Sussex Open and COVID-19 impact

[StuC]

As mentioned on the Sussex Open thread it has been decided that this event will not be taking place in June as planned.

No final decision has yet been reached on if this event will be rescheduled for later in year. Concerns have been raised on several fronts around the viability of staging the Open on a different date, and I would like to raise some of these here:

• The unknown impact of restrictions related to COVID-19 on both the participants of the event and the venue. These potentially include continued self-isolation advise for the vulnerable, restrictions on sizes of gatherings and impact from a second wave of the virus.

• While the AEBBA have reserved a space in the calendar for the Sussex Open in September we do not currently have a venue with confirmed availability for this date.

• The impact on number of entries (see below).

• The financial viability of running the event with a reduced number of entrants.

Obviously a lot of planning is arbitrary while the future of the coronavirus is unknown. It is impossible to know exactly when we will be able to start playing events with a large number of people, what events will be played and what changes to these events will be required to maintain a form of social distancing.

From a bar billiards perspective there are now multiple events scheduled from September onwards, including events normally played at this time of year and rearranged events from earlier in the year, both at a National and Local level. While it is good that events have been saved, it does lead to tournaments being played most weekends which could dilute entries both for the Sussex Open and other events.

There may also be an impact of other social and sporting events that will be crammed into this period that will affect people’s attendance at bar billiards and further the financial cost of playing and travelling to multiple events may deter entries, particularly for people who have suffered financial hardship during the current crisis.

This is before considering the impact of self-isolation and people not wishing to play in events that can attract relatively large number of people in a confined space.

Lorin, as AEBBA secretary, has elegantly explained the AEBBA’s position and future plan for events, and this has provided a good template for how the rest of the year may look subject to COVID-19 constraints.

The above are a combined view of the various concerns raised by members of the SCBBA committee to rearranging our event, the Sussex Open, within this timetable. What is intended by highlighting these is to open a discussion with the committee’s running other events and the players who play in these events as to what course of action is best for each individual association but also for the bar billiards community as a whole.

Putting what event it is and who runs it to one side would it be better to have one Open with 64 people (that would make an association money) or two Opens close together with 36 people each (that would cost associations money)?

What we would like to establish before putting in the work to rearrange the Sussex Open is how many entries we would be likely to get for this event. To this end it would be helpful to hear views on the concerns on the viability raised above and also any other views and feedback.

Stuart Carruthers
SCBBA Chairman

[milhouse]

Understandable in the circumstances.

In answer to your questions, i think the first thing i would like to see is the scheduleyou mention of possible eventstaking place in Sept onwards. There may be events happening which people do not play in or not eligible to play and therefore will have those weeks off anyway. This way it will be easier for me (and others) to see what events are happening and what they may be able to enter.
You know me, i would like to play in all tournaments i can as long as i can get there!

[bigtj]

Also we have to think that leagues usually start up around September and also some counties run there own events like inter-league.

Like Mark I like to play in as many of these events as possible but something has to give, and people are also going to want family time when we are back to normal, well as much back to normal as usual for some of us.

[daveuk1]

Lorin did update the AEBBA website sometime ago under the "forthcoming events" tab. It shows possible dates for rearranged opens etc.

I think it is obvious for anyone to see that should the lockdown be lifted enough to allow us to continue with opens the end of the year will become very congested. With the possibility of some kind of tournament every weekend.

Here in Suffolk we have already had to cancel the world four pin and our national 4x4 tournament which is always the last Saturday in September may be compromised if Sussex use the date allotted to them by the AEBBA as an alternative date for their open as it would be on the following day to our tournament.

My honest opinion is we all need to sit tight, we can't predict the future and have no idea when the present situation will change in our favour and allow us to even start playing in pubs again, let alone playing tournaments involving large numbers of players. I think we can right May and June off for starters. All we can do is sit and wait

Sensible comments/reactions to Stuart's post so far.

In a best case scenario, we will be through the wood with Covid-19 by mid-June and pubs and clubs will be back in business shortly afterwards.

As mentioned, there will be a mad rush to salvage what is left of this season.

What might help the situation is if Leagues were to work to the principle that no attempt is made to start the 2020/21 season until mid-October at the absolute earliest.

