Parochial and Home Guard Snooker Club Scratch Final: 14 June 2023.

Bhamra  v Brockway     

The Scratch tournament, with no handicaps and a best of three frame format, could be said to decide who the best player in the club is.  Whether or not this is the case, a Brockway v Bhamra final is certainly a clash of the titans:  Paul, the reigning champion of the Presidents Trophy and Jas, the reigning champion of the Spring Handicap.

And so frame one began, with both players respecting each other’s potting ability, ensuring their safety play took the cue ball consistently back to baulk.   A ‘cagey’ opening was then transformed with a free flowing break of 28 from Brockway.   It was a classy break of 4 reds, two blacks, a pink and brown.  After such good safety play this must have hurt Bhamra.  Soon Brockway was 42 with only a single red to his opponent’s name.   And yet there were still plenty of reds on the table, if only Bhamra could raise his game and shake off the nerves which seem to have taken away his natural game.  He couldn’t ………. and Brockway kept adding to his total.  Snookers now required, and an in off on the last red forced Bhamra to concede at a score of 58 to 9 with only 27 on the table.

A regroup was needed for Bhamra and sure enough he took a breath of fresh air before starting the second frame.    

The start of the second frame, unfortunately for Bhamra didn’t see an improvement in luck or nerves.   Pots he would normally ‘eat for breakfast’ were missed and another in off didn’t help.  Even when he potted a couple of good reds, the black was off its spot and pink tied up.   With Brockway calmly keeping the pressure on, his 20pt lead looked as though the frame might be going the same way as the first.  At last Bhamra showed more of his usual form and put together a decent combo of two reds and two blacks. The scores were close again and the game was back on.  An amusing interlude to the game broke the tension for a minute when an observant referee, Shiv Sibal, spotted a loitering insect on the yellow and sought permission to clean the ball.  Permission given, and on cleaning the yellow, a potentially calamitous ball drop onto the table was blamed on the quality of the white gloves.  Play resumed and the tension went up a gear when Bhamra potted the brown and went 4 ahead with only blue, pink and black on the table.  There was a real chance that the match could be levelled up at one frame all.  Brockway though, showed signs of pressure at all and was even able to call upon his ability to play left handed. He smoothly potted the blue and pink and left Bhamra needing the black for a re-spot (53/46).  After several safety shots and potting attempts on difficult angles, eventually the disposition of the black and white created a half chance.  The half chance was taken by Paul Brockway to win the match (60/46) and become the Scratch Champion of 2022. (The tournament had rolled over from 2022 into 2023).    

Congratulations Paul.  Well done Jas for reaching the final.

Penfold Doubles Tournament: Tuesday 18 April 2023.
Tierney and Hammond: Worthy Winners

The eagerly awaited doubles handicap tournament at the Parochial and Home
Guard Club was ready to roll. 18 players were signed up; the club’s new
Kirkstall Brewery pale ale and lager was proving a success with the members;
and an evening to commemorate former member, Harry Penfold was about to
unfold.
And yet, what format should the evening take? A one frame knockout had
worked in the past, but that meant the first round losers were stymied for the
rest of the evening. It was decided to have two leagues with all teams having
a minimum of three matches, based on handicaps. To ensure all matches were
completed that evening, the red triangle was reduced to six reds.
League games started with a mix of jocularity and steely competitive spirit. In
League 2, the defending champions, McWilliams and Jarvis (Jnr), got off to a
bad start with defeat, albeit a close black ball game. They won their other two
league games to post a competitive score which could put them in the final.
However, it was Tierney and Hammond who produced an unassailable three
wins out of three to be the worthy winners of this league.
League 1 comprised a number of the club’s best players based on their
handicaps and the lowest handicap team of Kumar and Brockway navigated
two wins out of their first two games. This was however followed by a defeat
to Walsh and Sykes, which when compared to Dawson and Hall’s 100 % record
meant the Kumar Brockway ‘bookies choice’ were not to reach the final.
And so Tierney and Hammond were to play Dawson and Hall in the final, with a
9 point start. With most games of the tournament going down to a black ball
finish and the handicappers patting themselves on the back, the final drew a
good crowd expecting a close game. Indeed, confident potting from both
teams early doors suggested this could happen. Then Tierney’s red after a
fortuitous canon on the brown, along with blue, red and black created distance
between the two teams. This put pressure on the other pair who weren’t
allowed any easy chances for the rest of the game. The final ended with

