The Youth Grand Prix is being replaced in 2012 with a Junior Tour – limited to 64 players. The Junior Tour will comprise of a MAIN COMPETITION and a PLATE EVENT at each venue, with the GRAND FINAL event at the end of the season.

Tour Dates
21st/22nd April Morley International Leeds
26th/27th May Club 147 Leicester
4th/5th August Jordan's Kent
29th/30th Sept Players Lounge Stoke

ENTRY FEE £145
£50 Deposit paid with entry form and full amount paid by 1st March 2012

For an application form and further information please click here.

The presentation for the successful 2011 season will take place at Canavan's starting at 1.30pm.

There will also be an opportunity for everyone to complete their registration paperwork ahead of the new season. We strongly recommend that you take this opportunity as our first match is away to Sussex at Brighton on the 12th February. There will be a free to enter Scotch Doubles competition with pairings being drawn at random. The winning partnership will have their subs paid for the 2012 season.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible on the 5th.

GLCPA Committee

The AGM will take place on 22nd January at Canavan's. More details will follow.

Motions for consideration by the AGM must be received by me by the end of 8th January. This gives me time to format and edit them as necessary with the proposer's approval, and if required merge them into composite motions.

Please send your motions to me at darrenobyrne@hotmail.co.uk

Only fully paid up members of the Association can submit motions to the AGM.

The AGM is also when we elect members to committee positions. Please note that we don't
have a policy of inviting applications for specific positions; rather, the tradition
is that the newly elected committee decides roles amongst itself at their first
committee meeting. Anyone who is keen to get involved with organising things, whether
that involves specific things you think you'd be able to do or a general desire to help,
is encouraged to put themselves forward at the meeting. Please feel free to get in
touch with any of the current committee to discuss things if you think you might
be interested in this, but please note that committee members are expected to do
stuff... and that means more than just turning up to committee meetings.

It's been a tough old season, but it came to an end today as we played our final game at Reading. With nothing to play for but our pride, our team was on paper immediately weakened by the loss of three top players to the Bs. Fortunately Sam and Keely from the ladies and Luke from the juniors stepped up to help us out. Sam especially did well with 3/4.

Berkshire's a good side and they quickly showed it. They took the first quarter 7-4 and repeated that in the second quarter. This match could have been a lot more one-sided than it was, but I have to take my hat off to the team for bringing us right back in it in the second half. At one point we drew level at 17 each, but then Berks woke up again and went 21-17 up. Still, we held on with three brave wins to come to just one behind with three frames being played simultaneously. We could just as easily have won this as we had chances in all three, but in the end, we won one and our opponents took home the spoils.

Paul Dawson got 3/4 which guarantees him the region's top C team player trophy. Well done to him for such a great season. His closest rival was playing on the other side and achieved 2/4 gifting Dawson the honours. Player of the match though was Michael Bonney. I am so proud of him for getting his first 4/4 at county, achieved with confidence. Nice one Booney!

Now the season is over, the frames have all been totted up and those under 50% will be retrialing, as will those who didn't make 50% of the fixtures. I'll be making my recommendations to the committee and players will be notified in due time if they have to go to the trials in January. Curiously, I notice that 3 of my players who were absent today had all played enough matches and were on exactly 50% - if I were a more cynical man, I might suspect they were opting out to protect their averages lol!

Anyhow, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for chipping in this season. We've struggled, for sure, to develop an identity and I know there have been some individual concerns and difficulties, but the season is over now and I hope we have all learned from it, so we can make 2012 a far more successful campaign. Everyone who has been involved should take pride in the fact that they have played their part for their county. A decision hasn't been made yet as to whether I will be leading the team for another season, but whatever happens, I'll be giving you the benefit of my support.

The As and Bs both won the region so well done to them. I'm sure there will be a few changes over the close season, so we will keep you all informed about those. Meanwhile, have a good Christmas everyone.

The Doctor

Hampshire A 19 - 25 London A
Chichester,
23rd October 2011

It was strange being back in Chichester to play someone other than Sussex, the closure of the Pomrtsmouth club having forced a temporary re-location. I'd kind of missed the place. Takes a bit longer to get there than Brighton but the tables are ok and you have to love the sheer vastness of the hall.

