THE Dawlish and District Snooker League presentation evening was held at the Dawlish RBL club on Saturday, July 9. The final of the team knock-out cup competition was followed by the presentation of trophies for the season.

A buffet, provided by the league, and a prize draw ended a very enjoyable evening for all the players and friends who attended.

The knock-out final match was between Teignmouth Social Club B and Shaldon Cons. Both teams had struggled in the league this season, so it was nice to see two of the ‘lesser fancied’ teams competing.

Teignmouth roared into a 2-0 lead in the stifling heat, but Shaldon fought back well to level the match at 2-2. Martin Doyle from Shaldon just edged Roy Grant out by 54-53 on the black, in the fourth frame.

The final frame saw Teignmouth captain John Blake-Burke matched against Shaldon’s Jason Dowling. It was fairly close until John knocked in a 21 break to open up a commanding lead. Then the ‘snooker gods’ took over!

John was still 12 points ahead with just three balls left on the table. The blue and pink appeared to be ‘safe’ on the cushions, but Jason had other ideas and fluked both before potting a difficult black to win the frame with a clearance of 18 points and the match 3-2 for Shaldon.

After the match, players and spectators adjourned to the much cooler function room for the presentation of league and cup trophy winners for the season. Due to various factors, this ‘finals’ evening was held later than in any previous season – but at least they did complete the season for the first time since 2018/2019.

The league winners this season were Shaldon Cons C, with Dawlish RBL C finishing in second place.

Many of the competition winners were based at the Shaldon club, with league newcomer Tony Crompton picking up an amazing five trophies in total – three as winner and two for being runner-up! Other players from the Shaldon club featured in nearly all of the singles/pairs competitions.

However, Andy Hill from Dawlish RBL C kept up his record in the ‘Break League’ competition, where points are awarded throughout the season to players who make breaks of 20 or more during league frames. Andy has now won that particular cup every year since its inception in 1992.

He also collected the ‘Highest Break’ trophy for this season for a break of 56. There was an extra round of applause when Andy collected his trophy. Many of the players and spectators present, were not aware that he had made a break of 124 during the 2019/2020 season.

This is the highest break in the league ever, but unfortunately because that season was abandoned (due to Covid restrictions) his impressive break will never appear on the perpetual trophy.

The league committee would like to thank the Dawlish Royal British Legion Club, for the use of their facilities, and also thanks to Sammi Northcott for the excellent buffet.

Finally, thanks to all those who attended and Torre Trophies (Torquay) for supplying a splendid selection of trophies.