Should we stage a separate "British Isles Open" ?

None other than K.T. has just suggested it :
Quote:
As the World championships are held in Jersey (which i have no problem with), maybe we should have the British Isles Open over here?

My initial thoughts are :
1. Great idea, why has no-one thought of it until now ?
2. There will be the usual arguments on what rules it is played under. Off-the-spot - why not ? I'm definitely in favour.
3. No doubt we will attract some Channel Islanders if we do - so it had better be staged in one of the southern counties for convenience, with Sussex the prime candidate.

What do the rest of 'yous' think ?

[SirKT]

Bloody great idea! :) ;)

How about the end of January & we can tie it in with the International against Jersey (if we`re at home that is).
Or if we`re away that year, try and match it up with the Guernsey international at home.
I`m sure that most of the top players would enter along with many others, an Off the Spot competition of this magnitude has been missing on these shores for too long now thanks to the Alternative rules open.

Nigel's had some input as well on this.

See the thread he started earlier :
barbilliards.proboards30.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1160956280&page=1

...and reply from Sav.

I would think this is a good idea too. In fact, I do think this is a good idea!!

[NigelS]

Obviously I agree with KT and feel that we should hold a national off the spot competition of some sort

Tommo - it has been thought of before and the national off the spot competition started in around 1983, but changed in the late 90's to what is now the triangle or alternative rules.

The original competition was before my time, but only the very best won it, and as KT will surely tell you there were some great finals in this tournament before the changes. At the time I believe counties had to run a set of qualifiers to send 3 representatives from each county to the finals.

As i said before I am not knocking the alternative rules and it should still have a place on the calendar, but it is a very different game to proper off the spot which we played yesterday in Brighton. I certainly believe that playing off the spot improves your all round game and also improves your play of the more traditional rules that we usually play.

The stumbling block could be who would run it and could we get tables. The Reading part of the season is already well crowded and as KT said a better time maybe for the tournament to be place near the internationals. AEBBA could take on the responsibility (as Sav says giving more work for me!) or could possibly a county take this on and run it?

Yes, Nigel, I hasten to point out that it's not my idea but rather yours and Katie's and I was trying to channel it into a thread where it is easily accessible for discussion.

For this event I think we should not live in the past ( I'm a one to talk, ha ha ) but treat it as if it were an entirely new competition.

The choices of county to stage it would appear to be Kent, Sussex and Hants. poor Sav probably has enough on his plate, so if Sussex (with the recent acquisition of a new driving force in KT) didn't want to do it, Portsmouth might be the best venue as a showcase for the new table supremos.

[Pete S]

The Six in one is a good venue. Not to far for Chris with the tables ?

[Sparky]

I like the way this thread is going, good ideas and positive thinking BUT on the negative side Jersey still use the term 'The British Isles Open' as in ;
"The 2006 World Championship & British Isles Open"
so we would either need them to relinquish this title (unlikely I think even if it was Off-the-Spot rules) or we would need a different name.

* Nobody seems to refer to the 'Jersey' competition as the British Isles Open anymore only calling it the World Championships so maybe one of these would do;
'The British Isles Off-the-Spot Open' is obvious but long
'The Off-the-Spot Open' would do
'The British Open' is similar to Jersey but usable (see above comment *)
'The Open' (like Golf) could be confusing.

PS. It is a foul to play 'off ' the spot so we should call it 'On-the-Spot' ;D

[fazza]

A different title would be far better to avoid confusion. But it would probably only be the really big event that we are looking for if sponsors are found. That is what made the Jersey event and, to a lesser extent, the Dr Martens Open in Northants.

Just to remind everyone that this is not a new idea, it just needs getting off the ground.

Yes, just before the International match would be beneficial, but would January make travelling difficult? So, do you want a big event for all, or just a "practice" event for those big boys and girls chosen for England and some local players?

[Secretary J.B.B.L.]

Evening All,

Interesting thread you have going here. I'm very sure a few of the Jersey lads and ladies would be interested if it ever got off the ground.

However, I may be wrong here, but I think Jersey has registered 'British Isles Open' as well as 'World Championship' for a name. Therefore, a totally different one would need to be found compared to the possible similarities already mentioned.

I shall confirm for you on the 'registering' of the name.

See you all very soon. Entrys are still roughly 50 down in the main competition and only about 5 places available in the Doubles. Keep the entrants coming and keep the word spreading about the tournament. (We do still except late entrants on the morning)

Sean

[Kady]

Timings wise: Be careful not to clash with the Redhill Invitational competition in early Feb, it would be a shame to ask people to decide between an estblished good competition and supporting a "new" idea!!!

[The Bullet]

If its not already being used how about the UK Open?

SirKT's idea of tyeing it in with the internationals has promise, but we would have to look at the availability of tables in Guernsey.

Looks like we'll have lots to talk about in Jersey this year (for those of us that get knocked out early) :'(

[Q]

I agree with MOST of whats been said so far BUT..

The Worlds is an 'on the spot' competition because thats the rules they use in CI - SO....

If this new comp will be played on the mainland then it should be to 'English' rules which really makes it 'just another open'

or am I reading this the wrong way?

Let's face it, it's never going to get off the ground if straightaway an argument rages about what we are going to call it.

