Sport No new kids on the block in pairs
This week's semi-finals and finals of the Premiership Pairs Championship amazingly only included one "young gun" amongst the four sets of players, which is in stark contrast to what has been happening in recent individual competitions where younger lads have totally dominated, writes Vic Erwin.
Team captains tell you that it has always been a nightmare to try to pair up players who can play well as a team when sometimes they have starkly contrasting styles of play.
Two excellent individual players do not guarantee a good pairing and very much like the game of doubles in tennis, two average players who work well together can prove unbeatable!
The first semi-final saw two of Goole's top snooker players, Steve Bunclark and Rich Hunter, who have been playing very well for Viking Wizards, get the better of the more experienced Wayne Vause and Andy Hurson of Premiership champions, The Verm.
The second match was won by Geoff Rankin and Micky Brooks, who actually play for Bottom House Hunters of Division One.
Rankin and Brooks sportingly exercised their right to enter a higher league's competitions and played solidly to beat the very good pairing of Darren Hodgson and young Kirk Swan of The Verm.
The final itself could only be described as intriguing. Rankin is probably the most successful player there has ever been in the Goole league, with numerous titles over the last twenty years, while Brooks is undoubtedly the most naturally talented player Goole has ever produced.
Bunclark and Hunter, on the other hand, played pool when younger and then moved on to the bigger table, becoming highly respected and established sporting exponents of the game of snooker.
The final was about to answer whether the superb potting and positional skills of Bunclark and Hunter could outdo the silky skills and superior tactical abilities of their formidable opponents.
Alas, the answer was no! Rankin and Brooks outfoxed their rivals every time!
On a few occasions, Bunclark and Hunter potted four or five balls from the break and looked in a healthy position, only to find their opponents' next delicate play meant they were left with no option but to take on an extremely difficult shot which would result in loss of frame if missed.
Make no mistake, it was by no means an easy victory as Bunclark and Hunter threw everything at them but could just never get their heads in front. Rankin and Brooks eventually won 4-2 and were very sportingly congratulated by the losers on their marvellous display.
Having been away from pool for so long, Bunclark and Hunter were at a serious disadvantage and were unlucky to run up against two exceptional players.
Pool used to be like a mini game of snooker, you potted a few balls and then laid a snooker to try and force a two shot penalty. In days gone by a young lad couldn't wait to get into his family's local public house and learn to play pool. When he mastered pool to any degree his thoughts turned to clubland and billiard halls, where he could try to emulate Higgins, White, Davies and the rest as seen on television.
Nowadays with the rule changes playing pool is a total craft in itself. The rules are much more complex than snooker and the thinking player treats it like a game of chess. It is much harder to pot balls at snooker because of the size of the table but those rules have remained constant, whereas pool has adapted well by bringing in changes which have made it into a much more interesting game than before.
Published on 1st May 2008 in Sport.
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