Lincolnshire County Pool Association

pads8ball

well as promnised,here's my report warts and all

firstly let's concentrate on the pool played -

Boston v Kirkstead - a good win for the kirkstead with a 10- 7 result with the younger players Callum and Ashley once again putting in good performances - tight run thing with the kirkstead just taking the initiative at the right time.

Regency v Skegness - a battle right through with a superb finish by Shaun Heys making the game go to a 3 frame play-off with Skegness coming out the victors.

Now the fun starts...

Having started 30 mins late because a team was late arriving , having explained the format of the night at the beginning of the night, having agreed realistically months ago the finish would be about 1.00a.m one team decides that they weren't happy and preceded to waste another 30-40 minutes reliving the great clash anthem - should they stay or should they go now!!!!!

Unfortunately grumbles from other sources didn't help - whilst this was going on

Skegness routed Kirkstead 10-0 but with myself and Carl distracted elsewhere this was no surprise eventually the

Regency/Boston match was undertaken resulting in a 10- 6 or 7 result to the Boston team.

Farce now continues but eventually Boston play Skegness resulting in a 10-3 result to Boston which means Kirkstead needed to win 10-0 to proceed or regency a 10-3 - Kirkstead did win getting a 10-8 result.

Boston play Skegness in the final and run out 10-7 winners to secure their place at Yarmouth with the final finishing at 1.20a.m

So that's the pool let's now put some thoughts to the events of the night.

Format - discussions about the format had taken place at various times leading to the event - the only givings were that we were aimimg to give people a decent night of pool and were aiming to finish about 1.00am.
Carl as the interleague organiser tried his best to make this happen and in reality look at the timings - if we had started on time 7.30 was published start time and not wasted at least 30 mins debated nothing then we actually would have finished at 12.20a.m. Is this too late well my team often when travelling away doesn't get home before 1.30 - we had said all along it was going to be a late night.

Repercussions - for those county players who asked -from my point of view there are none for now, however it depends on where things go from here. For me the event has happened -capts are invited to the committee meeting to air their team's views and their's on what we do next year but as a committee we will not accept abuse or further issues evolving out of an event that has been done and dusted.

The future - the committee inherited a situation where lots needed to be done or realistically the future of the county set-up was in doubt. New sponsors needed to be found and still need to be - competitions etc...needed to be shared out....new comps have been put in the calendar with little support ....everybody has an opinion but little help is forthcoming.... we have lost some excellent players but others expect the county to revolve around them and places not to be earnt -well that's what's happening now - realistically it will take 2 or 3 years of hard work to put a business like approach in place and I know many of you would not run your own successful businesses in the way you want the county to be run.The existing committee is trying it's best to do this and will of course not get everything right first time around.

Trying to manage pool players is often like herding cats!!!!!

Having myself put over 20 hours in this weekend on behalf of the County Association - not enjoying my pool because of the attitude of the small minority, It is difficult to justify to family - why???

Well it's simple I've found most pool players a good crack,made many friends and had many good nights and weekends, it is for me a stress release from a job that expects certain standards from me which I'm sure is the same for many other people - so let's remember why we all play this game and remember that's what it is - a game.

Hopefully this puts this weekend in some sort of perspective -

well done Boston for your victory

well done Kev Smith -Lincolnshire's County Pool Champion 2008 and unlucky Steve Mooney who I'm sure will be back to challenge again.

A big thank you to Carl for all the time and energy he has put in with very little thanks ...

Don't forget any comments need to be in writing to Michelle by the 13th
if you want to post any on here -fine as long as they are not abusive!!!!

shakey · Newbie Joined: 29 Jun 2008 Posts: 1

Firstly can i say having run the county team for many years and also helping with the association i know its very hard work, it is a thankless task and you cant please everyone.All that said i find it quite unfair to be asked not to abuse anyone on here having read paddys notes i believe he is abusing the lincoln team. Having not seen an e-mail about the comp i didnt even know that it was a 7-30 start time perhaps this is the first issue.Interleague is played on a friday with an 8pm start time (and i have yet to find a punctual team) so is it not sensible to think that this would be the same start time,ps can i please add that apart from carl i was the first player to turn up and simon baxter was not far behind, so some lincoln players were in attendance.Also on this point is it sensible for a 7-30 start i guess the average man finishes work around 5 to 5-30 ish and like 1 lincoln player also has an hours travelling time home making it around
6-30, a quick shower and he could be on the road by around by 7, having not had any chance to eat or say hello to any family they might have. Before leaving the house to return home at.......................................well lets be honest if we had played in that final i guess about 4-30 to 5 am. While this might sound like bull to the people that travel 2-5 mins to the venue i suggest that it is an accurate guess having been told by the skegness team that live around 20 miles away that they arrived home at 4am ps lincoln is more than twice that distance.

