WORKING MENS CLUB & INSTITUTE UNION

National Individual Billiards

The entry of 27 for the CIU National Billiards
Championship was two less than last year, with
perhaps the most notable absentee being the 1998
Champion, Neal Rewhorn. With a total of £1,300
in prize money, this contest is the last to be
sponsored by Newcastle Breweries although arrangements have been
made for Newcastle´s parent company, John Smith´s, to take over
sponsorship next year.

The current Champion, Tony Mackinder, started his defence of the
title by travelling to the Northern Social Club where he overcame the
challenge of Jackie Sinclair. Mackinder made breaks of 80 and 75 in a
comfortable victory. Also in good form was Jack Hedley, who raced to
a massive 420 point victory which included a break of 104. However,
the highest break of the preliminary round came from Peter Shelley
with a run of 105. An additional break of 94 sealed his win.

Four of the preliminary round matches were unplayed with the tie being
awarded to the “away” player in each case. Paul Bennett, in anticipation
of his move to the professional ranks, conceded his match to Alf Nolan.

The sensation of the second round was not only the departure of the
Champion but also last year’s finalist! Tony James turned in a
magnificent performance to defeat Tony Mackinder by almost half the
game on the Champion’s own table!

Lee Lagan also made an unexpected exit at the hands of Geoff Charville,
who is highly regarded in the Teesside area but who has not, so far,
made a great impact on the national scene. A break of 109 helped
Charville to level the scores at 455 and at this point he took his
opportunity, running to game with an unfinished break.

Alf Nolan won the first of his nine CIU titles in 1953 and the most
recent in 1989. Playing in the tough Northern area, he almost caused a
major upset as he came very close to defeating the 1997 Champion,
Darren Kell. With Kell taking an early lead of almost 100 points Nolan
played his way back into the match levelling the scores at 360. He then
put together a run of eighty points to go clear, subsequently advancing
his position to just 5 points from game. Over eighty points in arrears
and faced with almost certain defeat, Kell responded in magnificent
style to snatch the game with his next two visits, each producing a
contribution in the forties.

Peter Shelley made two century breaks to overwhelm Sean Bean, and
with the elimination of Lagan and Mackinder, establish himself as the
one of the favourites for this years title.

Quarter-final Draw : Chapman v Lee; Shelley v French; Kell v Ingleby;
James v Charville.

CIU NATIONAL BILLIARDS CHAMPIONS