Prestigious tournament set to return

SNOOKER

EDWARD HOLGATE

MANY Lancashire snooker veterans will be dusting off their cues later this year as one of the area’s biggest snooker competitions is to be revived for the first time in more than a decade.

This year is the

100th Anniversary of the Accrington & District Amateur Snooker

Championship. The competition, was once recognised as one of the most prestigious competitions in the North West. Beginning in 1920, it was originally a billiards championship, later it became a snooker tournament and the first person to win the trophy was local cue man Frank Hoyle, a well-known local character in the game. Frank went on to win the tournament three times in total through to 1923. The competition had a few years where it did not take place, most notably between 1938 and 1946 when it was put on hold due to the Second World War.

Play resumed after the War concluded and later it was sponsored by the Accrington Observer Newspaper, the tournament thereafter became known to many as the ‘Observer Cup’ and was the region’s premier snooker tournament, attracting big names at the time such as Blackburn’s Steve Longworth, Rossendale’s Jim Meadowcroft and former World Championship Winner Dennis Taylor, who incidentally never won the Observer

Cup.

Many finals were held at venues such as the Ambulance Drill Hall in Accrington (now demolished), Brooks Club and the Poplar WMC.

The last competition was back in 2007 and the final was contested between Colin Morton and Kamran Ashraf at the Accrington Brooks Club in front of a packed crowd.

Sadly, in subsequent

●● Dennis Taylor years lack of funding meant it was no longer viable and therefore ceased.

Over the years there have been many notable winners such as Mark Boyd, a former professional and five-times winner. Colin Morton also a former professional and five-times winner.

This is a very special year for the Observer Cup, and as such former winner, and now top professional snooker coach, Chris Henry has generously sponsored the event to get it up and running again for a historic 100th Anniversary occasion. Chris previously won the Observer cup in 1988 and now runs a successful sports coaching business.

He will be assisted by former organiser John Dady, three-times winner Dale Clark and several other parties. The competition is due to begin this coming autumn and is likely to attract huge local interest.

This year’s winner will notably be recorded as the 100th Anniversary Champion as an extra special honour and the final will take place at Accrington’s Poplar WMC.

A spokesman said: “Tournament director John Dady and members of the Poplar WMC would like to thank Chris Henry Sports for sponsoring the event and helping to revive this prestigious snooker competition. The Observer Cup committee will announce further details in due course and are expecting a vast number of entries so get practicing!”