The Late Gordon Lane, a popular snooker secretary at the Clayton and Keymer Royal British Legion, introduced an in house competition eleven years ago for both Wednesday and Thursday snooker teams. Gordon realised that during the season many players in the club may not see or play against each other, therefore his trophy would bring together members to ensure good team spirit and bonding existed throughout all teams.
The competition is on a team handicap basis and cumulative points are applied over five frames. This year’s preliminary round saw the D team beat the E’s with A’s beating the F’s. In the semi finals, B’s secured a final place by convincingly beating the A’s, the other semi seeing the C’s ousting the D’s. The 3rd and 4th playoff saw the A’s gaining a narrow victory against the D’s
Over many years, there have been some fierce battles between this year’s finalists and it was the C team’s effervescent Gary Goodman, a young man with the potential to secure a 147 break in the near future, who beat the B’s steady Simon Vincent, the affluent Andy Healey secured the C’s 2nd win over the knowledgeable Jamie Ruffle with the determined Don Miller pulling a frame back for the B’s beating the dogged Dave Robinson. The C’s regained their good form in the final two frames with Dick Darbyshire the skipper, a born leader, roasting the stubborn Peter Mann. Like his father, Stephen Darbyshire showed much confidence and potential when he gained a fine victory over the experienced and jovial Rick Burrows.
The previous ten years, Gordon’s wife Jean always presented the trophy to the successful team, on this occasion she was not available and the trophy was presented to Dick Darbyshire by Roy Tucknott, the club’s snooker chairman, who commented that once again the competition brought together all the lads and a great spirit was maintained throughout the tournament.
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