Tierney and Hammond running away with it and Dawson and Hall conceding
on the blue.
Many congratulations to Dave Tierney and Ben Hammond, the Penfold
Doubles Champions 2023. Finally, a big thank you to Harry Penfold, whose
legacy continues to provide us with a great annual tournament, and a drink to
boot. As was said on the night, Cheers Harry.
Reporter: Dave Sykes

Fast and Furious night is postponed from the 14th Feb to Tuesday 21st Feb. Apparently 25 members were threatened with divorce proceedings had it gone ahead on Valentines day

Click on the Events tab or click here to see all that The Parochial and Home Guard Snooker Club has to offer in the coming weeks

Tierney versus Wells

Sadly the sponsor of this trophy, Tony Stone, passed away earlier in the year.  Tony, an Honorary Life Member of the Parochial and Home Guard Snooker Club, set up this tournament, which has a restricted entry, to give those members of the club who hadn’t won a trophy a better chance to win.   A good deed by an honourable man. 

The final was played on 8 December between Dave Tierney and John Wells.  A Scotland v England match up.  Wells’ handicap gave him a 12 start. Would that be enough to keep ahead of Tierney, who, on reaching the final beat this year’s winner of the President’ Trophy? 

The first phase of the game saw some good safety play with the cue ball returning from the pack of reds to the baulk area of the table. Then Tierney was given a few opportunities to reduce the deficit, potted some good reds and colours, and overtook Wells on the scoreboard.  Just as it looked as if Tierney was to dominate the next phase of the game, he had some back luck – cannoning the pink into the pocket when playing a red.  This and a missed red which hit the middle pocket knuckles four times before staying out, suggested now was the time for Wells to put pressure on Tierney.    Unfortunately, whilst potting some reds, Wells wasn’t able to find his ‘A’ game and couldn’t take advantage of Tierney’s bad luck.

Both players looked to snookers on the last few reds and honours were pretty even on the scoreboard as a result.   Wells was still in touch with Tierney when the last red went down.  The score was 36 to 23.  However, snookers were required by the time the brown was potted.  Wells potted the blue and tried to get a snooker with the pink and black in mid table positions.  Alas, he failed and when Tierney potted the pink it was all over at 54 to 30.  On the day, Dave Tierney deserved his win and John Wells was disappointed with his performance. 

With this being an annual tournament, Tony Stone will be missed but not forgotten.         

Reported by Dave Sykes

12 December 2022.

BHAMRA VERSUS MCMANUS: 30 NOVEMBER 2022. 

The Spring Handicap took a while to get going this year, but there was nothing slow about Jas Bhamra’s start to the final.  On his second shot of the frame he consummately stroked in a thirty break with four reds, three blacks and a blue.  James McManus’ handicap lead of 5 was washed away with the blink of an eye when he came back to the table for only his second shot.

Undaunted by this sudden setback, McManus soon potted two very good long reds.  Unfortunately, with no colours to follow these reds, Bhamra was still in the ‘box seat’.  And yet after a lull in the scoring, and some good safety play from both players, Bhamra showed some frustration when he missed an easy blue.  Just when it looked like McManus might make a couple of good scores and bridge the scoreboard gap, he was unlucky with two unforeseeable ‘in off’ fouls.

With these foul shots, Bhamra was able to capitalise with some red/colour combinations.  This  meant that it was 58 to 19 in favour of Bhamra when the last red was potted.  Three snookers required by McManus for a re-spotted black.    A tall order made impossible when Bhamra calmly potted yellow, green and brown in one break with good positional play.  Blue was missed, McManus did the only thing available to him and conceded.                