Point 2...... Again having not seen an e-mail i am out on a limb on this 1 going on information passed on 2nd hand. But am i the only one that thought we were supposed to be playing 2 matches at the most. I was under the influence that there would be 2 semi finals and a final (you know the format its how most k/os work) if it wasnt to be this way it should not have been called a k/o.Also on this point the average interleague match takes around 3- 4 hours so lets take 3-30mins as an average this is also based on 1 table so lets call it 1-45 mins over 2 tables. Multiply that by 4 and the finish time would be 2-30 for a 7-30 start not the 1-00 that was suggested. Of coarse you can argue that this takes all games to go 18 frames and of coarse they probably wouldnt but our first match not only went to 21 frames it also took 2-30mins so you do the maths.Perhaps the organisers were suggesting that there would be some 10-0 whippings to move things on and i believe there was 1 spanking of that score.But how does that move on a lge format if the other match takes 2 hours plus, what do the other 2 teams do for over an hour waiting for it to finish.

As i said earlier you cant please everyone but having spoken to numerous players on the night and also after the event im not sure the organisers pleased anyone (with the exception of the landlord of the venue who i would assume had a good nights takings).

Now i assume messers PRINCE and RICHARDSON will find these points a little rich from someone that walked out at 11pm, but can i also point out that i was officially on a family holiday so i feel i made enough of an effort to voice my opinion on here or in person.Also it doesnt take a genius to read between the lines to see that a lot of the abuse from paddy was aimed at lincoln players, at this tournament and also at county level.Of coarse i can only speak for myself but if we are that much of a pain in the arse to him and he wants rid of us perhaps all he has to do is say so.I do remember having to pick up the pieces from certain people that walked out on the association before myself.

All this said i do feel that CARL and PADDY are trying very hard to make things work out for the best for the association,and trying to run more events so all this should be applauded.All we ask is that if you want players to respect and support you changes should be discussed and voted on before tournaments begin. Lets be honest a pool association with no players is no use to anyone never mind how well its run.PS perhaps an apology could be made to the lincoln lads who lets be honest have been some of the most commited since we started.

SHAKEY XX

pads8ball · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:51 pm Post subject:

well I DID ASK FOR COMMENTS -

there is and never has been an intention on my part to want rid of any lincoln players -indeed I was more than pleased to see yourself back and have already discussed with some players who have struggled to commit this year that their previous commitments are recognised.I have also actively encouraged other Lincoln players to retrial next year. Therefore I do take offence that there is some bias against Lincoln players -look closely at a county level and you may see the opposite.

secondly - there is no abuse on my part in the previous post although I do accept my sense of humour is maybe not to some people's liking but neither is some of the abuse I personally was subject to that night -yes I THINK the Lincoln team were wrong either individual players or collectively and I'm sure people would expect me to say that. However it is fair to say that we could have speeded things up considerably without the delays that occured. It's a fair point about the start time but the lack of communication from captains mean that the organisers have to constantly chase things up prior to the event, which is ridiculous considering 5 teams and one of those is the organiser.

If truth be known the team that suffered the most from this was our own

thirdly I think it is important to separate the various roles people have as chair of the association I will always support the committee's decisions - on the night in question I was supporting the organiser who had tried to organise the event well and had spent a considerable amount of time and effort setting things up not just on this night but over months previous with I have to say little real response from some captains to agreed timescales.

For me there is no underlying theme behind my previous post regarding any particular team or individuals but there are some clear views I do have

1. No individual player is too good to be chased and put before any one else.

2. I respect anyone's views as long as they respect mine.

3. If people don't like a decision that is made then let me know face to face not hiding behind others - at least you always let me know

4. The committee makes decisions and all capts are welcome to attend - I Chair many different committees and those who know me well know often decisions are made that I don't agree with but that's a democracy.

5. This weekend was an attempt to prevent the fiasco of last year when 1 sponsor hosted an event that only 2 teams attended - this year something different was tried - and a second fiasco prevailed - suggestions for next year are welcomed !!!!!- truth be known people were aware of my views...

6. I hope that lessons can be learnt all round from this weekend - for me there are many but I be interested in what ownership others take of helping the committee to getting things right

7. I actually agree with you about voting on formats and structures please get the capts to meetings -or at least to respond to requests made and we would all be better off -

Lastly I will apologise to anyone, of any of the teams including the Lincoln lads who tried to go with the night, I will even apologise to those who questioned the format included yourself but you wouldn't expect me to apologise to those who were abusive or even worse in my view muttered away in the background,criticising but doing little else some who were not Lincoln players.Everyone will have an opinion and for me the focus is to learn and move on..

Hopefully no offence is found here but good healthy debate never hurt anyone