25/4/12- The doubles final between Aggie Bailie/Tom Scase and Carl Byrne/Joe Kent was played at the Hatfeild Arms. Not quite the fudge fest that many anticipated and quite enjoyable to watch. In the early frames, Joe took out a great finish in the first frame to take the first frame. The match was levelled at one all, before Carl took a nice break and dish out to go 2-1 up. The match could definitely have gone any way at this point, but the reigning champions were not going to lie down easily. They showed their experience in such situations to take a stranglehold on the game and win the next 3 frames and clinch the match 4-2. Like I said, it was good to watch. Congratulations to the doubles KO champions for the 2nd year running, Aggie and Tom.

17/4/12- The singles KO final was played at the Saxon last night between Glen McKay and Aggie Bailie. I expected it to be close and that's just how it worked out. In the first frame, the break didn't split the pack and a fudge fest ensued. 45 minutes later, each player had been on top at some stage, but Aggie took the frame. The second frame saw Aggie go for the clearance from the off, but he missed the black into the middle bag, leaving the black hidden behind a yellow. A tight snooker was played, leaving Aggie in an impossible position. The following shot was probably the best shot I've ever seen. With the cue butt high in the air, Aggie cued over 2 yellows, struck down on the cue ball, playing a masse' into the head cushion, back around the 2 yellows and into the black hidden behind another yellow next to the middle bag. Hard to describe, but brilliant to watch. Despite that shot, Glen won the frame to level the score.
The next 6 frames were a break and dish bonanza to take the match to 4 all. I thought the score was fair at this point, but there had to be a winner. Aggie won the toss and broke. Aggie potted a red, but both sets had some awkwardness to them. Some neat safety play from both players and a couple of tight snookers played. The balls were situated such that a mistake from either player would see the end of the match with 2 shots. Eventually Glen missed and provided Aggie the opportunity to win the frame. Aggie moved his balls into a winning position, but an unfortunate cannon left him in an awful snooker on his last ball. Aggies attempt to hit the ball failed and the table was turned. Glen was playing well and wasn't going to miss with 2 shots in hand. And so it turned out, Glen winning 5-4 to win the title for the 7th time.
The triumph ends a great season for Glen who adds this title to the "Player of the Year" title for this season, having lost only one frame all season. Well done and congratulations for winning both titles. Well deserved.

Please come along and support the finals. It means a lot to the competitors.

23/3/12- In the league, the Bottom Club won their final match 8-1 to confirm the runner-up spot and gain an entry to the Champ of champs final at Yarmouth in November together with the Hatties team. It also wins them the Aggregate points trophy. Just the league title eluding them in a very good season.

7/2/12- Watched the Team KO final tonight. The Bottom Club ran out 5-1 winners against the Bull & Badger. The frames were a bit closer than the scoreline suggests, but the victory was deserved. The Bull team made a few mistakes and the Club lads capitalised. A big well done.

6/9/11- Following the AGM, we will be basically playing the same rules as last winter. Old EPA(2 shots carry), with the same rule as last winter for deciding colours if you've potted a ball on the break. ie. you get a choice if you pot a ball off the break. You remain on them as long as you've potted one of them.

IMPORTANT BIT:
The only further alteration is on the break rule. Instead of 2 balls having to hit a cushion on the break, 4 balls now have to hit a cushion. Failure to do so is a foul(re-rack and 2 shots, you're on the first legal ball potted).
The most important difference, is that if you make a fair break, but go in-off with the white. Then it's a non-standard foul, which is simply "one visit".

The rule makes it fair for both players, in as much as you can give the pack a bang, but don't give the game away by going in-off and giving 2 shots. The rule works well and compliments the deciding colours rule nicely.

It's all about promoting an open, positive and more enjoyable game. Afterall, the game is about potting balls.

I'll be getting the rules out and fixtures to the captains by this weekend. Any problems, let me know.

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For previous news, click on the title.

Dinnington League is affiliated to the EPA via Derbyshire.