By clinging to the licence for British Isles Open (as well the World Championship) Jersey are doing no-one any favours.

Sorry, Jersey, I'm a huge supporter of your cause, but it will cause widespread confusion of what it's about and who will be eligible to enter if we are restricted to calling it the Great Britain Open or the National Bar Billiards Open. We are trying to include you here in the 'new' competition and even staging it under the C.I. system of rules as most of the 'serious players' desire that as a bit of a change.

I suppose it could be called the British Open but it would be good if you could cut us some slack and let it be the British Isles Open, it sounds so much better and more relevant to the occasion.

bobchapple said:

If its not already being used how about the UK Open?

As you can see, excludes the Channel Isles, Isle of Man, etc

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=united%20kingdom

[SirKT]

Hello Q
No, it shouldn`t be just another Open. Several years ago, there was a competition called the National BB Individuals which was `On the Spot` as you put it. We would be resurrecting a competition under the same format but with a different name.

Here`s a question for our Jersey cousins. Why do you need to call it both the World Championships & the BIOC?
I don`t know of any other sport or pastime that does this.
Surely when you changed it to the World ch`ships, you relinquished the other title?
If you are keeping the two together, then surely the previous 20 winners become World champs as well?

[milhouse]

To be honest, the competition cannot be called both names ! its either a national comp (bioc) or the world champs. Does this mean that if someone from say France entered and won, but KT came runner-up, KT would be known as the BIOC champion of 2006 as the other person would be ineligible for that title ???

Well said, Sir KT.
And well said, me also, in my earlier two posts. ;)

[fazza]

I simply do not agree with some of the reasoning above. A new event needs a new title, but, as I have said, firstly needs a new sponsor if it is to become a viable and accepted major event.

Otherwise, it will become just another event which attracts a lot of locals and a few die-hards who will enter anything, like me!

[NigelS]

I think it unlikely that we could get a sponsor for the event - but if we could that would be great

I just think we need an off the spot competition that is open to everyone. What it needs to be called is open to discussion but really isn't too important at this stage. Basically it is a national off the spot singles.

More importantly, we need to decide where and when we can hold the tournament, whether a county is willing to run it or whether it would be down to the AEBBA to run it

[Q]

I wish we could stop calling it 'off the spot'... as Sparky (I think it was ) said it is actually 'ON the spot' ;)

[milhouse]

q said:

I wish we could stop calling it 'off the spot'... as Sparky (I think it was ) said it is actually 'ON the spot' ;)

Maybe it is going to be a tournament where you are not playing "on the spot" at all, not even on the break :-/

[fazza]

I do not agree (surprise, surprise) with Graham or anyone else who thinks it should not be regarded as playing "off-the-spot".

If you really think about it, we are not talking about where you PUT the cue ball, but where you PLAY it. Hence, when you HIT the cue ball with your tip, the balls travels "OFF" the spot.

Technicality, but this (hopefully) will turn the discussion round to more important things. The question of sponsorship IS important, because if the idea is to make it as grand an event as people want it to become, then it is VITAL that there is a prestigious prize. That can only come from a sponsor, (or a large entry fee which would possibly have the opposite effect).

If you want it to have real recognition as a big event, it must have a large entry, not as I have said before, the normal die-hards and some local players. If you want it as "practice" for the International Matches, then that is what it will become.

Excellent point, Pete.

Pete is indeed on the ball. Rather than squabbling over what it should be called or off-the-spot, on-the-spot terminology (who cares ?) let's try and come up with some names of possible sponsors.

Suggestions please.

Anyone thought of Hall and Woodhouse ?

www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/company/index.asp

[fazza]

When Eric became president, his one chore (apart from Bournemouth) was to obtain sponsorship deals. I rest my case.





well it was very heavy

Well, there you are, then.

Hall and Woodhouse's headquarters are in Dorset, they're rich enough to have bought out King & Barnes Ltd, and have a string of outlets "from Exeter to Eastbourne".

Eric is based in Dorset still, yes ? And H & W extend right across the area where the tournament could be held. The only other stumbling block is choosing the right pub, one that is big enough to hold eight tables.

[Q]

Sounds like you're ready to take on the organising Clive, and I cant think of a better person to do the job.

[milhouse]

tommo said:

Well, there you are, then.

Hall and Woodhouse's headquarters are in Dorset, they're rich enough to have bought out King & Barnes Ltd, and have a string of outlets "from Exeter to Eastbourne".

Eric is based in Dorset still, yes ? And H & W extend right across the area where the tournament could be held. The only other stumbling block is choosing the right pub, one that is big enough to hold eight tables.

If this is going to be the new BI open or something similar, i think more than 8 tables will be required if playing on a single day ?

[SirKT]

It all depends on the number of entries.

A few years ago, we did have 128 entries for the Oxon open. We used 12 tables and were able to complete in one day, double games all the way. I suppose with the possibility of 16 tables available, you could up the entry a little bit or comfortably run a plate competition. I would go for the latter and stick to 128.

Obviously this would take off quicker with some TV coveridge as well. Rumour has it that SKY are looking for some different sports to screen, maybe this is the outlet we`ve been waiting for.