Hampshire expect to be somewhere back in their county for next season, probably Basingstoke by the sound of it.

Full credit to Hants for making this a really tricky game. We were a bit flat the first half of the match, on and off the table, but it took some very good finishing from a relatively inexperienced home side to take advantage of that.

We were 12-10 down at the halfway stage, and lost the next 2 too. But the London team showed a great deal of character from that point, losing only 5 out of the last 20 frames to end up with a very respectable 25-19 win.

The fact that our noise levels started to rise at the same time is no coincidence, and does make me have to ask why we were quiet in the first half. Some players need to start making their support a bit more easily heard... and some need to spend a bit less time away from the tables!

Of course, that's never a problem at Yarmouth. And this result means we're going
back as Region 7 Champions, for the 3rd year in a row (and the day's other results mean that Surrey have clinched second place). Well done to all the players, now let's try to take the second half spirit into this season's final match in Berkshire and on to the finals.

Rob 1/4
Joe 4/4
Jamie 2/4
Darren 2/4
Frank 2/4
Nigel 2/4
Michael 1/4
John 2/4
Rupe 3/4
Jerry 3/4
Adam 3/4

Joe's excellent 4/4, his third of the year, means that he goes into the last match a frame clear of Ian Hubbard at the top of the regional rankings list (with another 2 players another frame behind Ian).

Great to see the lads round off the 2011 season with a good away win.

The match was all square at the half way stage, however London won the opening 4 frames of the 3rd set and from then on it was a reasonably comfortable run to the victory.

The ‘rolled over’ Player of the Match prize of £20 was shared between Jack Lawrence and Stephen Kelly who both played fantastic pool all day and well deserved their prizes.

Vice captain Liam Clancy began the match in joint 6th place in the Region and his 3/4 will almost certainly confirm his England trial place. Well done to Liam.

Finally, captain Luke Thompson played his final match as a London Junior. We wish him every success for the future. The Scarecrow will be missed!

Individual scores:-

Stephen Kelly 4/4
Jack Lawrence 4/4
Liam Clancy 3/4
Shane O’Reilly 3/4
Mehmet Tango 3/4
Luke Thompson 3/4
Jasper Bacon 2/4
Oliver Lawrence 2/4
Alex Long 1/4

The Region 7 Open will be held on 26th November at Surrey's county venue in Croydon.

Entry fee is £10 for the main event and £5 for the Ladies and Juniors events. Payment in advance.

Read more . . .

Pineapple Pete writes: From London, three Waterloo teams (I, II, III) attended the finals this year, along with Battersea, Frank Smiths, and SLKPA. Hammersmith & District also qualified. Such a large representation from within the M25 gave the event a familiar feel, which, considering the back-to-back wins of London at the National Inter-County finals 2010 & 11, reveals an improving standard within the London Interleague grouping.

London A 22 - 22 Hampshire A
JFK's,
11th September 2011


This was close, too close. We went into the match needing a win to clinch the regional title with 2 matches to spare, but in the end were very glad to come away with the draw which meant we couldn't finish lower than second and so had qualified for Yarmouth.

It started with quality, 2 first-visit dishes in the first 3 frames (one for each side). But the quality deserted us while Kent kept their going and the first set developed into a disaster in which we won only 4 frames.

It got a better, and we reversed the score for the second quarter to get to halfway all square at 11-11. Frames were traded pretty much one for one till the end of the match when 4 in a row for Kent put them 2 up with 2 to play.

Jerry won the first of those, leaving John the task of maintaining his own talismanic status. And thanks to his usual solid play, he's still never been on the losing side for London.


Rob 3/4
Joe 3/4
Jamie 3/4
Darren 1/4
Nigel 3/4
Chris 1/4
Andy 2/4
Rupe 0/4
Adam 2/4
Jerry 2/4
John 2/4

Another hard fought match saw us edge out a spirited Sussex side with the win being sealed in the final frame. This does nothing for my nerves!!!

After winning the opening 3 frames. The wheels came off a little and we trailed 6-5 at the end of the opening set. At the end of the second set the score was 11 all and the match remained neck and neck with neither side able to pull more than a frame or two clear.

