BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19177, 17 November 1925, Page 6

BILLIARDS.

AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP. FEW AMBITIOUS YOUNG PLAYERS. Entries for the New Zealand amateur billiard championship to be held at Dunedin close to-day. Entrants from Auckland include the amateur champion, Fredatovich, and W. E. Hackett, and it is to be hoped H. F. Valentine may also be able to go to Dunedin.

In connection with this event the opinion is generally . expressed that the sporting aspect is not paid sufficient attention. Something more than winning or losing should animate amateurs, particularly in championship matches, seeing that the furtherance of all that is best in billiards is sought by amateur executives.

The heavy expence incidental to a visit to Dunedin possibly deters many enthusiasts from taking part, but undoubtedly many good amateur players, although not quite up to championship form, will visit the exhibition. They should play and so give the amateur game a good stimulus. During the past few years there has been a noticeable lack of interest in amateur billiards, and few, if any, young players seem to have ambition to be champions. The break of 1879 bv Walter Lindrum is said to have little or no value because it was compiled mostly off the red ball. It is urged that the red ball play becomes monotonous, that billiards is a three-ball game, and that the public will not patronise games in which much red-ball play is indulged in. As big breaks are the rule with the best professionals today, limitations of the table measurements are suggested. In granting that these critics have some grounds for complaint other followers of the game consider that the trouble is that the present day professionals do not make the game sufficiently spectacular. The snooker championship of the Auckland Sports Club has reached finality. There were many' close and exciting games. The contest between Messrs. Morrison and J. W. Russell was drawn. The final, which depended on the best of three games, was between R. Fredatovich and E. J. Morrison. Fredatovich who is the amateur billiards champion and a fine snooker player, gave a good display and was somewhat unlucky to lose. Only a small margin of points separated the players in the first game, but at the close of "the second game the scores were:— Morrison, 109; Fredatovich, 39. However, Fredatovich got into his stride, and by a brilliant display of hazard striking, actually headed Morrison, the score board ■showing(Fredatovich, 129; Morrison, 126. A ludky snooker in which the leader fouled the black ball, changed the whole aspect of the game and Morrison won by 26 points. The winner played consistently and with excellent judgment.