Snooker

So, err number 9 for Ronnie, right

Gwaaaaaaaaaan

Well this is aging like milk

Lol

Holty having a great run in York.

Best player I've ever reffed - had him twice in one of the Q Tour events he won last year, to requalify as a pro. Including the final.

That match was definitely one of the highlights of my career so far. It felt like he and I were dancing a synchronised duet around the table.

Lovely stuff.

Judging by the scores, quite some close matches in these 1/8finals.

Not in the Trump game!

When will we see you on le telly?

If you get Worlds, I'll come and yell "do a skid" at an appropriate moment

While I enjoy watching the sport, I'm not the most well versed in it, but I'm happy to see Holt do well.

Seems like a pretty genuine guy

Not for the foreseeable future I am afraid. I have temporarily hung up the gloves (with a few exceptions) due to some family commitments that I have. Traveling away from home for weeks at a time for tournaments is a bit unsustainable right now.

I'll hopefully come back to it in a couple or three years

He is a player that wears his emotions writ large, both on and off the table. Not always the prettiest of emotions, but he and I get on well and he has always been good as gold for me.

Holty v Kyren tonight.

Could be a banger

So, is this the end for Ronnie?

He has flounced so many times I wouldn't be surprised if he was a member of these fair lands.

Just more thinking that it's a bit rare for him to pull out of a TC event of all things. Not seen it but his latest meltdown in the week didn't sound great

Ugh, Shaun almost got that 147

Ngl I'm still annoyed at Wakelin's foul that last night that made him lose the match at the end

So ridiculously amateur

I'm sure Snooker fans know all about this, but on Wednesday I was on a tour of the Mildmay Club in Newington Green and saw the Snooker Hall. Nine full-size tables currently, and it looks as if there were at least two more back in the day, judging by some lamp chains still hanging from the ceiling at the back. We were told it's used a lot for filming. You can probably see why from the photographs:

https://mildmay.club/sports/

The club actively welcomes new members, so if you live in that area and didn't know about how to get your snooker fix there, you could think about applying. (I imagine someone will immediately point out x number of other snooker clubs nearby. :) )

Bit more posh than a pool hall for you average music video

https://youtu.be/1HkiH0PseCA?feature=shared

I used to be a member at Basildons snooker hall back in the day.
I think it had about 15 tables? maybe more.
table 1 was walled off and reserved for the good players. Stuart Bingham was the #1 ranked player, he would often be sat at the bar, never saw him lift his cue.

I remember the dingy hall, filled with cigarette smoke, stale beer smell to great you on the way in. Good times

There's also the Langham Club on Green Lanes which is a similar working men's club with 4 tables
https://www.langhamclub.co.uk/

More Dennis Taylor MC please!

It was in the Basildon snooker club that I qualified as a ref

I believe it is now shut down.

The old guy that owned it in the 90s, Joe Lazarus, was a strange guy.
Bunked off school with a couple of mates, we went there, got a table, I bought 3 pints and he brought them over, called us all cunts, said he knew we were under age and he can lose his license if he got caught.
Then placed the beers down, said it was all we were getting and to fuck off once we finished them.

Even in our early adulthood he would gripe over anything.
Sometimes he would come over and shout at us for placing the balls to loudly/ for not using a rest/ for using a rest/ for asking for pool balls instead of snooker balls/ for bringing our own chalk (that we bought there)/
for asking for chalk/ for looking at the players on table 1 and putting them off their game/ for smoking near the table (whilst sat off to one side) / for smoking NEAR the non-smoking tables/ for leaving too soon/ for being their too long.

He looked like a grown-up Village of the Damned kid, almost albino with his white hair (familial trait, I went to the same school as a couple of his grandkids, they were also completely white haired)

I bought 3 pints and he brought them over, called us all cunts, said he knew we were under age and he can lose his license if he got caught.
Then placed the beers down, said it was all we were getting and to fuck off once we finished them.

This feels pretty familiar for a lot of places.

We have a 147!