POOL CLUB
Business House League (seasonal) – Monday to Wednesday (as required) – 7.00pm start
Mini-league round-robin competitions before and after the Business House League season.
Inter-club and Club Champs (seasonal) – Sunday – Start times vary.
For all inquiries please contact Dave on 027 754 9961
Email: David.Ollason@hotmail.com or pool@warkworthrsa.co.nz
2024 Done & Dusted
Bring on 2025
POOL PRIZEGIVING - 2024 SEASON
This year's pool season drew to a close on Sunday Nov 10th with our annual Prizegiving.
It was a great season this year and I think for me the biggest themes were, energy, enthusiasm and participation. We had two new tournaments this year, The Scotch Pairs Open and the Ladies 9 Ball making a total of 11 tournaments across the season. Participation levels broke records, with 16 in the Ladies Singles and 19 in the Mens Singles being the highest that I can remember. Climate change in the RSA Pool Section is very real, and very positive.
We had several players playing in our RSA tournaments for the first time, which is fantastic to see.
For the benefit of the newcomers to the club, and there are a number of you, the winners of each tournament have their names engraved on the trophy for all to see, and both the winners & runners up get a gold and silver medal respectively plus some prize money….and a huge round of applause in recognition of their achievement.
It has been a great season with high quality pool throughout with loads of laughs, oohs & ahhs and a fair amount of “If only that black had dropped!” and “What if?”.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Chrissy and our bar staff and everyone who pitched in and helped to make this season a success – it can’t be done without you! From doing the sign-up sheets, helping running the board, cooking the BBQ or bringing food to keep us going – you know who you are and the support is very much appreciated!
We congratulated the winners and runners up of each tournament for their thoroughly well deserved achievements, each and every one. I do, however, want to make special mention of two players: Well done Jo Clarkson for winning the Ladies Singles at her first attempt! And well done also to Rachel Dixon who took out her first tournament win with the Ladies 9 Ball.
As I was wrapping up the prizegiving, Jim B grabbed the mic and made a special thank you and gift basket, on behalf of the pool section, to me for organising the pool and to my wife Tracey for supporting me.
This was a lovely surprise Tracey and I were really touched by it and would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!.
We are all very much looking forward to a break, some decent weather, and then to get stuck into next year’s season.
Cheers
Dave
SUNDAY 3rd NOVEMBER
POOL vs GOLF TOURNAMENT
The morning was clear and fresh as the 7 players on the RSA list arrived at Warkworth Golf Club for the Annual WGC v RSA match.
Sadly, there were no additional players there from the Golf Club to meet us but as 5 of our 7 were also members of the Golf Club we tossed coins with Dave Harvey, Dave Lark and I selected to represent them.
We started with a group of 3 and in that Linton Palmer beat Dave Lark putting the RSA 1 up with Cam Bryce (a very occasional golfer) playing alongside them to keep them company.
The remaining 4 of us played 2 singles and a fourball match putting 3 more points up for grabs. Some excellent golf from Gary Mowday saw him win the first 5 holes against me (and in the fourball) to take a lead that I never managed to reel in with him and I shaking hands on the 15th. 2-0. Dave Harvey and Kev Baldwin were still battling it out and despite having been down many times in the match Dave was in the lead by now and took the match on the following hole to make it 2-1
The fourball was decided on the 17th with Gary and Kev winning the last point to make it 3-1 to the RSA
The course was a joy to play and in great nick. Thanks to the team at the Divot for looking after us so well and we had a great time at the 19th with cold beers and great burgers.
Handily we also ran into Ash Crookenden there and seconded him to give us 8 for the pool part of the proceedings. Refreshments finished and it was off to the RSA!
We played the same singles matches as the golf with Gary, Kevin, Linton, and Ash (selected for RSA by coin toss against Cam Bryce) all winning their singles matches for a half point each to make it 5-1.
The pairs matches were next and worth a point each. Linton and Ash won against Cam and Dave L, but Dave Harvey and I prevented the clean sweep by beating Gary M and Kevin B to take a point for the golf club.
Final score RSA 6 - WGC 2
Despite the low numbers we had a great day and look forward to a hopefully bigger turnout next year.
Tony Hatton
SUNDAY 20th OCTOBER
On a very lovely sunny Sunday, 12 players made the trip out to Whangateau to play the Rams in the last of our interclub matches this year. Many of us, myself included had never been to the Rams Club, and it is a little gem set in stunning surroundings - what a fitting end to the interclub season.
The Rams are completely new to interclub play and, in fact, the game at Warkworth in April was the first interclub for the Rams team, ever. That match was quite one-sided with us winning 21:9, however, since then Rams entered a team into our Business House B Div and did very well indeed winning the division!
Needless to say, the team we played on Sunday were a lot more experienced than in April, and it showed.
We played the Doubles best of 3 first and Warkworth ended up winning 4:2, and we got stuck in straight away with Singles best of 1, which Rams took out 5:7 making the scores even at 9:9 when we broke for afternoon tea.
And what a meal it was! The Rams kitchen pulled out all the stops with some lovely fried rice, noodles chicken drumstick....the works. Fabulous!
Everyone was having a great time and we decided to have another round of reverse singles, where 1 plays 12, 2 plays 11 etc
Perhaps the food got to the Rams team because we managed to win that round 8:4 making the final score
Warkworth 17:13 Rams
At least one of the Rams players will be joining the Warkworth RSA with a view to playing in our tournaments and curry league
We will be getting a trophy for this fixture as we all hope to be playing each other for many years to come.
Cheers,
Dave
Mens Singles - 13th October
It's great to see the popularity of our tournaments go from strength to strength.
Following on from our record turnout for the Ladies Singles last week, the Men stepped up to the plate and on Sunday we had 19 players and we had to use every inch of the scoreboard to fit everything in!
Huge welcome to Murray & Keanau, playing in their first Mens Singles tournament, and a welcome back to Piseth, who has been overseas.
With this number of players, qualifying was best of one and there were sections of 10 and 9 players.
The best of one format really sharpens the focus and there was great pool played in both sections. We made great time and were looking to take forward 4 players from each section to a quarter final. in section 2, the qualifiers were clear with Tony, Kev, Ash and Jim B all progressing. But in section 1 there were two clear qualifiers, Gary and Malcolm, but then four players all tied on 5 point vying for the last two spots. By looking at how these players fared against each other, were able to find the last two spots and Storm and Murray went through.
There were some great tussles in the quarters and the semis which ultimately led to a repeat of last year's final between Storm and Tony.
Storm had had a slow start in qualifying, but was starting to come right, whereas Tony had been firing all day only dropping a single match.
Unfortunately for Storm, Tony's winning streak continued and he took out the final in style.
Well done Tony, and commiserations to Storm and thanks to everyone for playing and making this another great tournaments.
Many thanks to Malcolm for doing the BBQ, it was much appreciated.
Next weekend we're playing away at the Rams club and there are still a couple of spots available.
Ladies Singles Oct 6th
With 16 players in the field it was going to be an epic journey.
We split into two rounds of eight and got underway about 9.30am, the first two rounds took us up to lunch time, however, no break was asked for and none given.
