Singles Super League Launched - £600 to the winner!

[Steve Butler]

Tale a look at the article below.  It seems the cream of amateur snooker talent in Grimsby are happy to pay £160 to enter a singles league.  This got me wondering how much Notts players would pay for a similar thing.  A possibility for next season may be that players entering the NHSL singles league premier division could pay an entry fee which would all be paid out in prize money.  So, a question to everyone - how much would you be prepared to pay?

Nine of the area's hottest snooker players tonight launch the first ever singles Super League in Grimsby.

Organiser Lee Plant believes the prize 'pot' of almost £1,800 makes the Icing Cabin Snooker Super League the richest amateur tournament ever in the town.

And he believes the competition, which will run through to April, will inevitably raise the already high standard in Grimsby.

The eventual winner is set to net £600 and it is hoped the top four at the end of the season will form a Lincolnshire team to be entered into a northern inter-counties championship next year.

Lining up in the new super league are former Main Tour player Ashley Wright, England junior international Stuart Carrington, Jamie Barrett, Alan Edmonds, Paul Clark and Paul Metcalf, from Grimsby, Jamie Green of Cleethorpes, Louth's Gary Skipworth and Craig Waddingham of Brigg.

The players will face each other twice, home and away, in one best-of-seven frame game each week.

Each has paid £160 in entry fees and Icing Cabin owner and new sponsor Steve Singleton, who has played in the Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District Snooker and Billiards League for 25 years, has put in £400.

The runner-up will receive £400, third-placed £300, fourth £200 and fifth £150, while the remaining four will play-off for £140.

Organiser Lee Plant said: "I'm excited about this because it's something new. I think it's a cracking idea and something we should have done a long time ago.

"I was approached by a handful of the better players in the town asking me if I would do it.

"As soon as word got around about this it filled up very quickly.

"The players are taking it very seriously and if they want to do well they will have to practise hard.

"With the players paying £160 each in entry fees it's amounted up to quite a bit of prize money so it will be a respected tournament."

Plant said all the players would remain in the other three snooker leagues in town, the Monday singles, Wednesday doubles and Thursday intermediates.

But the new league would offer the nine the chance to play to the best of seven frames rather than the maximum two in the other leagues.

"The better players want to play in longer matches and this new league gives them the chance to do it" he said.

"In the other leagues you play two frames and then it's over. The best of seven is better for the players.

"The better players can get a game every week but it's very rarely do they play players of a similar ability on a regular basis so, by forming this league, these would be among the better, highly-rated players in the town and they play each other every week, so they always get a tough game.

"There's good prize money in it, which keeps the interest there as well and they would never get the chance to play for that much money in this area.

"In fact I don't know where there would be a league where you could play for that much money on an amateur level."

[Mike Langdon]

Anyone get the feeling amateur snooker is starting to fight back after over a decade of decline? There certainly seems to be a buzz in Nottingham at the moment with the return of the Notts Amateur in all formats, singles league and the most welcome Phoenix and BCI knockouts (hopefully a Pegasus knockout next year as well).

As for high entry fees....it's a tricky one.  The higher the prize fund the more likely you are to get 'very good players' travelling from distance to play in the competitition and the less likely you are to get your run of the mill player entering.  The ?160 entry fee sounds a little high to me and it will be interesting to see how many of those who enter in the first season will pay that amount next season, especially if someone runs away with it.

I think our Premier Division is very healthy as i have not got a clue who is going to win it.  So if it does finish very close this year as i'm sure it will, the players may wish to up the stakes a little next season.

Personally i wouldn't encourage an entry fee of more than ?20 as once large amounts of money become involved the league can become a little too serious and open to corruption, bribes etc. Especially as local leagues don't have the governing power of the pro-am tournaments etc.

I also worry about the type of player who only turns out for a prize fund...Everyone who's joined our singles league has done so out of a love for the game and want to test themselves against a similiar or better standard of player on a regular basis and for me that is the sign of a healthy league....not the size of the prize fund.

Mike (Tournament Secretary) 

[gary spencer]

i think a super league based on the likes of the grimsby league would be great for nottingham snooker, get some of the mansfield guys involved, i would definitely put my name down for that, i do agree though 160 pound is very expensive. but i would be prepared to go upto 50 pounds for the pleasure of a best of 7 match against some of the best players around the area you could even base the matches on a similar way to the new nazareth singles league and only have a couple ofmatches each week, and prob even get it made into a good nite and get people going to watch the matches, maybe even get refs for the matches, make it a smart affair rather than just jeans and t shirt, perhaps trousers and polo shirts/smart shirts. the refs could take a cut of the money paid in as way of a gesture for reffing the matches. butb you could definitely count me in if it was all systems go for a league like that.

[Steve Butler]

I thought some of you might want to know how they're getting on in Grimsby with their new Super League:

Week 1
The standard was high as the Icing Cabin Super Snooker League got underway with a century break in the opening week from Jamie Barrett.

Playing at the Ray Edmonds Snooker Centre, Barrett was on the back foot after watching Paul Metcalf cruise into a 3-0 lead, helped by a run of 65 in the second frame.

