. Abbey Balchin
7. Max Burt
8. Philip Wilson

[oaklj007]

May 12, 2023 11:48:41 GMT JB said:

This will be held on 26th November 2023 @ Totteridge start time TBC

Entry fee will be £5 per player

1. Daniel Wheal
2. Melissa Beach

yes please also add Krystal beck

[billiardsmichael]

Count me in please Jean!

[billiardsmichael]

Abbey Balchin as well please

[billiardsmichael]

Another please, Max Burt.

Also, quick question. Is there any limitations in terms of who can enter (other than age ofc). More specifically do you have to play in/for an AEBBA affiliated county to be able to enter? I've been trying to encourage some old uni mates to play (with varied degrees of success) and this is the sort of comp I could probably persuade some of them to try, despite not being locals.

[NigelS]

Hi Michael

You should be representing an affiliated county to play in All England events

However, I am all for encouraging people to play in these events. Maybe Max could represent Surrey?

[billiardsmichael]

May 13, 2023 16:32:50 GMT NigelS said:

Hi Michael

You should be representing an affiliated county to play in All England events

However, I am all for encouraging people to play in these events. Maybe Max could represent Surrey?

Max currently plays in Redhill league, so is "Surrey qualified", but I have some other friends in other counties who don't play in leagues or live in a county with a league.
 If there is a firm ruling on whether people in this situation can/can't play that would helpful so that I can invite/coerce/force them to come and give it a try.

Also, if it is the case that they can't play, I suggest that this needs to be changed and I'd be happy to submit a rule amendment at the appropriate point in time.

Thanks.

[joefoxon]

I'm definitely in (for the last time )

[billiardsmichael]

May 13, 2023 16:53:57 GMT billiardsmichael said:

May 13, 2023 16:32:50 GMT NigelS said:

Hi Michael

You should be representing an affiliated county to play in All England events

However, I am all for encouraging people to play in these events. Maybe Max could represent Surrey?

Max currently plays in Redhill league, so is "Surrey qualified", but I have some other friends in other counties who don't play in leagues or live in a county with a league.
 If there is a firm ruling on whether people in this situation can/can't play that would helpful so that I can invite/coerce/force them to come and give it a try.

Also, if it is the case that they can't play, I suggest that this needs to be changed and I'd be happy to submit a rule amendment at the appropriate point in time.

Thanks.

Having had quite a thorough look at the rules, I don't think there is anything covering who can/can't play in opens/AEBBA individual comps. Only reference to entries I've noted is:
""34) Only counties affiliated to the All England Association may enter A.E.B.B.A. competitions."
However, this is under the section "RULES GOVERNING INTER COUNTY TOURNAMENTS AND A.E.B.B.A. TEAM K.O. COMPETITIONS.". So team (knockout...) comps and competitions between counties (County Champs, All England Singles) are covered but (I don't think) that covers comps such as age-restricted/pairs/etc.

If I've interpreted this wrong please do let me know.

[BB Warrior]

May 14, 2023 14:24:38 GMT billiardsmichael said:

Having had quite a thorough look at the rules, I don't think there is anything covering who can/can't play in opens/AEBBA individual comps. Only reference to entries I've noted is:
""34) Only counties affiliated to the All England Association may enter A.E.B.B.A. competitions."
However, this is under the section "RULES GOVERNING INTER COUNTY TOURNAMENTS AND A.E.B.B.A. TEAM K.O. COMPETITIONS.". So team (knockout...) comps and competitions between counties (County Champs, All England Singles) are covered but (I don't think) that covers comps such as age-restricted/pairs/etc.

If I've interpreted this wrong please do let me know.

Hi Michael, I think that possibly the rule you have quoted (Rule 34) was designed to cover ALL A.E.B.B.A run events rather than just direct "Inter County" competitions, although I would agree that is open to interpretation.... 

Having said that, I know that the A.E.B.B.A. do want to encourage new players to participate in our game which has been shown by their commitment to have the "Challenger" Events and allowing players from York (who I believe are not affiitated county?) to play in those so, hopefully, the rules would allow some new young players to enter the Under 30's competition even if they are not from affiliated counties. 

[joefoxon]

Sadly, due to the Notts committee choosing not to affiliate, I assume I'll have to withdraw from the competition.

[tommo III]

I would not like to see Joe debarred from taking part in this competition. He is already paying the entry fee of £5 and should not have to pay an additional £30 affiliation just for the privilege.  Especially a) having contributed that figure for x number of years for minimal benefit - and b) intimating that this would have been his last year of meeting the age qualification.

BBW has pointed out that in the past, advantage has been taken of a loophole to allow more or less anyone to take part in the Challenger event.
AEBBA could confirm their commitment to encouraging young players to stretch a point for the Under 30s also.     [Note - this is wrong: as pointed out to me by Jean, Yorkshire were affiliated last season - ct]

If push came to shove, Joe could approach Northants to do a 'shadow signing' for one of their teams, then he could represent them and legally take part.

[BB Warrior]

Sept 1, 2023 12:46:34 GMT joefoxon said:

Sadly, due to the Notts committee choosing not to affiliate, I assume I'll have to withdraw from the competition.

Since Tommo has included me in this discussion, I suppose I should clarify what I meant when he refers to a "loophole" in the rules. I would stress that this is only my personal opinion and not, in any way, an official viewpoint of AEBBA.