The smorgasboard food extravaganza started early and continued throughout day/evening with a huge range of delicious eats for the players, whanau and spectators, to be enjoyed by all.
I did note in one game where Jennie used her 3 ball as the cue ball, a momentary lapse of concentration and two shots given away.
Great to have the two new players in the field, Jo in Division One, who went on to have five wins from seven, and make the semi-final. Morgan, our youngest player, who was in Division Two, who managed to come away with three wins from seven against some very experienced players, Well done.
With the Round Robin completed we had two players from each division into the Semi Final. Jo with her five wins and Marcia with six wins in Division One and in Division Two we saw Rachelle with six wins and Leigh, unbeaten with seven wins.
About 9pm we started with the Final, Marcia and Jo doing battle in the best of three frames with Jo becoming the victor around 9.30pm.
A great turnout and credit to the players for lasting in this marathon effort.
Congratulations to Winner Jo and Runner-up Marcia.
Thanks to bar staff, Jan for opening up early and Seth for seeing us through into the night.
Cheers, Kev
Winter/Spring Curry League 2024
Last Monday we had the finale of the Winter/Spring Curry League.
This league has proven to be hugely popular and features 8 teams of 4 playing on Monday nights and using the Scotch Doubles format for the pairs, which is a hit!
This time, and for the first time I will for those accusers of match fixing my team, Bhuna, was leading the table with a healthy margin. However, the second place spot was very much still up for grabs.
After the matches were all over and Seth had updated the table we saw that we had a tie for second place with Kadai and Balti both on 23 points. Moreover, when these two teams met earlier the score was 3:3 so very much a tie for second place.
Well done to Kadai & Balti!
And in first place huge congratulations to Bhuna, who played very well throughout the league, if I do say so myself
Mixed Pairs - Sunday 29th September2024
We had a good turnout on Sunday with 12 pairs for the 2024 Mixed Pairs tournament. We divided into two sections of 6, best of 3, for qualifying and kicked off in good time just after 9am.
As is often the case with these early morning tourneys, there was a bit of a nervy start and the first round games saw players finding their feet, playing cautiously and building their relationship with their partner, with whom many may not have played with since last year, and in mine and Leigh's case, never having played together before!
Once settled in, the standard of pool and the speed of the games increased and we started to hear many oohs, aahs and shouts of "OMG, what a shot!".
After the first 3 rounds, front runners were emerging in the form of Emma & Tony and Jim & Marcia in Section 1 and in Section 2 myself & Leigh and Gary & Jennie were leading the way.
And after the full 5 rounds, the leaders in section 1 clung on to qualify, despite late charges from Ash & Nadine and Storm & Tammy. But in section 2 we saw similar late charges from Thrax & Milly and Jill & Trout that ultimately saw Thrax & Milly join myself & Leigh in the semi-finals.
Several people had brought food, which was much appreciated, and I will be working with the players to formalise how we do food for our tournaments next year and this will be marked clearly on the sign-up sheets so everyone is aware.
I'd like to also thank Ian and Dave for doing the BBQ, it was much appreciated.
In the first semi, Tony & Emma just edged out Thrax & Milly to book a spot in the final. And in the other semi, myself & Leigh had an epic battle with Jim & Marcia, which went the distance and Leigh & I were very relieved and delighted to win - phew!
The stage was set for a best of 5 between Dave & Leigh and Emma & Tony.
We got off to a good start winning the first, only for T&E to come back in the second and then we took the third to lead 2:1. I was expecting another comeback in the 4th, and it was looking quite likely as we were behind, but then up stepped Leigh who cleared our remaining balls and a very tricky black to win the frame and the tournament. That clearance was one of several amazing shots from Leigh that helped us get through.
Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the runners up and a huge thank you to everyone for taking part and making it another great tournament of pool at the RSA.
Next week is the Ladies Singles, which will be run by Kev, and the week after is the Mens Singles.
Cheers
Dave
DICK PYE MEMORIAL - Sunday 15th September
On Sunday we had 14 players, 3 women and 11 men, for the 2024 Dick Pye Open Singles. We split the players into two sections of 7 for the qualifying round robin, best of 3 frames, and were underway at 9:15am.
The Dick Pye attracts some of the best players, both men and women, in the RSA and the standard of pool played on Sunday was very high indeed. Many matches went to three frames, but at the same time we were running well under budget of estimated time, testament to high quality pool where frames are over in 4 or 5 visits. Given the fast pace, we decided that we would have enough time to take the top 8 through to a quarter final, rather than going to semi final.
In section 1 there were a few standout performances, with Scotty winning all 6, and both Jimmy & Thrax on 4 wins! There were 2 players on 3 wins, myself and Mike, and because Mike got my scalp he progressed through - well done Mike!
Section 2, however, was much more even with Bob, Tony, Storm and Kev all finishing with 4 wins.
There were some great tussles in the quarter finals and the ultimate winners moving through to the semi finals were Kev, Tony, Bob & Storm which, interestingly, were the same four players from section 2, and so they had all played each other earlier in the day. Kev was out for revenge for his loss to Tony, and similarly, Bob was out to avenge his defeat to Storm.
And I don't believe I've ever seen this before, but the tables were turned in both semi finals, with both Kev and Bob avenging their losses and progressing to the final. Again testament to quality, but Tony got an impressive 3 Tin Hats in the course of the day and yet didn't progress!
And what a final it was! Having beaten Kev in the qualifying, Bob must have thought it was business as usual as he built up a 2:0 lead in the best of 5. They were well contested frames, but Bob got them both and was poised for victory. However, Kev had other ideas and clawed back to 2:2 and sending us into a final frame.
The last frame of the final was amazing to watch with both players playing top quality pool, but there can only be one winner and the spoils went to Kevin Baldwin!
Well done to Kev and commiserations to Bob, so close!
Many thanks to Storm for doing the BBQ which we all enjoyed towards the end of qualifying - Thank you!
We finished at 5pm and everyone had had a great day!
Next Sunday is Wellsford at home and we have a full team and the captain for the day will be Jim Brown.
Cheers
Dave
Warkworth V Wellsford home game - Sunday 22nd September
Sunday saw our team gearing up for the second and last match of the year against Wellsford for the Kieghlie Cup. In our previous match earlier this year we saw our captain & Tracey J clinching a vital win at the end of that day to bring our teams to a 9:9 draw. So with this in mind we quickly settled into our first matches of the day.
Warkworth dominated the first part of the day with a 4:2 lead in the doubles before our break. It was clear the Wellsford players weren't going down without a fight, as they rallied back in the singles finally catching up to Warkworth in the last couple of matches of the day.
The final deciding match between Mike J & Jack went to 3 frames with Mike taking it out giving us the final score of 10:8.
It was noticeable that the light hearted banter between teams contributed to a friendly relaxed atmosphere. What a terrific team effort from both sides of the match. A special mention to Aidrian for stepping in to make up numbers to fill the team roster.
And finally this match saw both the captains away on work duties so also a big thanks to both Jim B & Segee for filling those roles for the day.
