Welcome to the 2009/10 Welsh Snooker Season
An Introduction
After holding on to the Celtic Challenge trophy for several years Wales reluctantly handed it over to the Republic of Ireland team after being beaten by an overall score of 81frames to 67 in Ireland.
I have been President of the Welsh Billiards and Snooker Association for the past five years and during that time I have seen the Association steadily evolving and moving with the times.
My fellow Officers and I put a lot of time and hard work attempting to make our Association the best in the world and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly for their efforts. I would also like to thank the other members of our committee and the referees for their continued support.
I should like to thank the Welsh Sports Council for their continued financial support without which we would find it very difficult to assist our players with the cost of travelling overseas representing Wales.
Without venues we would not be able to hold our tournaments many thanks to all the club owners who allowed us to use their premises.
Our website is now up and running thanks to the efforts of Kyle Steins. It is for your benefit so please use it.
It is with great sadness that we mourned the passing of two of our most senior players, 1964 Welsh Champion Mario Berni and Welsh Senior Team Manager and coach Jack Carney. They will be sadly missed and our thoughts go to their families.
The biggest thank you must go YOU our playing members because without you there would be no point in having this Association. As one season comes to an end our new season is just about to start, but before then we still have our Presentation Evening to award the players who were successful in 2008/2009.
The Presentation Evening will be held at Whitez Snooker Club, Uplands, Swansea, on 23rd August 2009, commencing at 7.00pm. There will be live entertainment provided by Whitez. Many thanks to Susan and Leighton.
Wales has been very successful at international events again this year. The Senior Team played really well to win the European Team Championship in Russia while the Masters Team won at the Home Internationals and the European Team Championships. We also won the European Masters Singles Championship Belgium.
Back home Michael White won our most prestigious event the Welsh Championship and we wish him well when he joins Daniel Wells on the Main Tour.
A very big well done to all those players involved.
In response to your requests we propose to make several changes for this coming season.
As you will see from the new calendar there will be no tournaments on Bank Holiday weekends.
The cost of Membership has been reduced to £10 for juniors and increased to £15 for seniors and masters.
Entry fees will be on a sliding scale for juniors, according to age while the seniors will be reduced to £10 per event (except for the Welsh and European Championships).
We have added a new event this year, the Welsh Open ( 6-reds ) Championship.
The Masters (over 40s) will have 7 events including a 6-reds tournament.
FREE MEMBERSHIP WILL BE GIVEN TO SENIOR AND MASTERS PLAYERS WHO ENTER ALL THE EVENTS IN THEIR AGE CATEGORY AND PAY IN ADVANCE AT THE START OF THE SEASON.
This season’s Welsh Championship is reverting to its old format. Matches up to the quarter- finals will be played on a home and away basis. A draw will be made for each round and there will be no seeding.
We are running a Top Club competition this season so that club players from all over the Principality who enjoy team events can get involved in competitive snooker. It is also our intention to bring back the old Inter-Town tournament which was such a success in the past.
It has been decided that all players must make themselves available to represent Wales at the Home Internationals in whatever age group they qualify. Failure to do so will result in that player or players who have qualified for an overseas event not being nominated by the Association. Should a player(s) have already been overseas to a championship and then fails to represent Wales at the Home Internationals that same year then he or they will be asked to repay the money or take a 12 month suspension from any future international event(s) they qualify for.
The reason for this rule is to make sure that we are fielding the strongest international teams at the Home Internationals. We all like the overseas trips but the most important thing for us is to do well on home soil at Prestatyn so we can justify receiving our grant from the sports council.
Last year we saw a significant increase in the numbers that entered the Senior Events and I hope that this will continue this year. You can all assist us in helping you by making sure that you get your entries in on time. Last season I had to contact many of you to remind you that the closing date was coming up and you didn’t miss the deadline. This will not happen this year so please make sure you have the dates in the DIARY section of your PHONE.
I am looking forward to seeing you all in the very near future and wish you all the very best for the new season. Happy potting.
Darren Morgan
W.B.S.A President