Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

It seems like you have to be a clairvoyant to know what's happening on the Western Bay of Plenty sporting calendar.

Only chance, alerted me that two of the biggest events in the New Zealand Billiards and Snooker Association tournament schedule, are coming to Tauranga in the next few months.

Friday, May 12, sees the North Island Snooker championships kick off at the Tauranga Citizens Club, with many of the best cueists in the country participating in three days of absorbing snooker action.

The North Island tournament, is just the entree to the big event that takes place 23-26 August 2023, with the New Zealand Snooker championships.

The current best, will endeavour to add their names to the countries snooker royalty, such as Clark McConaghy (World Billiards champion) and Dene O'Kane (World Masters amateur champion).

Dressed in dress shirts and trousers topped off with bow ties and waistcoats, the elite snooker players that engage on the Tauranga Citz slate tables, are a far cry from the roots of the sport.

During the 1930s, every big and small town in the country had a snooker saloon. The end of World War 2, saw the returning servicemen head for snooker halls in their thousands, after the pubs closed at 6pm.

While snooker drew the participants to the baize fabric covered tables - illegal gambling and sly grogging were on the periphery of many snooker rooms.

The end of six-o'clock closing (of hotels) in 1968 was the eventual death knell of the local snooker halls. With hotels open until late in the evening, the bored and the restless, found entertainment in the country's new hotels and nightclubs.

Around the same time, televisions 'Pot Black's captivated New Zealand audiences, with many joining the nation's Chartered (Licensed) Clubs, to pot balls on club tables.

Snooker, then involved into a recreational sport for the many and also became a place for the best to test their skill in the elite snooker arena.

Today, the New Zealand Billiards and Snooker Association oversee elite and ranking tournaments throughout the country.

Billiards is unknown to many sports fans. The game evolved from a lawn game similar to croquet, played sometime in the 15th century in Europe. Play was moved indoors to a wooden table with green cloth to simulate grass, and a simple border was placed around the edges.

Billiards, played with just three balls remains for the cue-playing purists, with many casual snooker players believing watching paint dry, is a more exciting option

Growth in the elite snooker game, has seen the recent opening of the NZBSA National Snooker Centre, within the Papatoetoe Cosmopolitan Club in Auckland.

The new National headquarters, not only provides a home base where elite billiards and snooker events can take centre stage, but the history of the sport will be on display.

Innovation has caught up with the cue-ball sport that will be on show in Tauranga next week - with online entries and results, and the not inconsiderable sum of a one hundred dollars entry fee.

However one thing that has never changed from the 'Pot Black' days, is a call for silence, as the players line up their shots on the Tauranga Citizens Club snooker tables.