Cheers
Dave
DRAWN PAIRS - Sunday 8th September
The Drawn Pairs tournament is a fun tournament with the added twist that you don't know who you're playing with till the day, when the pairs are drawn at random. It's open to both men and women and attracts players with a wide range of ability, all there to enjoy a fun day.
This year saw a great turnout with 24 players (14 men and 10 women) from which we drew 12 pairs and divided them into two sections of 6 for the qualifying round, where each team plays all other teams in their section and we pick the top teams in each section to progress to the knockout stage.
Section 1 had what was, on paper at least, an unstoppable force in the form of Tony & Thrax. However, when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, sparks will fly. Scotty & Jill won with an awesome Tin Hat in the 3rd to win the match - well done!
Suffice it to say that these two pairs were more than a match for the others in Section 1 and ended up being the two qualifiers for the semi finals.
In Section 2 things were a little less clear cut....but only a little less. Kev & Dave H were the runaway section winners, winning all 5 of their matches! After the penultimate round, it was still relatively open with three teams on 2 wins. But the final round sorted the wheat from the chaff and Ash & Rachelle were victorious with 3 wins and made up the last of the semi-final pairs.
We paused for lunch which was a combination of food that some players had brought, and was absolutely lovely, together with BBQ sausage, steak and onion which was cooked by Dave H - many thanks to Dave and to everyone who brought the food and helped tidy up afterwards - thank you, much appreciated!
The semi finals were Jill & Scotty vs Ash & Rachelle and Tony & Thrax vs Kev & Dave H
There was some fantastic pool in the semis and it ultimately resulted in the end of the road for Kev & Dave H and Jill & Scotty, both of whom had an unbeaten record up until that point! The final was best of 5 between Tony & Thrax and Ash & Rachelle.
Ash & Rachelle took off from the start and managed to build a 2:1 lead, putting the pressure on Tony & Thrax to either win the frame of loose the final. The pressure proved to be too much and Tony & Thrax bowed to it and the winners were Ash & Rachelle - Well done to the winners and commiserations to the losers.
On a personal note, mine and Noelene's day was one of those coulda, woulda, shoulda days where we got close but just not quite there. However, we finished sweetly with the second Tin Hat of the day in our last game .
Another fabulous day had by all!
The next tournament is the Dick Pye Singles which is open to both men and women and there are still plenty of spaces left.
Finally, the annual RSA vs Golf fun tournament will be played on Sunday Nov 3rd and will be run by Tony Hatton. There will be a sign-up sheet in due course.
Cheers,
David
Interclub Onehunga Home Sunday 25th
Sunday saw a fantastic turnout with 23 players from each team, plus a couple of spectators, meaning that we had nearly 50 people in the RSA from midday, ready for an awesome day of pool.
Our team comprised 13 men and 10 women and had an age range that spanned 78 years from Connor (13) all the way to Jim (91)! It's fantastic to see that pool is enjoyed here by such a wide range of members.
With such a large number of players, we decided to do the Doubles best of 3 and the Singles best of 1.
There were a few faces I didn't recognise from Onehunga, due to their merger with the working mens club, and so the newbies were welcomed and we ran through the rules.
The previous time we met earlier this year was a Onehunga 19 : 16 Warkworth loss that we were eager to turn around to regain the cup. Things got off to a good start for us and after the first 6 Doubles we were 5:1 up! But as I keep saying in these reports, the day is long and things change and, indeed, Onehunga brought it back to 7:5 at the end of the Doubles.
Moving into the sudden death singles, things ebbed and flowed between the two teams, but Warkworth maintained our (slim) lead and with only 2 singles to go the score was 19:14 to us. That's a win on the day BUT, if we had lost both singles it would have been a draw all up for the year and Onehunga would retain the cup - we HAD TO WIN ONE!
Mario had a fantastic game which went down to the wire, but his opponent, Max, brought out a fabulous 3 ball clearance to clinch it.
So, the weight of responsibility landed on the shoulders of our youngest player, Connor. He was playing well, they both were, and coming to the end Connor played a deft little shot to tuck his last colour in to cover the corner pocket. And on his next visit he potted that ball and left himself a long black down the cushion to the corner, and he slammed it in, nothing but net, for the WIN!!
Huge congratulations to the Warkworth players who won both singles and doubles: Gary, Marcia, Kev, Wendy, Scott, Jennie, Noelene and myself.
Thanks to everyone who brought food and to those who helped with the prep, presentation and clean up - much appreciated.
It was a fantastic day and here's me wrestling the cup away from Barbara
Cheers,
David
On Sunday 9 pairs gathered at 9am to contest the RSA Mens Pairs 2024. We decided with 9 pairs to have a full round-robin best of 3 qualifying and we got underway at 9:15am.
After the first 4 rounds, there were some clear frontrunners in the defending champions, Scott & Gary, last years runners up, Storm & Daniel and myself and Tony all on a clean sheet. None of the other teams had more than two wins at this point and they were clearly keeping their powder dry for the second half of qualifying.
Raina was in the kitchen preparing for a memorial service and she very kindly offered to do some chips & onion rings to go with our steak and sausage, and then she went on to cook the meat and save us the trouble with the BBQ. Many thanks to you, Raina, it was a tremendous help and the food was lovely!
In the second half, the frontrunners continued their winning ways, by and large, and qualified for the semi final stage, with Storm & Daniel on 7 and myself & Tony and Gary & Scott both on 6. The fourth qualifier, Bob & Chris, had an excellent second half, winning 3 out of 4 and finishing on 5 wins total!
The semis was myself & Tony vs Gary & Scott, with the other clash being Storm & Daniel vs Bob & Chris.
We had beaten Gary & Scott in the qualifying round and they were clearly out for revenge. It was a great match, which went the distance and saw Gary & Scott exact their revenge when it counted and progress to the final. Storm & Daniel were the other semi winners and the final was a repeat of 2023.
Seemingly the perennial bridesmaids, Storm & Daniel had a lot to prove, but didn't start too well, losing the first frame in best of 5. However, their resolve was strong and they managed to win the next three frames to take the title 3:1.
Well Done to Storm & Daniel and commiserations to Gary & Scott.
We finished bang on 6pm, which is a little later than we had hoped, but everyone had a great day.
John Stephen Memorial Pairs 2024
On Sunday we had 25 pairs from clubs across the region for the inaugural John Stephen Memorial Pairs, which replaces the RSA Invitational Pairs.
The day started with some words from Bob about John and his impact on the RSA in general and the pool section in particular. We then had a brief run through of the rules and the format of the day and got stuck in around 9:15am with the first round.
After everyone had had their first round match, including those that had a bye, we saw some 'on paper upsets' with Peter & Dave, Tina & Moloi and Gordy & Brett all going into the Plate. We also saw some good performances from Warkworth with Gary & Scott, Marcia & Jim, Storm & Thrax and Myself & Tony all progressing.