Mark Singleton had a brilliant run in the England trials last Friday, winning 5 straight matches and only dropping 2 frames. He only had one more match to win, but just couldn't get over the line to make the squad. It was an superb effort and I'm sure that he'll get more chances in the future.

16/5/12- The team have got off to a very average start in 2012. Having beaten Long Eaton 13-5, the team then slipped up and lost 10-8 to Chesterfield Charity.
The team then went to the interleague finals in April and for the 4th straight competition, we ran into Trent Trophies. Unfortunately it was in the 2nd round and they beat us 10-5. But we're not a team to lay down and take it, so we're dusting ourselves off and building for the rest of the season and next season. We are still ranked 5th in the country on interleague KO rankings and we will win one of the national comps. Watch this space.

18/12/11- Final match of the year- Dinnington v Riddings. Riddings were unbeaten. We had drawn a match, so needed to beat them to win the league. A draw wouldn't be good enough. Clearly everyone was up for the match and the atmosphere was charged. The Riddings lads brought some supporters in a reet nice minibus but were locked out when they arrived. We like to go in through the back door from time to time.
The match started and Riddings played very well to go 5.0 up and we deserved to be losing tbf. We were being outplayed. But a crucial error occured. Someone in their group suggested that a whitewash was on the cards. Oh dear. Taking the piss. We are not ones to roll over easily(although Ben might) and we started to claw some frames back. We eventually rattled off 8 frames on the bounce to go 8-5 up. We thought we'd broken their spirits, or our secret weapon of mass destruction was having its effect. Sam Smiths at £1.85 a pint!
Anyway, the Riddings crew were not done with and they won the next 2 frames to go 8-7. The atmosphere was banging at this point. Best match we've have in the league.
In any case we had enough resolve to put the match to bed and run out 10-8 winners. Banging night, great atmosphere and well pleased to be Derbyshire County Pool Association Inter League Champions.

9/10/11- The Dinnington Cue Craft team went into the KO finals in hopeful mood, having put some practice time in over the last couple of weeks. Some went down early to compete in the individual amateur event, John Waller doing the best and getting to the last 32.
The event got under way with the round robin. 3 teams playing each other and the best team going through, to get 96 teams down to 32. Dinnington weren't hard pressed to win their matches 13-5 and 9-3 and cruise into the KO stages.
Surrey Warriors stood in our way, but only briefly as we dispatched them with minimum of fuss, 10-3 and off the curry house for our traditional Saturday evening eating session. A tikka massala and cheesey nan was no match for these semi-pro eating champions. That too was dispatched with nothing more than a swig of Cobra lager and a loud belch. Return to the venue and 5 minutes in the adult entertainment room. Couldn't do with too much of that and to bed, vowing never to eat bananas again.
Sunday morning arrived all too quickly and we set off to do our best. Last 16 and the money stages. Witney Snooker went 2-0 up on us, but the lads pitched in well and beat them off comfortably 10-4.
Quarter finals against Wigan. Again we went 2-0 down, then 4-2 down. Unphased, we put together a string of good finishes to win 10-5. Large portions.
Semi finals. Now we'd been here in 2008 and lost. It was a bitter sweet experience but we wanted more this time. Our wins had all been comfortable and the powers that be decided to put us onto the live stream tables. 3 tables at a time on a live feed down the internet and people were starting to contact us with messages of good luck. Even one of my kids dragged herself away from the Eastenders omnibus to watch. We were in danger of becoming famous for 15 minutes.
We had watched our opponents, Waterloo winning their previous match. They were looking very good. However, this was their Waterloo and we decided not to go 2 frames down this time. We won our frames in impressive fashion, none more so that Bradders in the photo. If any picture could sum up the emotions that you go through playing pool at this level, then this is it. He'd just gone a couple of inches out of perfect position. We needed this black to put us into the final. So far, that had been a step too far in previous events. Bradders overheard a spectator tell his opponent to "Chalk it up. He'll miss this." But Brad had missed nothing all weekend and he wasn't going to start now. Long diagonal black, centre of the pocket. Like a rat down a drainpipe. GET IN THERE!!!!!!!

