As is traditional on a big night like this everyone who's anyone and a few aren't anyone at all turned up for the momentus occasion know as the St Ives Pool League Finals Night. The venue this year as it was last year was the Sheaf of Wheat and judging by the pictures loads of fun was had by all even during the set up of the venue right through to the end of the night when the 3 Ferrets 'B' took the League Championship Shield.
So at 19:55pm the draw for the 5 Man Team Knockout and the Singles Knockout was done by a man who is well known to these competitions Ricky Chilton of the Rugby Club. The draws were the 3 Ferrets 'B' v Sheaf of Wheat 'A' and the Pool Club v Sheaf of Wheat 'B' setting up the possibilities of an all Sheaf of Wheat Final The Singles saw last years defending Champion Jonathan Peters of the Rugby Club v Mark Williams of the Legion, and in the other semi young Max Davies of the Sheaf 'A' v Lee Norman of the 3 Ferrets 'B'. With the draws done and everything in place the evening was ready to get under way and with the beer starting to flow Andy Livermore League Secretary announced the draws and called the teams forward for the Semi Finals of the 5 Man Knockout.
On table one the 3 Ferrets 'B' took on the Sheaf of Wheat 'A' first up was Jason Bloxam for the Sheaf 'A' and first points to the Sheaf 'A'. Next up Martin Peters for the Sheaf 'A' and again the same result 2-0, finally Max Davies for the Sheaf 'A' and quite surprisingly the 3 Ferrets 'B' were out 3-0 well played the Sheaf of Wheat 'A'. The other table saw the Sheaf 'B' take an early 2-0 lead through Graham Rowe and then Brian Ashwin but then the Pool Club found their feet and fought back with Lee Tacagni and Martin Phillips, and so to the last frame. The last frame saw quite a tussle with Phil Rowe of the Pool Club finally holding his nerve to take the match 3-2 for the Pool Club and set up a Sheaf 'A' v Pool Club Final.
The Singles Semis followed after the 5 Man Team with Mark Williams taking on defending Champion Jonathan Peters in a very tight match mark narrowly won through 2-1, the other table saw Max Davies taking on Lee Norman. Although Lee won 2-0 the game was a lot tougher and more tense with both players making a few errors before Lee finally grabbed the victory. At this point the Kitchen doors opened and Eric and Linda along with their staff piled up plates of sausages, Pizza's, Sandwiches and Chips among other things for everyone to enjoy. After the ensuing stampede and the licking clean of many plates everyone was ready to restart the competitions, but I must just say that once again Eric and Linda excelled themselves and did us all proud.
And so to the first of the finals the 5 Man Team Knockout with the Sheaf of Wheat 'A' against the Pool Club, once again the Sheaf opened up with Jason Bloxam who once again put them 1-0 up. The second Sheaf player was once again Martin Phillips who put the Sheaf 'A' 2-0 up, but then Lee Tacagni of the Pool Club pulled the next one back 2-1. As in the Semi Martin Phillips of the Pool Club went on 4th and once again made it 2-2, the final frame was a tense affair with Max Davies of the Sheaf finally dragging them over the line to take a hard fought 3-2 victory.
After things had calmed down the Doubles Final was started with Andy Badcock and Martin Phillips of the Pool Club playing Mark Williams and Steve Mawdsley of the British Legion. Normally the Doubles final is the part of the night were you can grab 40 winks if you require a small boost but with these two pairings it fairly rattled along and before you knew it the game was won 2-0 by Mark and Steve. The speed of the game in no way reflected the quality shown by both teams and with some luck the outcome may well of been different but in my time in the league I can't remember a Doubles Final taking 20 minutes to complete..... Outstanding !!!!!
Next up the Singles Final with no time for Mark Williams to take a breath as he took on Lee Norman of the 3 Ferrets 'B'. The Singles Final saw the first frame go the way of Mark again in a tight but very fast game, Mark then went on to take the second frame before brimming with confidence and playing some lovely Pool he took the 3rd frame and the title, To be fair to Lee he wasn't given a chance by Mark to get into the game as Mark hit top form and the perfect alcohol saturation point just at the right moment, I'm sure though Lee will be back after having a splendid season.
After all the finals had finished we moved on to the raffle that has been organised by Chairman Paul beadnell this year, with help from quite few others. Tickets were pulled out and prizes claimed and with one prize left to claim (Hair by Frank) the last ticket was pulled and guess what yes it was mine and with the chants of "Hair by Frank" echoing in my ears I collected my prize. Well done to Paul and all those that helped him as this year was a record for our raffle as we raised an amazing £141 to go towards the replacement of Sheilds.
We moved on to the presentations proper and the Eight Ball Certificates were given out, followed by the other presentations of which their are pictures in the gallery, until we finally got to League Champions who were sportingly clapped up to collect their trophies by the runners up the British Legion. One thing I would like to point out is that watching the 3 Ferrets 'B' collecting their trophies and the celebrations that followed it reminds me why the committee and myself put in the hours to make this League happen, well done the Ferrets 'B'.
Finally I would like to thank the Committee Paul, Mark, Steve, Peter, Trevor and Rats for their work and support this season. Paul and Karen for their help setting up and helping to organise the Sheaf of Wheat on Finals Day, lovely shiney trophies !!! Eric and Linda plus their staff for letting us use the Sheaf and all the help they gave, Chris Dunn and everyone else that helped to referee, although Chris can you pick some shorter games to referee in future. Paul and all those that helped in the raffle especially Ricky on the night who managed to get people to part with their money all night and finally all of you that have taken part in the League this year. Without you taking part and enjoying yourselves every week it wouldn't happen when you get the chance have a drink and congratulate yourselves on making it another great year for the St Ives Pool League.
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