Tony and my second round was against Deon & Eli, who have won here multiple times, and we basically approached the match with a "we can do this" attitude. It was a fantastic match which went to the 3rd frame and ultimately.... Wed did do this! 🙂
In the quarter final of the Main, there were four Warkworth teams looking for a place in the semis, but unfortunately one team made it, Tony & I, after a great game with Marcia & Jim, who were playing some mean pool. Meanwhile in the Plate, Murray & Jo, who had taken Simon & Lee to three frames in the first round had progressed to the semi final of the Plate - Well Done!
Tony and I had a great semi against Rob & Mike, where on the last black of the 3rd frame Tony thought he had angled himself, but pulled out a fantastic shot to pot the black of their ball and book us a place in the final against Jared & Aaron. And the Plate final was between Peter & Dave and Brett & Gordy.
Tony and I started off really well in our first ever final, winning the first frame. However, although we came close, we didn't win any more and ended up losing a great match 1:3
And in the Plate final, Peter & Dave edged out Gordy & Brett for the win.
Well done to the winners and the runners up!
On a personal note, I am incredibly proud of how Warkworth played in general in both the Main and Plate. And in particular for Tony & I to reach our first final, largely due to some fantastic pool from Tony and some not too shabby stuff from me.
And, of course, and as is always the case, Raina and Shirley produced a fantastic lamb shanks lunch that was much appreciated by everyone - Thank you!
The number of byes and the general difficulty in filling up the tournaments was discussed and the idea floated as to whether we should run these on Saturdays rather than Sundays? This has worked well for our Interclub against Papatoetoe and there are a number of advantages in terms of reducing clashes and giving people a day to recover before work. Throughout the day Maurice canvassed the players and the result was overwhelming in favour of Saturdays, and we will make that change for the 2025 season.
LADIES PAIRS - SUNDAY 4th August
For the ladies pairs on Sunday, I'd like to thank Kev for stepping in to run the event and for his report below.
Ladies Pairs – Sunday 4th August
It was great to see 16 players arrive to contest this coveted trophy.
We got away to an early start, with some latecomers arriving to complete the teams.
The early games were hotly contested, Rachelle & Marcia along with Tammy and Tracey setting a winning pattern. Nadine and Noelene had a first game loss, but then went on a winning run. Wendy and Kim got away to a great start winning their first games, but a few mid losses didn’t help. Erana and Jesse put together some very powerful shots but were unable to achieve a win.
Three cheers to Rachel and Jill, who played with broken ankle, they put together some great games. Milly and Emma, Trish and Jenny made up the teams and competed very well, but were unable to get enough wins to put them into final contention.
Second and Third place was played off between Marcia and Rachelle against Nadine and Noelene. With the win going to Marcia & Rachelle.
Congratulation to Tammy and Tracey, who went through the day without a loss to be the 2024 Winners.
Food - What can I say “Absolutely fabulous”, not only for the players but for everyone else who was there.
Over all a fantastic day, played in good spirit and lots of laughs.
Kev
Business House 2024 - Let me start this week's report with an apology.
I made a couple of mistakes in the business house prizegiving report last week.
Firstly, it was Leigh Crombie who got the Tin Hat award for the first Tin Hat of the season and secondly, Marcia's Top Dawg award was for 10 singles wins in the season, not 9 as I had said last week.
Congratulations to both Leigh and Marcia!
Hibiscus Coast Away Sunday July 28th
Sunday saw 16 of us make our way down to Hibiscus Coast RSA for our return fixture. We had frittered away a large lead in the first fixture and ended up losing it by a single point! Revenge was top of mind for Warkworth.
After welcoming us, Hibiscus Coast invited us to start with lunch where they had taken a leaf out of our book and all the players had brought a plate. It was lovely and we continued to graze throughout the day - it's an idea that worked well and we might want to consider.
Hibiscus Coast had 18 players and so two of ours played twice and we started with the doubles. After the first 5 doubles it was tight at 3:2 to us, but HBSC managed to win all 4 remaining and won the doubles 3:6. This wasn't a Warkworth collapse but just rather some very tight matches, full of great pool that just didn't go our way. The highlight for Warkworth in the doubles really has to be Mr Hatton where he showed us where is name derives from by getting two Tin Hats in the one match.....yes, TWO Tin Hats! - well done Tony.
Things started to look up in the singles where after the first 9 the score was 5:4 to us, but in the second half, HBSC returned the favour and levelled the singles at 9:9 thereby winning:
Warkworth 12 : 15 Hibiscus Coast
Well done to Hibiscus Coast who now have the trophy until next year where we will be gunning to take it back.
We finished up at ~5pm and were back home by 5:30pm having thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Cheers,
Dave
A great turnout for the 2024 Business House Pool Prizegiving!
We started with a moment of reflection to remember John Stephen who was a huge supporter of BHP and founded and led the team that I currently play for, Mill Lane. John will be very much missed.
This year's BHP league was a huge success, and we were delighted to welcome four new teams into the league: Welcome to Jedler (formerly Mahu), Rangi, Rams and the Cue Crew!
Two of the teams, Jedler and Rangi, were formed from new members of the RSA, whereas Rams hail from Whangateau and the Cue Crew from Snells Beach. It is so great to see our pool section expand and to see support from the wider region.
The first Tin Hat of the season was delivered by Marcia Moore and gracefully received by Jill Mowday 🙂. And that game was the first of 9 singles wins for Marcia for the season and she took out the Top Dawg award too - well done Marcia!
In the B Division, three teams hit their stride right out of the gate; Rams, 2 Shots and Hynds and continued to vie with each other for the top spots throughout the season. In the final stretch, however, Rams started to pull away leaving 2 Shots and Hynds to decide 2nd place. This ultimately went to Hynds by a few hard fought points.
In the A Division, several teams were in contention by half way through the season. However, as we approached the tail end it was clear that Flukers had a commanding lead with my own team, Mill Lane, needing a miracle in the final match to be able to win. Sadly, that miracle was not forthcoming and Flukers ran out clear and deserved winners.
Congratulations to the Winners B Division: Rams, A Division: Flukers and also to the second place teams, B Division: Hynds, and A Division: Mill Lane. Both Hynds and Rams teams will be playing in the A Division next year and we will hopefully have two new teams joining in the B Division.
The team voted the most social team in the B Division was the Cue Crew, and in the A Division was STR - Congratulations to both teams for helping to make the league a fun place to be!
We thanked Sherryl with flowers for all the work she does behind the scenes and we finished up the evening with some fabulous food from Raina, and more than a few drinks, laughs and retold stories from over the season.
Looking forward to seeing you all back for more next year.Papatoetoe Home Saturday July 20th
Papatoetoe Home Saturday July 20th
On Saturday we hosted Papatoetoe at Warkworth for the last game of the second year that our two teams have been playing. Papatoetoe have been a great find for us, and we for them, and both sides look forward very much to our matches. Consequently, there was a great turnout with 18 visitors and 22 home players making a total of 40 players on the day!
Our games are always fairly even matches, but Warkworth has managed to edge all 3 of the matches so far. Needless to say, Di & her team were out for revenge.
We started with the doubles, and the results ebbed and flowed with each team having little winning streaks, and ultimately ending up 6:5 to Papatoetoe. The singles also started off fairly evenly with Papatoetoe just inching in front around the time we broke for lunch, which was absolutely lovely and much appreciated by the vistors and the home side. Well done to our team and many thanks to all those that helped, special shout out to Rach and Rachelle.