Then, in the fourth, it was Metcalf that was having to watch as Barrett ran in the Super League's first century break with a superb run of 103.

Even so, it was Metcalf that won the fifth frame and sealed a 4-1 victory.

Another match held at the snooker centre featured Paul Clark up against Cue World's Ashley Wright and yet again it was another high standard match.

It was Wright who got off to the better start by taking a 2-0 lead with the help of a 64 break in the second frame.

Clark quickly hit back with a run of 80 in the third and made it all square by taking the fourth.

Wright regained the advantage with the help of a 61 in the fifth, only for Clark to make it all square again with a run of 59 in the sixth.

So into a decider they went, and it was Wright who sealed a 4-3 victory with a well-crafted break of 78.

Cue World's Craig Waddingham had a comfortable win over Alan Edmonds.

After going 1-0 behind with a run of 67 from Edmonds, Waddingham took the next four frames with a break of 63 in the third to secure a 4-1 victory.

The final match of the week saw Cue World's Stuart Carrington, who was playing at home against Louth's Gary Skipworth.

After getting off to a good start by making a break of 68 in the first frame, it was Carrington who went on to take a 4-0 victory.

Week 2
There were some mouth-watering fixtures in the second week of the new Icing Cabin Super Snooker League - and the first match of the week saw Jamie Green playing against Craig Waddingham.

Playing at the Ray Edmonds Snooker Centre in Grimsby, it was Waddingham who got off to the better start by winning the first three frames, helped by a break of 80 in the third.

And after losing the fourth frame, it was Waddingham who took the fifth and sealed a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven matches, giving him success in his first two games.

Clee Conservative Club's Jamie Barratt, playing at home against Cue World's Stuart Carrington, raced into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 46 in both the second and third frames.

Carrington then got off the mark with a well-crafted run of 80 in the fourth, although it was Barratt who won the fifth frame and the match 4-1.

This week's derby saw Alan Edmonds playing against Paul Clark at the Ray Edmonds Snooker Centre and, after sharing the first two frames, Edmonds went into a 3-1 lead.

Clark then ran in the highest break of the match with 49 to pull the score back to 3-2.

But the threat of a comeback did not last long as Edmonds won the fifth frame on the black and finally took the match 4-2.

The final match of the week saw Cue World's Ashley Wright at home against Paul Metcalf.

Even though Metcalf found himself 1-0 and 2-1 behind, he then turned on the style and produced some great snooker by knocking in this week's highest break of 84 in the fourth.

He also won a scrappy fifth and, after trailing 65-0 in the sixth, he then cleared the table with a well-timed run of 70 to win the match 4-2.

Week 3
Jamie Green and Ashley Wright stole the limelight in week three of the Icing Cabin Snooker Super League with a century break each.

Green was first to deliver in his tense match with Paul Clark at Ray Edmonds.

Both had lost their opening matches and were eager to get some points on the board.

Green won a scrappy first frame before taking the second with a superb 114 clearance.

He went on to win the next two frames to seal a 4-0 victory.

Wright potted the second ton in his game against Stuart Carrington.

Carrington won the first frame with the help of a 90 break which set the standard for the rest of the match.

Wright fought back to take a 2-1 lead and then made it 3-1 with a cracking 110 break.

Victory in the fifth frame secured a 4-1 win.

Paul Metcalf made it three wins from three by beating Alan Edmonds 4-1.

Edmonds made the better start and took the first frame but Metcalf was relentless from then on, bouncing back emphatically to take the next four frame with the help of a 52 break in the fourth and a 53 in the fifth.

The final match saw Louth's Gary Skipworth take on Jamie Barrett.

Skipworth won the first frame with a run of 40 but went into a 3-1 deficit as Barrett took the next three frames.

Skipworth pulled it back to 3-2 by winning the fifth and, after making a 49 break in the sixth, it looked as though the match was heading for a seventh-frame decider.

However, Barrett had different ideas and cleared the table with a run of 54 to seal a 4-2 victory.

[Steve Butler]

It seems that this inaugural event was huge success.  Here is what was said at the end of the season:

ORGANISERS of the inaugural Icing Cabin Super Snooker League have hailed the competition as a great success.
There was a good response to the tournament with nine of the Grimsby area's best players entering.
The champion was Paul Metcalf, who won 14 of his 16 matches to claim the title by just two points and, with it, a first prize of £600.

Paul Metcalf
Coming a close second was Ashley Wright and third place went to Jamie Barrett, who had a similar frame difference but was four points adrift.
Just two points separated each of the next four players, Stuart Carrington leading the pack, followed by Craig Waddingham, Jamie Green and Gary Skipworth.
Getting the wooden spoon was Paul Clark, with Alan Edmonds ending up just above him.
The league thanked sponsors Steve and Lisa Singleton in getting the competition off the ground and look forward to making it an annual event.

[Ross Wilkin]

Cool! told you its big stuff in Grimsby Steve, that mustve been what my Dad was on about..maybe we can get something going between the 2 towns at some point...