This final was won by some accomplished potting and skilful positional play from Bhamra.  That said, he did have some fortune at the start of the frame.  Having split the reds from his break off, this would normally leaving a pot on.  However, he managed to cover all the pockets and also give McManus no real option to get back to baulk.  Consequently there looked like a lot of ‘hit and hope’ in McManus’ very first shot.  His ‘hope’ was then dashed when the cue ball was left amongst the reds with many now available. The rest is history – reported above.   Sport would be much less interesting without ‘What ifs’, but they don’t win games!!!!! 

CONGRATULATIONS TO JAS, WINNER BY 67 TO 19.  CONCESSION ON BLUE.       

Reported by Dave Sykes   

Presidents Handicap Trophy Final 2022.

From a field of 32, Martin McWilliams and Paul Brockway won three single frame handicapped matches over the summer and autumn, to reach the final of the President’s Trophy on 18 November 2022.   Prior to the final, the clubs AGM was held and the mood in the club was on a high, after turning the 2021 ‘Covid driven’ financial gloom into a bumper year for membership and revenue.    

The game was billed as the ‘new kid on the block’ against the ‘old timer’.  Martin, a member of the club for nearly 40 years, against Paul, who joined the club only last year.    McWilliams broke off with a seven start on the handicap.   It was a tense start, with neither player showing their best game.  Brockway began to pot reds, but couldn’t get position on the colours.  Another red potted and Brockway found his cue ball embedded in the pack of reds with only the black on its spot for his next shot.  Perhaps he should have taken out the long tackle, but he chose to lean over to the centre of the table and with his bridge hand up in the air he miscued and gave 7 points away.

McWilliams’ consequent lead was short lived, as he continued to misfire with several reds hitting the pocket jaws, and Brockway beginning to find his form.  As Brockway developed a good lead, it was noticeable that McWilliams was taking his time with shots to try and get back into the match.  Unfortunately this didn’t happen and it wasn’t till well into the frame that he potted his first red.  He gave an ironic cheer and held aloft his arms with some relief.

The middle of the game ran into a bit of a stalemate with both players matching each other with good safety play.  The stalemate was broken when Brockway produced two brilliant snookers from his safety play.  Both ‘touching ball’ snookers meant that McWilliams had no other option than to play away from the touching and the object ball and use at least three cushions to get out of the snooker.  Gallant, but ultimately failed attempts were made.  The writing was on the wall, it wasn’t McWilliams day.  

Insult was added to McWilliams’ misery when Brockway fluked the yellow following the ball ‘jawing’ the middle pocket, then rolling along the cushion only to pot perfectly in corner baulk end pocket.  At 43 behind, needing 5 snookers, Martin conceded and congratulated Paul on his win.   Reporter: Dave Sykes    

Our league night is held once a month and teams compete against each other for the Jack Barstow Trophy which is awarded in December. The final league competition was Tuesday 22nd November 2022 starting at 7.30 and the winners will be announced in early December

Once a month the club puts on its Fast and Furious night. This is a quick fire mini-league competition played over a series of 15 minute games and is open to all members. Our recent F & F competition was held on Tuesday 16th August and was a great success.

The next Fast and Furious night is Tuesday September 13th 2022 starting at 7.30 pm. Everyone is welcome to join in but just be aware that there aren’t likely to be any spare tables for normal games that night. So why not come and join in the fun – a great way to meet fellow club members, especially if you are new!

Our snooker club is very pleased to host the bar facilities for Oakwood Cinema. A film is shown once a month and, after a summer break, the next film will be “Operation Mincemeat” showing on Saturday November 26th. Tickets can be purchased from the Oakwood Cinema website. Each showing starts at 7.30 but you can come up to our bar beforehand from 6.45 pm for the that pre-viewing drink