We resumed the singles after lunch and, perhaps spurred on by the amazing lunch, Papatoetoe seemed to sense blood in the water and circled in for the kill, taking 7 of the final 11 singles games to win the match
Warkworth 14 : 19 Papatoetoe
Congratulations to Papatoetoe and Di & her team were delighted to have broken the drought with the win.
On the Warkworth side, many congratulations to Rachelle, Gary, Tony, Zom Eddy and Jim for winning both singles and doubles - Well done!
In the first match of this, Warkworth won 16:11 and we lost by the same margin, making it a draw overall for the 2024 season - What a fitting end for these two well-matched teams!
We now have Hibiscus Coast Away on Sunday 28th
BIRKENHEAD 14th July -
Hi All, Unfortunately, I was unable to make the Birkenhead game and Jim Brown stood in as captain and also provided this great report from the game
Birkenhead Away Sunday July 14th Sunday saw a smaller than usual club team due to sickness head off to Birkenhead RSA to defend the Inter-club cup. But with 6 points already in our belt due to the last visit to the tables with this team, everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to the day.
We had a couple of our members already there warming up and it was nice to see Conners grandparents along to cheer on the team. It wasn't long before we were up and running with the order of the day with doubles being played first, Birkenhead clearly showed us their intentions to make up for the last time and took three wins to every one of ours.
Going into the meal break, the score was 9-3 to Birkenhead. With our team having an uphill battle, we rallied playing our singles but still came in short, with the final score being 24-12 to Birkenhead.
Though handing the cup over was difficult (especially considering we had forgotten to bring it), Birkenhead thoroughly deserved the win and as always we enjoyed the quality of their gameplay.
On an endnote, a special award was given by the captain of the Birkenhead team to our appointed captain of the day Jim Brown. The 'Chocolate fish' award was for sinking a cracker of a shot on a tricky black in his doubles, unfortunately he must have been in a bit of a hurry because he still had one of his balls left on the table, meaning loss of game.
RSA Snooker Open 2024
It was the halcyon days of the early 80's when I first got interested in snooker, watching Pot Black and then being absolutely glued to the Embassy World Professional Championship from the Crucible theatre in Sheffield. I was an avid armchair enthusiast for several years before ever picking up a cue myself and seeing first hand what these terms - "screw", "side", "stun" etc - actually meant. And yet more years before I had the opportunity to play on a full size table and truly appreciate the skill that these snooker players had….as I clearly didn't.
It's a complex and fascinating game and 9 of us enthusiasts turned up to play the 2024 RSA Snooker Open tournament on Sunday. With 9 players we had the opportunity to play a full round-robin qualifying, best of 1 frame, with the view of taking the top 4 into semi-finals & final, best of 3.
We made good progress in the qualifying with only very minimal idle table time. After the first 4 rounds, the frontrunners were beginning to emerge: Myself, Chris, Tony & Ash all on 3 from 4. However, as I frequently point out in these reports, fortunes change in snooker, as they do in pool, and after the full 8 rounds we had Tony & Bob on 6, Jimmy on 5 and Chris on 4, making the semi final.
We broke for a sausage, steak and onion lunch - many thanks to Tony for cooking.
The first semi was between Tony & Chris and Tony was looking for revenge over his loss in the qualifying. Revenge was duly exacted and Tony progressed to the final, but very well done to Chris for making it to the semi final in his first Snooker open tournament.
In the second semi Jimmy and Bob had a great match which went the distance and Jimmy prevailed 2:1 in the end
Tony is the defending champion, however, Jimmy had taught Tony how to play snooker many moons ago and had beaten Tony in the qualifying round and was looking to do the same in the final.
However, in much the same way as last year against me, Tony was firing on all cylinders and he raced away to a 2:0 WIN with a fine display of great snooker.
Well done Tony, thoroughly deserved! And commiserations to Jimmy, but also congratulations on reaching the final in his first attempt.
Cheers
Dave
Ladies 9 Ball Singles 2024
This year, by popular demand, we introduced two new tournaments to the calendar. The first was the Scotch doubles in March, and the second was the Ladies 9 Ball Singles which we played on Sunday.
There were originally 10 players on the list but sadly 4 had to drop and many thanks to Sheila for the late stand in, and we had 7 on the day for a great day of 9 Ball!
The qualifying round was a full round robin among all the players best of 3. Play started a little slowly with balls being "chased around" for several turns before being potted. I was a little worried that I'd got the timing wrong, but then it all came together nicely from the second round once the players had warmed up and got their eye in.
There was some great 9 Ball with many games being finished early with the 9 being potted, spectacularly and intentionally, from other balls. And in fact, Rachelle had a golden break, potting the 9 off the break, and that frame was finished in 4 seconds!
At the halfway stage, frontrunners were beginning to emerge, with Rachel & Marcia both on 3 wins and Jill & Rachelle on 2. In the first half of qualifying neither Tracey nor Nadine had managed to record any wins, but in the second half they both rallied and had two wins out of their final three games and finished strongly. However, this rally was just too little too late and the original frontrunners held on and progressed to the semi-final:
Rachel vs Jill
Marcia vs Rachelle
The ladies had all brought plates of lovely food and we took a break to enjoy it before the semi-final stage. It was a delicious mix of hot/cold and savoury/sweet and we all had a lovely feed - thank you all very much indeed!
Both semis were great games and highly contested with Rachel edging out Jill in the first and Marcia getting the better of Rachelle in the second.
We were doing really well for time and decided that the final, between Rachel & Marcia, would be best of 5. There was no luck involved in the final, just excellent 9 Ball pool. Rachel got the first but then Marcia pulled back with an excellent finish in the second. Rachel again took the lead winning the third. The fourth frame was great, with both players having chances to win. We were down to just the 8 and 9 balls and Marcia left Rachel snookered on the 8 behind the 9. Rachel made an excellent pot of the 8 off the cushion and with just enough pace to leave a shot on the 9 which she potted for the win.
Congratulations to Rachel! And commiserations to Marcia.
But there were really no losers today, we all had a great time, as I think you can see below.
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE
9 Ball Open 2024
On Sunday we had 13 men and 8 women i.e. 21 players for the 2024 RSA 9 Ball Open. I think a field of 21 is somewhat of a record and is testament to the popularity of the 9 Ball game.
We split the field into two sections of 10 and 11 and played round-robin qualifying best of one frame. After a brief recap of the rules we got stuck into it at about 9:20am. It was really interesting to watch (and hear) the excitement as players had opportunities to sink the 9 ball early, which wins the frame. The most common way of finishing early is to play a plant onto the 9, but on Sunday we started to see some of the more subtle approaches involving cannons and screwbacks to pot the 9. Clearly our players are getting more creative as we become more familiar with the game.
After the first 5 rounds of qualifying, the front runners in each section were starting to emerge. Section A had Tony, Yash and Gary all on 4 from 5 and in Section B, myself, Michael and Dave H were all on 4 and just edged out by Storm on 5.
