WORLD’S BILLIARDS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 16

WORLD’S BILLIARDS

SOME ANOMALIES “We thought old John Roberts the world’s marvel when he used to come out here and put it all over our best, but he was a moderate master of the cue compared with these fellows,” said an old billiard patron one evening in Melbourne last week, as he and a congenial friend watched the delicate shots, from what looked impossible positions, being brought off by Joe Davis and Walter Lindrum. These men have nothing to learn from the science of old players of their game. In cricket a Spofforth or a Turner might stand out superior to any living bowler; a Trumper superior to any living batsman on a sticky wicket. But there has never been any pair better than Walter Lindrum and Joe Davis in billiards says J. C. Davis in the Sydney “Referee.” “I have not stopped travelling for five years now. I have been on the move all the time. Besides, I have established business interests in Melbourne and these must be attended to, the headquarters being in Flinders Lane.” Walter Lindrum thus prefaced the statement that he would not visit England for the 1934-5 billiards season. The Australian wizard holds that England should be the best billiards country in the world, owing mainly to its highly suitable climate. But the game suffers over there through unsatisfactory control. The truth is that the billiards firms in England are at loggerheads and the game, accordingly, suffers. Billiards has not progressed as it should have done. Rights Are Hazy They have had different authorities, but the constitutional rights of these are hazy. Oversight by the Billiard Control Council now existing, is not all that it should be from the point of view of visiting players. “In the latest championship decided in Melbourne, the arrangements were not satisfactory to the players. In the first place no one seems to know anything about the draw and who mads it,” said Lindrum. “McConachy and I had to meet in a heat, and the winner then met Joe Davis. A much more satisfactory arrangement would have been to have had the championship played in three or four different cities with each player meeting the I other two and the points aggregated with the winner determined on them. “The draw should not have been made in London. The championship was played here and it was here that | the entire control of the contest should j have been. An Anomaly “You ask who are the Billiards Control Council in England and what do they represent? “As a matter of fact the Council is an anomaly. If it represents anything it is business interests. If billiards were organised in England as in America it would be a great game and splendid from every aspect. They do

know how to manage their game in America. “I may go to England for the «eason 1935-6, but cannot say definitely at this stage.” Asked about his own form, ne shx9 that it was all right, but would be still better where he able over a period to give six hours a day for practice and concentration upon it, as he was able to do in England. In the final with Joe Davis they found the moisture affecting the table, making it heavy and troublesome in I very delicate shots. The players dis-

| cussed this matter, and on Wednesday night tried the experiment of opening the room up more, and he thought it | had a good effect. I “Joe Davis is a fine fellow to play J against,” said the champion. “Though we are exceptionally keen to win, we get along very pleasantly. He is a very good sportsman, and of course, a remarkably fine player, most consistent in his scoring.” Reverting to the control of billiards in England, Walter Lindrum stated that the baulk-line rule was wellknown in London to have been specially devised to handicap him. As a matter of fact it didn’t make any difference in respect to the close-cannon game, but it has affected the game by preventing ball control. Anyone who has seen the big matches this year will agree that it has certainly hampered the players, who, with the balls under good control, have to make a baulk-line shot, which often finishes with the balls no longer under the control of the players. However, when all is said and done, the leading players of Australia and New Zealand have the matter in their own hands. They are in a position to play independently of the English Council, and might eventually find it wise to do so until the Council is provided with a basis of constitutional control, with the qualification of iis members clearly indicated and their powers prescribed.