 |
Sports correspondent & historian with |
Here's a local sports trivia question to open this week's column.
What sporting event took place in Tauranga last weekend, where the participants wore fashionable dress attire and a good number parked their motorhomes of across the road from the venue? The New Zealand Masters Snooker National singles played at the Tauranga Citizens Club.
Ninety-six contenders lined up on Friday morning before the new National champion was crowned on Sunday evening.
Snooker has its origins in India during the1870's, where billiards was popular amongst the British Army officers, with several variations of the game including snooker, devised amongst the military.
During the 1930's through to the 1950's, every town and city in the country had a snooker saloon. While snooker drew the players to the baize fabric covered tables, illegal bookmakers and sly groggers were on the periphery of many snooker halls, with a lot of snooker salons having unsavoury reputations.
The advent of the TAB and 10pm hotel closing introduced in the 1960's, saw the eventual death knell of the local snooker halls, with the game moving to the more genteel atmosphere of working men’s and returned services clubs.
With no print or radio media presence, I was alerted to the New Zealand Masters Snooker big dance, by the excellent email communication by way of my membership of the Tauranga Citz club.
As an average tournament snooker player away back in the 1970's and 1980's, names such as Barry Kidd. Stan Bunn, Scotty Friend, Rob Leishman and Rob Elvin in the draw, ignited my interest in catching some of the table action.
The first thing that struck me on Saturday afternoon was the six additional tables in the indoor bowls area, added to the club's complement of six permanent tables.
Portability is not a word associated with snooker tables, however I have seen first-hand that tables can be taken apart like Lego and transported to another site.
The key factors in moving a snooker table is the weight of the slate base and the expert-needed coverage of the table cloth.
Tournament snooker has high dress standards of waistcoats, bow ties and dress shirts and trousers, for both the men and women players, which give the sport a dignified atmosphere.
The lithe physical presence and fashionable haircuts of yesteryear were replaced at the weekend by paunches and grey hair of the participants.
Cellular phones were on plentiful display on the sidelines, being well in the future in the 1970’s and 1980’s, with a small army of motorhomes parked in the Citz Club carpark also a testament to today.
Sunday saw the proceedings get serious, with the top 48 of the 96 original starters engaging in the sudden death rounds leading to the title decider.
Mount Maunganui RSA, which has been the home to many top-flight players in the past, had two representatives in the semi-final action. Heihera Rehu-Brown, who was one of the several women's players in the tournament, squared off with fellow Mount RSA player Tom Cook.
Rehu-Brown proved too strong for her club mate, winning in straight frames, to go on to meet Jeff Trass from Kerikeri in the final. Heihera left nothing to chance in the title decider, with a two frames to nil win, to lift aloft the Nationals trophy in triumph.