As is often the case, however, qualifying is a game of two halves and some players, such as Scott, started to hit their stride in the second half.
After qualifying we had afternoon tea, and huge thanks to Kim for bringing some sandwiches and also Dave H and Storm for sorting out the BBQ, which was being temperamental to say the least!
We were making good time and decided that we would have a Quarter final and therefore take the top 4 from each section.
In Section A Tony finished the winner on 7 and then there were 5 players all on 6 points. One of those was Jill, who, having lost her first two games, decided that enough was enough and went on a blistering winning streak getting 6 out of 7 - well done!
And in Section B, Dave H was the runaway winner on 9 and there were 4 players who were all on 7 points. And one of those on 7 was Rachel, who had one of the best tournament days ever - well done!
After comparing the tied individuals' scores against each other in qualifying, plus a play-off, we were ready for the Quarter Final stage.
The Quarter final was best of 3 and was; Tony v Dave O, Storm v Yash, Rachel v Scott and Dave H v Jimmy.
There were some very tight games, particularly Dave H v Jimmy, and lots of hoots and yells from the audience. Ultimately the semi final came down to Dave O v Storm and Scott v Jimmy.
My game against Storm was awesome and went down to the wire as we both tried to finaish the 9 from the 6 ball. I had a valiant last gasp attempt which was close, but no cigar and Storm progressed to the final where he would meet Scott who had beaten Jimmy in the other semi.
The final was best of 5 and Scott won the final very convincingly to claim the 9 Ball Open title for his first time. Congratulations to Scott and commiserations to Storm.
We finished in good time at 4:30pm and a great day was had by all!
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE -
Inter-club Wellsford Away 26th May
On Sunday 12 of us mustered at 11am for the trip up to Wellsford. We'd had a late drop out and huge thanks to Chris for agreeing to play at short notice!
Wellsford have two pool tables, hence the limit of 12 players in the team. As with the Hibiscus Coast game a few weeks ago, this one turned out to be another game of two halves, but the roles were reversed this time.
Warkworth got off to a terrible start winning only 1 of the first 8 games of singles! We were not playing badly at all and every match was hotly contested, it's just that we didn't seem to manage to catch a break.
Although things were looking bleak, a ray of hope started to emerge when we won 3 of the 4 remaining singles bringing the score after the singles to a more respectable 4:8.
What happened next was nothing short of remarkable and just shows the quality, depth and character of our team and we should all be very proud indeed.
We won 3 of the first 4 Doubles matches, making the score at 7:9 to Wellsford, with only 2 matches left to go; Marcia & Rachelle and Tracey & Dave.
Tracey & I went 1 frame up after Tracey tripled the black into the middle. We had just started the second frame when there was a huge round of applause for Marcia & Rachelle who had won and we gave them a high five as they passed - The score was poised at 8:9.
In the second frame I was lucky enough to get two shots with 4 balls plus the black remaining. I don't normally compliment myself, but I'm making an exception here - I cleared up and fired a half-table black into the corner, nothing but net!
Final result:
Warkworth 9:9 Wellsford
Special congratulations to Chris, Marcia, Tracey and myself for having a clean sheet.
This was an immense team effort, where we stuck with it to the bitter end and managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat - WELL DONE TEAM!
It's the King's birthday this weekend and just a reminder that the Business House for that week is Tues-Thurs.
heers
Dave
UPDATE - May 22nd
Invitational Singles - May 19th 2024
On Sunday we had the second of our four invitational tournaments, the RSA Invitational Singles.
The tournament had filled up well and we had the full compliment of 32 players signed up a week or two ago. However, as is the nature of these things we had a couple of dropouts due to illness and huge thanks to both Jim and Rachel for stepping in on the day to ensure that we had the full 32 and no byes.
After the usual run through of the rules and format of the day, we got started a little after 9am. From a Warkworth perspective, we got off to a flying start with Bob and Marcia both winning their first matches and progressing. And our good showing continued in the bottom half of the draw with Storm, Murray and myself all winning our matches.
Murray and Jo were playing their first invitational tournament and were understandably nervous at the outset (I remember my first one!). However, they both played very well indeed with Murray going through and Jo having a brilliant game against Bill which went to 3 and Jo was unlucky not to win. Incidentally, Bill went on to the semi-final of the main and he also won the plate in the previous tournament - quality opposition indeed!
In the main, Bob made it to the quarters and in the Plate we had Daniel, Bros, Jim and Tammy all make it through. Well done all!
Sadly Bob's campaign ended in the quarters of the main, but in the Plate, Daniel took out Moloi, who is a former winner of our invitational tournaments. And Bros also made it to the semi-final of the Plate.
Again, go Warkworth!
Lunch from Raina & Eddie was, as usual, absolutely fantastic and very well received. Thank you!
The final of the Plate was between Carl (Swanson) and Gordy (Whangaroa) and in the Main it was Tony Van Wijk (Swanson) and Simon (Birkenhead)
Both finals produced some amazing pool and were strongly contested, with Carl taking the Plate title and the winner of the main was Tony Van Wijk.
We finished in good time and a great day was had by all and we are looking forward to the Colin Whalen Pairs on Sunday June 23rd.
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE - May 8th
Interclub Hibiscus Coast Home May 5th
On Sunday we hosted Hibiscus Coast RSA, and what a match it was.
Hibiscus arrived with 12 players and we had 14 so we made it 14 a side.
After we had an intro and a run through of the rules, we got into it, starting with the doubles this time, which is a great idea as people get to play their first game earlier.
This match was most certainly a tale of two halves. After the doubles, Warkworth could easily be forgiven for thinking this would be a near whitewash, as we won 6 out of the 7 matches! However, it's all too easy for the pendulum to swing the other way, and it did. Perhaps Hibiscus used the doubles to get warmed up and familiar with our tables, because as we moved into the singles, we lost 5 out the first 7 singles games, and thoughts of a whitewash were fast dissipating.
Unfortunately, our losing streak continued into the second half with us losing 4 out of the first 5 and Hibiscus having produced a brilliant turnaround to lead by 1 match going into the final two matches.
The first of those matches was Nadine's and she was in the second frame, having won the first, where she played some perfectly weighted safety shots, followed by the thinest of cuts of the black into the middle that I've ever seen! Well done Nadine, the scores were now level at 10:10.
The final match was Trish vs Jenny and it was a very tight match with both players playing very well under pressure. Sadly for us, Jenny's nerve held better and she ultimately won the match and the final score was:
Hibiscus Coast 11:10 Warkworth
Once again, our food was absolutely fantastic and thanks to all who brought their culinary A-game! Thanks also to everyone who helped with the cleaning up afterwards, very much appreciated.
We take a break for Mothers Day next weekend and then the following weekend is the RSA Invitational Singles and there are still slots available for that tournament if you would like to play.
UPDATE - April 21st
Inter-club Rams Home April 21st
A few months ago Zom & Emma suggested that we add the Rams club to our Interclub calendar and on the Sunday before last we played our first game at home.
The Rams club are new to interclub and arrived with 19 players, all keen and itching to find out what interclub pool is all about.