[StuC]

As Dave has said it is unlikely we will be playing league Bar Billiards in pubs before July and possibly longer before these larger events can take place. Hence the concern that given a realistic date of August/September for these events to start being played we have to consider what the future could look like.
As is known it is not easy to plan an Open with one of the main issues being to be able to secure a suitable venue on the date required, the longer it is left before starting to organise the difficulty of obtaining the venue increases. For example the venue we use for the Sussex Open is booked a year in advance and given other events they have there it was be less than 50/50 that we could get it on the 27th September if we left it to July to book (I'm guessing we (bar billiards) are not the only people who have had to cancel events and may be looking to reschedule for the latter part of the year).
Having a full schedule now, as the AEBBA have done for National events, helps even if COVID-19 means we have to abandon these plans at a latter date.

To answer Mark's comments below are the dates from the AEBBA website (plus some other I know) of events confirmed plus some reserve dates for other events. This doesn't include any local league events that may be either normally around these times of to be fitted in having been postponed from the summer (for example Masters which are normally played on weekends if these are to be rearranged). It would be good to get some view of others events leagues are planning to run in this period would help to see a full picture.

Sussex also run their Inter League fixtures on Sunday evenings, and already it is looking difficult to fit the fixtures in around the current program of events, with more to potentially add it may be that we will be unable to run a full season.

DATES	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
05/09/2020-06/09/2020		Surrey Open
12/09/2020-13/09/2020
19/09/2020-20/09/2020		County Championship 1&2
26/09/2020/27/09/2020	National Team 4-Pin /Sussex Masters???	Sussex Open???
03/10/2020-04/10/2020
10/10/2020-11/10/2020		AEBBA Individuals & Mixed Pairs
17/10/2020-18/10/2020	AEBBA Challenger Championship	AEBBA Challenger Championship
24/10/2020-25/10/2020		Kent Classic (reserve date)
31/10/2020-01/11/2020
07/11/2020-08/11/2020	World Championship	World Championship
14/11/2020-15/11/2020
21/11/2020-22/11/2020	AEBBA 4-Pin	Northants Open
28/11/2020-29/11/2020
05/12/2020-06/12/2020		AEBBA Grand Prix

A further point to consider is looking at the Opens from the last few years (not including the Channel Island events) we rely on a group of around 40 players who enter more than half of all opens. A lot of these people will be playing in the County Championship and World Championship, plus the top few will obviously be the Individual and Grand Prix as well. At the moment it looks like 8 out of 14 Sunday's for the top players, before other things are added.

If having too many events close together reduces the number of events these players are willing to enter to allow some free weekends, meaning they have to pick and choose which to play in, then we could have problems in terms of numbers.
I could be wrong in this regard, as I know many of these individuals would happily play every week. But this is one of the concerns for planning to run the Sussex Open this year.

Events an individual played	2017	2018	2019
1	75	83	83
2	20	26	24
3	10	11	8
4	11	8	10
5	15	6	9
6	8	13	14
7	9	7	7
8	8	10	x
Different players entered	156	164	155
Total Entries	439	437	373
Entires per event	54.9	54.6	53.3

Starting this thread was trying to answer some of these questions for us to make a decision about the Sussex Open but to also help with all bar billiards planning for a post lockdown resumption.

[Mark James]

Thank you for your updates, Stuart, the decisions made thus far have been inevitable, and correct. Regarding the resumption of tournaments in the Autumn (and I think it's far from a foregone conclusion that this will prove possible), I feel that it would be better to have a manageable number of events that at least have a chance of being viable, rather than a packed schedule that spreads resources too thinly.

As regards the health and safety aspect of playing bar billiards, when lockdown eases and social resumption does eventually become possible, our game seems almost designed to put players at risk, given that with each shot we have to pick up by hand a ball that has also been touched by our opponents, and every other player previously on that table. In my other sport of golf, prior to lockdown Coronavirus protocols were introduced that eliminated all physical contact between players, scorecards, flags etc, but I'm not sure if any equivalent measures would be possible for bar billiards?

Having said the above, I very much hope that we will be able to return to something approximating to normality in due course. And thanks again to Stuart and colleagues who are making plans for that.

In the last paragraph of Stuart’s long missive he invited comment. So here are my thoughts, feel free to disagree and shoot me down in flames if you so wish !

• 1. We should not put any more constraints on AEBBA to fill in further weekends on top of what they have already offered;
  
  
• 2. As per Mark James and TJ comments, some event(s) will have to be sacrificed to ease congestion – following the lead of AEBBA who have already performed their own ‘pruning’ of events – something like 50% of them !
  
  
• 3. If and when social distancing restrictions are eased, and pubs and clubs are re-opened (yes, I’m an optimist !) SCBBA should take the lead in cementing dates for their events: The Leagues will then be better placed to fit their plans around them;
  
  
• 4. Some way should be found to salvage The Sussex Open if at all possible: So far it has been held in abeyance rather than cancelled outright.