I think the AEBBA run competitions fall into 2 categories:-

1) Representative Competitions, where teams or players represent their county.
(County Championships, Team Championships, AE Mens & Ladies Singles)

2) Other Competitions.
(Bournemouth Pairs, Over 50's & 60's, Under 30's, Mixed Pairs, Grand Prix)
To me, these Competitions should be "open" to anyone who would like to take part that meets the criteria by age or performance.

I have not checked the individual wording of the AEBBA Rules to see if those Competitions do state that players must be registered for an affiliated county so I could be completely wrong with what I have said, however "common sense" should really be applied bearing in mind that the AEBBA do support and encourage the participation of all players that want to take part in competitions. 😀

[billiardsmichael]

As I mentioned a little while ago, the rules do not seem to restrict entry for (non-inter county) individual competitions to affiliated counties (I haven't been corrected on this, so I think this is a correct reading).

It would certainly seem detrimental to the future of bar billiards if Nottingham's players (or anyone else from a non-affiliated county) were not allowed to take part - especially after such a good showing last year.

[joefoxon]

As it happens, I'll have to sadly withdraw from this regardless of the decision made as I now have another event that I can't miss that weekend. Sad to miss my last chance to compete in this.

[billiardsmichael]

Please add Philip Wilson. I can hear it now, young silent whispering the "bandana bandits brother's better"

["Silent"]

Nov 1, 2023 13:48:11 GMT billiardsmichael said:

Please add Philip Wilson. I can hear it now, young silent whispering the "bandana bandits brother's better"

No whispering fella

[JB]

Less than two weeks to go.
Please let us know asap if there are any other entries

[danwheal]

Can you add Andrew Pearce please

[NigelS]

11.30am start time Sunday

[NigelS]

Groups drawn for Sunday as follows, top 2 in each group progress to the semi finals

Group 1
U1 Michael Wilson
U2 Andrew Pearce
U3 Melissa Beach
U4 Philip Wilson

Group 2
U5 Daniel Wheal
U6 Abbey Balchin
U7 Max Burt
U8 Joe Oakley

[billiardsmichael]

Single or double legs in the groups?

[bigtj]

Good luck to all taking part tomorrow.

[NigelS]

Nov 24, 2023 10:29:43 GMT billiardsmichael said:

Single or double legs in the groups?

Double legs in Groups

[billiardsmichael]

Congratulations to my good mate Max who took his maiden AEBBA title by winning the U30s today.

Having been placed in the group of death, an opening match loss to Joe meant it was knockout games from there in. He got past Abbey and started finding some rhythm and finished the groups with a crunch match with Dan. After Dan had earlier lost to Abs and seen Joe make 19,940 in their game, he needed to win to stay in the hunt. Dan opened up a 10k lead after leg 1 but Max fought back with a 9k opener. Dan couldn't get going and Max took two attempts to finish it off, sealing his semi-final place.

For the third time this month Max faced Michael, and with it being 1-1 it was time for Max to sneak the "decider" as has become traditional. Michael had a 5.5k lead on the tough table 4 after leg 1 and Max didn't make much in his break. Michael then lost 3k before Max went to do or die mode. He required 4.2k win and, with 8 minutes to go he grafted and grafted and got to the point of being 70 points up with one ball remaining. Straight in the hundred, superb break and comeback.

In the final Max was on a different level. Despite an early hiccup where he came off with only a k, Joe only replied with 2k before Max added 1 more k before a miscue. From then on though there was just one player in the match. Max got them back and a beautiful 100-splitting 8k gave him an 8.5k lead. Joe, 2k in to his reply, pegged it and the table became loaded. Max managed to get them back and added a 6k break which saw hands shook and Max claiming the title at his first attempt!

Well done mate 😄

[tommo III]

What a great result !  The Nomads rule !
Well done to Max and well done to Michael too on making the Semis. Commiserations to beaten finalist Joe.
And from what you say, Abbey played her part too.


Max ..... a National champion.

[NigelS]

Thanks to Michael for his detailed report of the final. I would like to add my congratulations to Max Burt for winning his first AEBBA title.

There was a debate as to whether the 2 Grand Prix qualifiers Daniel Wheal and Joe Oakley should play in this event due to timings for the event, but they played and Max beat them both on the way to the title, making his win that more impressive and no doubt the best player won the competition on the day.

Well done to the 2 ladies Melissa and Abbey for both winning matches. Abbey beat Daniel in her first match and Melissa also won her first match and could have made the semis if she had only scored 800 more points.

Below are the group standings

Group A		P	W	L	Score	Player Ave
Michael Wilson		3	3	0	44870	7478
Philip Wilson		3	1	2	8220	1370
Melissa Beach		3	1	2	7440	1240
Andrew Pearce		3	1	2	5250	875
Group B
Joe Oakley		3	3	0	40090	6682
Max Burt		3	2	1	24980	4163
Abbey Balchin		3	1	2	11970	1995
Daniel Wheal		3	0	3	31550	5258

[billiardsmichael]

Nov 27, 2023 11:10:31 GMT NigelS said:

Well done to the 2 ladies Melissa and Abbey for both winning matches. Abbey beat Daniel in her first match and Melissa also won her first match and could have made the semis if she had only scored 800 more points.

Well done to Andrew and Philip as well, both had never played a competitive bar billiards match before with their sole practice being the night before. Both winning a leg in those circumstances was a great effort!