We had a great turnout of 21 and we made the sides even at 20 each, all set for a great day of pool.
Zom, Emma and Scott were playing for the Rams, but the remainder of their team were not only new to interclub, but new to our tables and our rules as well - a baptism of fire one might say.
The inexperience did show and Warkworth raced into an early lead in the singles. As the match progressed we realised Rams had a Millie and Daniel in their team and we had a Milly and Thrax on ours, hmm. All good and in the spirit of a great day we had players playing for both teams. In fact, Thrax managed to lose for Warkworth and Daniel won for Rams - a double whammy :-)
As is always the case, the food from the Warkworth team, topped up with some chooks and rolls, was absolutely fabulous and very much appreciated by Rams, who said that the bar had been set high for the return. Many thanks to Tracey, Rachel, Jill, Rachelle and everyone else who helped with the food.
From a score perspective, it was a little one-sided at Warkworth 21 : 9 Rams, but that didn't matter at all and the Rams team thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
So much so, in fact, that Rams have entered a team into our Business House pool league for 2024!
A great day was had by all and a huge welcome to Rams in both our Interclub and our Business House pool calendars.
UPDATE - April 17th
Inter-club Birkenhead Home April 14th
For Sunday's home game against Birkenhead, we ended up with 23 players (thanks Tara for stepping in at the last minute) but they came with 27 making a grand total of 50 players on the day, a record turnout!
With that number, it was sudden death best of 1 and we played one round of singles and two rounds of doubles (one reverse) making a total of 56 matches played with 4 of our players playing twice.
It's always a great game against Birkenhead and Sunday was no exception. There was great pool throughout the day, and the Warkworth team did us proud against stiff opposition.
Congratulations to the teams; Tony & Connor, Eddie & Jill and Mike & Trish who all had a clean sheet, winning their singles and both of their doubles - Well Done!
And Connor was one of our players who played twice and was playing with me in his second set. Connor narrowly lost his second singles, but he and I won both of our doubles. In our final doubles game, the opposition missed the black leaving Connor to play our last ball and the black to win. He played a tricky ball on the cush delicately (not like him normally) with beautiful weight to land perfectly on the black, which he dispatched with ease. Connor's final tally for the day was 5 from 6. Impressive!
Feeding the 50 was going to be a mission and huge thanks to Tracey, Rachelle, Jill, Rachel and everyone else who helped make the food the success it turned out to be, with Chinese food topping up the plates we had brought.
Everyone had a fantastic day and the final score was: Warkworth 31 : 25 Birkenhead
Well Done Team!
Business House Pool League
After the Birkenhead game we gathered all players, most new and some old, who are interested to play BHP but didn't have a team.
There are now two new teams in the BHP Div B, named Mahu and Rangi.
We have also had a third new team joining the league, the Cue Crew from Snells Beach.
A huge Welcome to our three new Business House teams.
I have the first draft of the draw done and it should be finalised and published by the end of the week and the league starts on Monday May 6th at 7pm.
Curry League & Closing Tournament
The curry league finished on the 8th April and it was hugely popular, with many positive comments about the Scotch doubles format and the generally supportive and fun atmosphere of the league.
Congratulations go to Tony's team, Vindaloo, for taking the top spot, followed by Kev's team Bhuna in 2nd and my own team Kadai in 3rd place.
To mark the end of the league we had another fun wee tournament on Monday, where the format changes from 8 Ball to 9 Ball each round. It was heaps of fun, and we managed to keep it to a reasonable time.
Congratulations to Tony & Rachel who beat myself & Cam in the final of the Main, and to Jim & Colin who beat Erana & Murray in the final of the Plate.
I think that's quite enough from me!
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE - April 10th
Papatoetoe RSA prefer Saturdays for the Inter-club and last Sat we went down for the away game. There were 11 of us (4 men and 7 women) including one more newcomer - Welcome to the team, Matty. Last year was our first against Papatoetoe and it was such a success, and they're such a great group of people, that we were very much looking forward to it. They had 18 players, and so 7 of ours played twice.
Again it was the Northern Area rules, but following hard on the heels of the Onehunga match, we were a bit more comfortable with the rules this time.
That comfort showed in the Singles (best of 1) where there were lots of very good, tight games, but ultimately Warkworth held our nerves better and the wins were being chalked up left, right and center. Warkworth triumphed 12:6, setting a target that would be very hard to overturn in the Doubles - Well done team!
Too many Wins to mention everyone, but nice to see the newcomers being successful (again) with Matty, Shirley and Jason all nailing it.
We were doing well for time and so decided to make the Doubles round best of 3 and make the most of the day. And make the most of it we did, with most of the matches going to 3 with some really close, tense and exciting games.
A great example was Shirley & my game which went down to the 3rd where Shirley was faced with our last ball and the opposition were on the black. Shirley potted our last ball, which wasn't easy, and landed perfectly on the black. But unfortunately defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory as the black just jawed in the pocket. Shirley, please don't be hard on yourself, we have all been there, and we will all be there again no doubt.
Papatoetoe did pull back a bit, winning the doubles 4:5, but the damage had already been done in the Singles and the final score was:
Warkworth 16:11 Papatoetoe
The day met the high expectations set in 2023 and we all had a great time and were back in Warkworth in time for the members draw.
This pic shows the aroha each team has for one another and we look forward to the home game in July.
We have Birkenhead at home next Sunday and then the Rams at home the Sunday after.
It would be great to have a good turnout for both, so please put your name down if you would like to play.
And as a reminder, particularly for the newcomers, for our Home games it is either $10 or bring a plate. The plate can be hot or cold, but please could you bring all that you need to be able to serve the dish i.e. platters, serving cutlery etc. The RSA provides disposable plates and cutlery.
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE - March 27th
On Sunday after the AGM, 14 Warkworth players headed off down to Onehunga for our first inter-club match of the season.
We had three new players in the Warkworth team - Erana, Jason and Shirley - and a very warm welcome to the team to you all!
We arrived at 1:30pm and were greeted by Barbara, Diane and the Onehunga team, who were also 14 players. It has been 2 or 3 years since we last played, so it was great to catch up with some familiar and some new faces.
Onehunga play the Northern area national rules and we kicked off with a review of the rules for our benefit.
We started with the doubles, best of 1 frame, and with 4 pool tables we started to race through the order. At the end of the Doubles things were looking a little ominous for Warkworth as we were 2:5 behind. Congratulations to Erana & Kea and Pat & Shirley on your wins!
As we moved into the singles, however, Warkworth started to rally and we tied the Singles at 7:7 bringing the score up to 9:12. It was a great effort by the Warkworth team and I saw a number of games that nearly went our way.
We broke for afternoon tea at about 3:15pm and it was lovely - Ham rolls with chips and coleslaw, yum!
We still had some time after the tea and we decided to play a reverse singles, whereby the top of the Onehunga list plays the bottom of the Warkworth list and so on, ensuring that in this round you play someone different.
Here again Warkworth held our own and we levelled this round of singles too at 7:7 making the final score:
Warkworth 16 : 19 Onehunga.
