AEBBA Challenger Championship 2022

[michaelshallcross]

Just dropping by after a busy few days to say a huge thank you to Curt and Nigel for everything they did to make last weekend a success. Giving up their whole weekend and travelling halfway across the country to help us bring the competition north was a truly selfless mission! And big thanks to Nigel for his great report on the competition.

I'm especially glad that everyone thought the Crescent were great hosts, as they're passionate about the game and generously gave up their main concert room for no fee on a Saturday when they could have put on a gig.

I hope we might be able to run the competition in York again this time next year (though ideally not on a race weekend next time!), and aim for an even higher number of entrants.

We also held an inter-city friendly on the Sunday afternoon, with Nottingham taking on York in our newest league venue, Castle Snooker Club. Joe's team came away 5-2 winners. So hopefully we can also make that an annual event and get our revenge next year...

The next date in the York bar billiards diary is the CAMRA beer festival, the north's biggest outdoor beer festival, running 14-17 September. The organisers have asked us to install a bar billiards table in their marquee on the Wednesday and Thursday. The Wednesday afternoon is a trade session for local publicans, so should be a great way of getting new venues interested in potentially joining the league. Ticket prices and more general info here: tckty.camra.org.uk/e/79/york-beer-cider-festival-2022

[joefoxon]

He won't thank me for this, but you do still have David down as the plate winner.

[davidarmstrong]

From main AEBBA website. (Assuming attachment has attached)
Looking like I may need an upgraded plate? 
I was approx 8 pints deep by the end so honestly can't fully remember the scores. Hence why we write them down

[joefoxon]

I still see the Challenger Championship for 2023 is TBD on the calendar. Am I to assume this has been cancelled?

[NigelS]

Aug 31, 2023 9:55:19 GMT joefoxon said:

I still see the Challenger Championship for 2023 is TBD on the calendar. Am I to assume this has been cancelled?

Unfortunately seems like a no goer this year. If this event is to happen someone needs to take it on not just by finding a venue but sorting out how the tables will get there and who would set them up etc.

Myself and Curt organised this in 2022 but we decided if we were to do it again we would need more help.

Maybe the future on this is the likes of Notts/ Yorks getting together to organise something. It was very good event in 2022 with 40 entries made up of a lot of players new to tournaments.

[BB Warrior]

I was sorry to see that this event will not be played this year and that had been part of the decision for Nottingham to withdraw their AEBBA affiliation, although I can understand their reasons if they feel that they are getting nothing in return.

As Nigel has stated, this event has proved popular in recent years, especially with players from Nottingham and York, who very rarely participate in other competitions. Nigel has also made the point that "more help" is needed if this event can be played in the future.

I am sure that a date could have been found for the event to be played this year in either the southern region or at High Wycombe where a majority of the AEBBA events are played and this would probably meant that the "help" would have been more easily available. However, it is probably likely that would have resulted in less entries from the areas that the competition was intended for.

So, I do think that if Nottingham and York do want this competition to be played in the future that they do need to be a bit more proactive to enable this to happen. Find a suitable venue and a date, ensure there will be people available to help unload the tables, set them up and run the competition.

The AEBBA do a lot to help promote the game, however as is shown at all of the county opens during the course of the year, local areas do need to get involved to ensure the competitions continue in their areas in the future, they can't just sit back and wait for a few people to do everything for them.