The final. Our nemesis, Trent Trophies A awaited. 5 times winners of the event. They include England Captain Lee Kendall, 2 x world champion Gaz Potts, current world champion Adam Davis, World Masters finalist Rob Wharne, England under 21 captain Liam White, professional Jimmy Croxton and titles galore amongst the rest of the team. Talk about tough to beat. Our last 2 meetings had resulted in us losing 10-1 and 10-4. Trent Trophies had not dropped more than 4 frames to a team all weekend. But that said, we'd not dropped more than 5. Bring it on.
Still on t'internet over 3 tables. If you missed, you lost. If they broke and dropped a ball, you were unlikely to get a shot. Such was the standard. But it's the same for everyone. Jimmy Winsborough facing Gaz Potts. Break and dish for Jimmy. Now Gaz might be a double world champion, but you just can't beat that. Unfortunately it must have made him cross, because Gaz did the same to Glen McKay 5 minutes later. It was nip and tuck the whole way through. Half time- 5-4 down. We were running them closer than anyone had done for a long time. But I've never seen the lads in better form and we were only 8-7 down. The last 3 frames were on at the same time. We were so close I could smell it, although that could have been the curry. But we just could not get over the winning line. The Trent lads showed their class with an amazing performance to finally beat us 10-7. We had frightened the pants off them and done ourselves proud. I'd lost my voice and ached all over from jumping around like a nutter. I've never been prouder since my kids were born and enjoyed it all so much. Our opponents were gracious in victory and know that we're gunning for them in the next event in April. Get ready!
Squad picture at the top, from left the right- Aggie Bailie, John Carwell, Jimmy Winsborough, Terry Stevenson, Mark Lancashire, Ian Bradley, Ben Clayton, Capt-Glen McKay, Andy Herriott, Vince Ley, John Waller, Mark Singleton.

The 2011 league fixtures are shown below;
27-Feb-11 Q-Room, Derby 8 Dinnington 10
20-Mar-11 Dinnington 11 Ilkeston United 9
17-Apr-11 Long Eaton 6 Dinnington 12
8-May-11 66 Club 2 Dinnington 16
10-Jul-11 Dinnington 14 Rother Valley 4
7-Aug-11 Ashbourne 6 Dinnington 12
4-Sep-11 Dinnington 15 Ilkeston Colts 3
2-Oct-11 Stapleford CC 7 Dinnington 11
20-Nov-11Chesterfield Charity 6 Dinnington 12
18-Dec-11 Dinnington 10 Riddings 8

There will also be a change to the team name, to "Dinnington Cue Craft." As a local manufacturer of cues and associated equipment, we are pleased to be supported by such a high quality company. Most of the interleague team already uses Cue Craft cues and cases and are pleased to be involved with them. See www.cuecraft.com for their full range of cues and equipment.

5/11/11- Champ of champs finals at Yarmouth. To cut a long story short, Hatfeild Arms played well on the whole, getting to the last 16. The lads came up short against a team that I felt we would have beaten on another day. But that's pool. Still we made a good weekend of it and are already preparing for next seasons assault on the events.

19/9/11- In the Champ of Champs event, the Hatfeild side played a qualifier against the Steelmelters from Mosborough. At 5-2 down, we looked like going out of the competition. However, a spirited fightback saw us claw back to 7-6 up, then 7 all. A one frame decider and putting Ben Clayton on was a no brainer. We lost the toss and after the break, it looked like he wouldn't get a shot. But his opponent faltered on his last 2 balls and let Ben in. The clearance could only be described as absolutely outstanding. 8-7 winners and off to Great Yarmouth for the National finals.
In the singles event, Glen McKay was our representative and in the first round he beat Andy Herriott in a 5-4 scrappy nail-biter. Through to the 2nd round of local qualifying and he played a lad from West Leeds. Glen put up a far better performance and played a really solid match. Glen made no mistakes and took the frames out when he got the chance. Winning 5-1(the 1 being a break and dish), he's off to the national finals played alongside the team event in November. Hopefully we can do some damage down there.