On a personal note, I won my first round single by my opponent going in off the black, which nobody likes. But in my second round singles I played Wazza, who I think I've played in every match we've had, and I was pleased that I was able to take this one out.
I'd like to make a special mention to Erana & Kea as being the only team to win all 3 of their games - well done! And also a shout out to Shirley, who won 2 out of 3 in her first ever match for the team.
Finally, it was Marcia's birthday on Sunday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCIA!
Reminder
The sign up sheets are up for the next two matches:
-
Papatoetoe Away on April 6th, which is a Saturday
-
Birkenhead Home on Sunday April 14th
Please put your names down if you would like to play.
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE - March 20th
The first Inter-club match is an Away match @ Onehunga on Sunday 24th of March and we will head down there right after the AGM finishes.
NOTE: The RSA Club doors will be closed from 9.58am until conclusion of the AGM
**********************************
SUNDAY 17th March - Clive Hulme Invitational Tournament
Kia Ora,
During the year we host four invitational tournaments, two singles and two pairs, where we invite players from all around the Auckland/Northland region, in addition to Warkworth, to play. These events are 32 team knockout events where those first round losers move into a Plate tournament.
On Sunday we held the first of these for 2024 - the Clive Hulme invitational singles tournament.
It was disappointing to see a number of players not turn up on the day and I'll start with a huge shout out to Rachel and Zom & Emma for agreeing to play on the day and filled some of the shortfall - very much appreciated!
We had a number of guest players who were new to the tournament and the RSA and we gave a special welcome to those players.
After a run through of the rules, we got underway a little later than planned at 9:30am. After the first round, several Warkworth players progressed - Zom, Storm, Milly and Tony - with the rest of us looking forward to redemption in the Plate.
In the Main 2nd round, Deon was unfortunately drawn against his girlfriend Jennifer and he progressed to meet Zom, who had beaten Tony, in the quarter final. Storm overcame Carl, who had beaten me in the first round, with a very tense game indeed that went to the final black! And Milly's campaign came to an end at the hands of Mike, one of the newcomers from Kerikeri.
We were making good time and when we broke for lunch at 12:30pm, we were only a few matches away from the quarter finals in both the Main and the Plate. Whilst Raina & Eddie always provide a fabulous lunch, Sunday's was one of the best ever - fresh snapper and chips with all the trimmings. Thanks once again to Raina & Eddie, it was absolutely delicious and everyone enjoyed it.
In the Plate, Bob, Tony and Jimmy all made it through to the quarter finals, which was good to see. Deon got his revenge for his 2023 loss to Zom and moved into the Semis and there were great matches, particularly Storm/Gordie and Peter/Simon which ultimately resulted in a main semi final of Deon VS Gordie and Lee vs Peter.
In that Plate, Bob continued his winning ways and came out on top with a clash with Tony. Bob was joined in the plate semi final by one of the newcomers Clayton and Maurice vs Bill (another newcomer).
All the semis were great games to watch and it ultimately came down to a final in the Plate Bob vs Bill and in the Main, Lee vs Deon.
As is usually the case, the best pool of the day is reserved for the finals, and Sunday was no exception. The plate final was best of 3 and Bob took it 2:1 and in the Main, best of 5, it went down to 2:2. It was great to watch with some amazing pool on display. Deon got there in the end 3:2 - Congratulations to Deon and commiserations to Lee....next year!
Throughout the whole day I had had numerous comments about our tables and how well they are playing. Also good, positive news was that every one of the newcomers loved their day and want to come back.
We finished up in good time and several guest players stayed a little longer and played some more.
A great day had by all.
Cheers
Dave
UPDATE - March 13th
The 2024 Pool Calendar has been confirmed and is on the board at the RSA
The Clive Hulme Invitational Singles tournament is this Sunday 17th March.
It is currently full but if you put your name on the poster and we have a drop out, we'll bring you in.
The first Inter-club match is an Away match @ Onehunga on Sunday 24th of March and we will head down there right after the AGM finishes.
NOTE: The RSA Club doors will be closed from 9.58am until conclusion of the AGM
UPDATE - March 13th
Scotch Pairs Open - Sunday 10th March 2024
In Feb 2023 we tried an experiment with a new format tournament - Scotch Pairs - and it was such a success that we have adopted the format in our mini leagues and decided to make the event official and in our calendar for 2024 and we played it on Sunday.
We had a great turnout of 12 pairs, a couple of whom were playing in their first or second RSA tournament, which was great to see. Also wonderful to see some players like Leigh & Tracey, who we've been missing for a wee while.
We divided the field into two sections of 6 and qualifying was a full round robin, best of three. We got going just after 9am and everyone appeared to, understandably, be making a bit of a nervy start with most matches going to 3. However, the players hit their groove in the later rounds and there was a lot of whoops and ahhs, (plus a few more flowery comments), as matches reached their crunch points.
By round 3 in section A the frontrunners were myself and Tony on 3 and both Art & Murray and Storm & Tammy on 2 - it was well poised. And section B was even tighter with three teams on 2 - Ash & Nadine, Leigh & Tracey and Jimmy & Mike.
We broke for a lovely BBQ lunch and huge thanks to Storm, Tammy and everyone else who helped with the cooking and the prep. Special thanks to Seth who bought the food and made sure everything was ready for us.
In the last two rounds of qualifying, section A saw myself & Tony continue our good fortune to finish on 5 and a clear second place went to Art & Murray who won 1 of their last two and ended up on 3. However, in section B, things were a little less clear cut. The one certain thing was that Leigh & Tracey were the section winners having won both their last and finished on 4. However, there was a 3-way tie for second place.
There was a tense play-off for the second place slot, which was ultimately won by Ash & Nadine, narrowly edging out Rachelle & Rachel and Noelene & Kev.
The semis were Dave & Tony vs Ash & Nadine and Art & Murray vs Leigh & Tracey. I've had comments that the audience didn't know which semi to watch as they were both exciting and tense and both went to three games.
Ultimately, the final came down to Dave & Tony vs Art & Murray and promised to be a repeat of our great tussle in the qualifying, after which Art said to me - "You willnae get a beaahr match than that today!".
He was nearly right, as the final turned out to be another epic game, won and lost on the smallest of margins.
In the end, in the final frame, myself & Tony held our nerve and prevailed. I'd like to congratulate Dave & Tony and also huge commiserations to Art & Murray, who played really well and were very worthy opponents who could have taken either/both of our matches.
Everyone had a great time and we finished the final about 5:15pm - thank you all!
Finally, my apologies for not taking photos of the winners and runners up.
MINI BUSINESS HOUSE LEAGUE STARTS SOON!
The Curry League
The teams and playing order for the Curry League are up on the board and we kick off on Monday Feb 26th.
All matches are on Mondays from 7pm, except the final fun tournament on April 15th which we will start at 6pm.
The Pool Calendar
The first draft of the 2024 Pool Calendar is up on the board in small form until the final fixtures have been confirmed and the large version will be up shortly. This season will kick off with the Scotch Pairs Open on Sunday March 10th followed by the Clive Hulme Invitational Singles on March 17th.