The final 2 sets both went to London 6-5 but all credit to Sussex for pushing us all the way!

Player of the Match with 4/4 which included the winning frame was Liam Clancy. Also with 4/4 was Stephen Kelly - congrats to both. Well done also to Oliver Lawrence who put a disappointing month behind him to win 3/4 frames and also to Jasper Bacon with a strong performance to win 3/4.

Finally, we say an early goodbye to Jordan O'Connor who has moved up to the B Team to help in their campaign to regain the National Title. Thanks for your help Jordan. Luke Thompson takes over the captaincy for the remainder of the season assisted by new vice captain Liam Clancy.

Our next match is at home to Kent on 11 September. We are still on the look out for another couple of players to strengthen our squad so if you know of anyone who is interested please let me know.

Sarah Long
Youth Team Manager

Individual Scores
Liam Clancy 4/4
Stephen Kelly 4/4
Jasper Bacon 3/4
Oliver Lawrence 3/4
Shane O'Reilly 2/4
Mehmet Tango 2/4
Luke Thompson 2/4
Jack Lawrence 1/4
Alex Long 1/4
Caitlin Long 1/4

It's taken a while but we finally achieved our first proper win this season, and it was a delight to watch. I've always said this team has talent but for much of the season it has lacked stability (the available players have differed enormously game to game) and motivation. I think today, this current crop of players showed exactly the kind of spirit we've been hoping for. We started well, we won all four quarters, and we never let them come back at us, despite their best efforts in the third quarter.

It was like watching a different team today, it really was. There was a real buzz about the Cs and this bodes well. The recent addition of Zen and Fitz has been immense. They have not only added to our frame counts, but their presence has quietly changed the dynamics and given a boost to the other usual strongmen, taking pressure of them. We were still missing a few key players this week but the guys who turned up today and played well have done a helluva lot to cement their starts. I can safely say that I am a happy captain, despite having an absolute mare of a match myself as a player and only just chalking up 1 from 4 and throwing chances away in the other three (ain't that pool!!!!).

So, the breakdown was: we won the first set 7-4, going 5-0 up thanks to 'Dre, Zen (happy to say I made the right call pushing him up to co-opener), Baz, Booney and Danish. That kind of lead is hard to catch and it did our confidence the world of good. We won the second set 7-4 as well, then squeezed a 6-5 win in the third set after Sussex woke up a bit, and dominated the final set 8-3. So, in short, we started well, stayed steady in the middle, and kept our nerves at the end. That's what it takes to win matches.

Three players on 4/4 were outstanding. Zen has already shown himself to be a top addition. He is clearly loving the county experience. Baz missed the last match but today made amends with his best display of the season, a really confident 4/4 which earns him bucket loads of gold stars in my opinion. Perhaps, no disrespect, the most surprising superstar of the day was Mark 'Danish' Christensen, because he's not played since the first match when he won half his frames, and he was only a late addition to the teamm yesterday, but he went about it with relish, and really did cement his start for next match. One little shot he played off the cushion to cover a dangerous bag was sublime and made a mockery of any suggestions that his best game has to be a potting game. Well done to those lads.

Michael Bonney, Paul Fitzgibbon and the ever-reliable Richard Chapman all got 3/4. Booney potted the match-winning ball and played brilliantly throughout. Fitz's contribution has already been stressed, and Chappers goes without saying.

Andre Cox, Jeremy Ruffer and Paul Dawson got 2/4. Andre can be forgiven for losing his final frame because a captain's agreement was made to play out of order which may have upset his rhythm. Paul D got dished up in one frame and was a bit hard on himself I think, because he played well. I am very proud of Jeremy, who played good pool last match but went home winless, and today relaxed his cueing arm and got some well deserved results. He also produced the shot of the match, I think - his cut black length of table to win his final frame.

I let the side down with 1/4 and Paul Williams had a very rare off day with 0/4. But I will take my bad day and I am sure Paul would too if it meant the team as a whole got the win they deserved. And they certainly deserved it. Thanks lads. You've made this difficult season worth struggling through today - let's see more of that next month!