• So much for principles, but how about a suggested solution – and as with AEBBA’s revised schedule this will be a ‘best case scenario’ assuming we have returned to some semblance of normality by June? And it goes without saying that measures will have to remain in place with health and safety in mind (masks, gloves and anti-bacterial spray provided, to accompany an element of social distancing).     HERE GOES THEN ……..
  

As Stuart intimated, in normal circumstances Roffey S & SC events have to be booked a whole year in advance, and bar billiards would be in competition with other sports’ organisers to reschedule postponements. With the present climate of uncertainty it will simply be too much of a trial to fit in the Open and Masters/U30 event there this year. (Massive kudos to SCBBA if they are able to do so and I will be happy to be proved wrong!)

The cleanest solution then would appear to be to use the July 25/26 weekend at Burgess Hill Constitutional Club for the Sussex Masters/U30 and Sussex Open as the venue and tables are already booked.

This may not be popular in certain quarters as it would mean that the Sussex Off-the-Spot would be a casualty for this year, but Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures and the Off-the-Spot is the obvious candidate.

The rearrangement would also be dependent on a) circumstances with COVID-19 permitting; and b) the last round of Home/Away Interleague being concluded beforehand so that ranking points are finalised for the Masters (without the Off-the-Spot which can’t be helped) . But this way we get our Sussex Open.  As regards the likely response with entries, Nigel’s Virtual Open has demonstrated that interest can be whipped up at short notice, and entry could be via BACS transfer or even by pledges to pay cash on the day (I am sure people can be trusted !).

This just leaves the BIOC Ladies to be considered, an event which Sussex are running on behalf of All-England. Entry in recent years has dipped to 13 in 2018 and only 8 in 2019, so rather than allocate a whole day for it (or devalue it by staging it alongside something else), why not – as a one-off – play it as an evening event in the autumn in a nice pub which has 2 tables ? Somewhere like 4-times -Champ’s hostelry in Portslade ?

[JB]

I did think about having the open on the July weekend restrictions allowing.

The problem is the Burgess Hill Club is not big enough to hold the Sussex Open.

[triplex]

We can confirm, obviously on the presumption we are all back to normal that we have The Cock Hotel booked for the 21st and 22nd November to hold the AEBBA 4 Pin and The Northants Open.

We hope and look forward to seeing you all there.

Apr 22, 2020 15:05:18 GMT JB said:

I did think about having the open on the July weekend restrictions allowing.

The problem is the Burgess Hill Club is not big enough to hold the Sussex Open.

Well, I’m inclined to agree with you: for starters, you would have to limit the entry to 64, maybe even less, at the very time when an increased interest is likely as people take advantage of their new-found freedom.
The reason behind my original suggestion was to save SCBBA a complete weekend of table hire and to guarantee Sussex Open 2020 - so long as restrictions are lifted (which it seems they may be with the Snooker World Championship pencilled in for the last week in July)
My own reservations were that once the green light is given, you would be faced with organising two high-profile events – probably with modified schedules – at little more than a month’s notice.

How about then adopting half of the plan and simply swapping the Off-the-Spot for the Masters anyway ? (The Ladies BIOC could remain on the Sunday and maybe have the Sussex Under-30s played alongside it)

Why swap one ‘closed’ competition for another you may ask ? Also, what about the fate of the Sussex Open ?

Well, the Masters is seen by many as the flagship event: It’s what gives Interleague its purpose from an Individual point of view, and 95% of the RPs have already been earned. I imagine the qualifiers will be anxious to keep the momentum going and won’t want to leave it till the autumn.

Yes – the last series of the Home/Away would have to be finished in a rush, but surely splitting it away from the Open (as a one-off, of course) would ease administration for both competitions ……

As for the Sussex Open, the variables to be considered are Roffey Club; Suitable date; AEBBA table hire; possible alternative venue.

Stu has warned that difficulty might be found in booking Roffey for the alternative date set aside by the AEBBA (weekend 26/27 Sept). If he can swing it, all well and good. But if not, how about switching it (again as a one-off) to Emsworth VC ? Either way, the Sussex Off-the-Spot could still be rescued and played on the Saturday.

A big plus factor here is that Emsworth has already proved itself capable of staging a National Open (The AEBBA Off-the-Spot in 2017 & 2018). And you have a good on-the-spot contact who would probably be willing to help with arrangements and maybe even with the running of the events.

Just some food for thought as comments were invited.