Comparative strength of leagues and a tangent!

[hon Vice President]

As a newcomer around here, I apologise in advance if this has been covered in any detail before, but I find myself wondering about the relative strength or average ability within the leagues.

As a guide, my personal average score this season is a touchover 4k in competitive singles matches, with highs around 7k. This puts me quite comfortably within the top ten in the league and one or two of those above average up to 7k+.

We would generally suggest that scores of 3,500 on a regular basis would win you more games than not, but as we in West Sussex are somewhat isolated (Through choice if you like) when it comes to regular games against other leagues, a comparison would be interesting. Obviously every league has its high-flyers, and we too have players with the fabled 20k polo shirt to wear on special occasions, but how are things down among the footsloggers?

I was reading through a thread elsewhere on here about the health of the game in general the other day, and it got me thinking about what might happen if we took the game on the road? A few exhibition matches in pubs or at beer festivals just to explain the game, and show it off as a traditional pub sport.

As an aside; were this to happen, would the prospect of two players hitting 10k each be a good or bad thing for the interested bystander? Or would a few trick-shots, or a series of games between junior players hitting 3 - 5k on average prove a greater draw.

One final little teaser. I'm moving to the Isle of Wight sometime soon - an area totally devoid of tables as far as I can ascertain. IF I can get a table in the local pub in the village i hope to move to; how many of you would consider a weekend sabbatical to Widget to show the locals what the game's all about?

Just pondering. That's all.

Hi Honchair,

I hope that others apart from myself will reply to your fine missive.

Have a look at the third and last posting on this thread :

barbilliards.proboards30.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Inter&thread=1149859979&page=1

You will note that a bar billiards tour of the Isle of Wight took place 30 years ago. At the time there were three tables and the Duke of York one was beautifully maintained. I believe you are correct in saying there are none now.

The weekend was magical and I'll see if I can remember the names of the 15 who went. (Bob Mobsby, Gerry McCarthy, Colin Parsons, John Slee, Chris Lewry and wife, John Turner, Brian Marten, Andy Gilbert and wife, tommo and margo who had not long met) *Anyone remember the other three ?*

We had some good adventures, like Gerry arriving with the van at the wrong jetty (for East Cowes) ::) - with the rest of us waiting to disembark for West Cowes, Colin Parsons winning the jackpot on the fruit machine in the Duke, Sleazy losing to a local called Dobbin on the crappiest table ever at Gurnard - Dobbin got up to about 700 and the bar went after 10 minutes ! :o And tommo and margo were given a tour of the north of the island in a vintage open-topped Austin Landau by Barry the landlord of the Duke of York. 8-)

So yes, a thirty-year anniversary follow-up visit would definitely be of interest.

[Martin Leach]

Hi honchair,

What a great idea. I think there would be quite a bit of interest for a jolly jaunt to the IOW. I used to play in the Portsmouth league, just over the water, and I bet a few of the guys would join in. I seem to remember a table in a pub near Sandown which had 9 whites and ran for 8 minutes, but that was many years ago, and it's probably gone now!

About the scores, I've had a few guests come with me to various opens etc, and although a couple of minutes watching someone hitting '3down1upsplit' holds their attention, the general response was usually "is that it?". Now although we all know how difficult making a great break can be, it seldom holds the general public's attention. The only time I ever saw BB on telly was years ago in a Freddie Trueman pub league thing (I think), and that used a timed break (I think). ???

Is it a spectator sport? I'm not sure, but I think what you are suggesting might be right. A good 3.5K nip and tuck game would possibly be a lot more watchable.

What do other people think?

Martin.

[bigtj]

Certainly from a newcomer to the games perspective it woukld be better to watch a nip and tuckgame, but an exhibition of different trick shots from some of our best players would go well along side this.

Also prehaps a follow up with evenings of coaching new or prospective players would surely not go amiss.

As for average scores in leagues they are going to vary immensely due to the standard of tables around. I play both Worthing and Brighton and certainly am not one of the superstars, but feel I need to average over 5K to win my share of games in Div 1. In Div 2 of both leagues you are probably talking of an average of around 3K winning you most games.
Also we get into the arguement of how many times playing with the break or against, because obviously if you regularly play top players against the break you can spend a lot of time watching and enjoying the odd pint rather than building your average. I think thatr a lot of players are team people so do not always get to stay at the table as they tend to touch up when the game is won, again affecting averages.

[Martin Leach]

All true tj.

You raise an interesting point about coaching too. I've probably helped a dozen or more newcomers get into the game in the past - just by introducing myself, and playing a couple of games when I see unknown faces in the pub, maybe followed later by a few coaching sessions. In fact, I was down the pub last night with one of the guys from my team who wanted a few pointers.

I hear a lot of lamenting about the shortage of new, young players - but how many of us actively do anything about it? It's never going to happen if we just turn up on league nights, and keep potential players off the table.

Who knows Prof,

Your computer game when released may bring bar billiards to the masses. 8-)

I think a lot of people are lost to the game by simply not knowing how it's played, and being reluctant to test their toe in the water.

There is a general problem though of fewer and fewer pubs having tables as time goes by.

[Martin Leach]

Just working on the game now Tommo- Look out for an announcement later today!