Captains will already be aware that the Winter League this year will look a little different.
The Committee have long be planning a way to lengthen the Winter League given its our Association’s main event and the League that engages with all teams. In addition we have listened to feedback regarding the Peter Rook Cup League & K/O format which doesn’t seem to fit well with a number of Captains and players.
From Thursday 2nd Oct (30th Sept for a few Tuesday teams) the 3 divisions will run as follow.
Divisions 1 & 2 will each comprise 8 teams and will play each other 4 times so 28 weeks in total.
Division 3 will comprise 9 teams + 1 bye and will play each other 3 times so a total of 27 weeks.
Division 2 & 3 will remember last time finishing 4 weeks earlier than Div 1 and so we have been able to close that gap this year. League games will be off scratch and run as normal.
The Peter Rook Cup will simply be added to our Competitions Programme and so our brilliant Competitions Organisers (Ioan & Pete) will be soon inviting teams to enter a straight knockout competition using handicaps.
Fixtures have been updated and Captains have a copy. I have also sent delivered a fresh stock of Scoresheets to most of the captains with a few still to sort.
From the fixtures you will see that the we have incorporated the Peter Rook Cup Semi Finals on a Thursday towards the end of the season. This will open up an opportunity to play any outstanding postponed games.
With a longer season you would expect more usage of the 5 Player Rule. It is likely we will simply double the capacity to 8 times but I will confirm before the start of the season.
This year we have a new team ‘Havant Club B’ so I’m sure you will all welcome them into our fabulous snooker community.
Fees
For a few years the Association Accounts have returned losses which the committee have been managing closely and also under Tony’s excellent stewardship. We have been delaying fee increases during this time but we now have to modestly raise fees to balance the books once again.
From 2nd Oct 2025 the Teams Registration fee will rise £10 to £50. Weekly match fees will rise by £1 to £6. Overall I would hope you will agree these are modest rises which on a weekly basis amount to a minimal increase per player.
I am delighted to confirm that all Competitions, including the Peter Rook Cup, will remain free to enter.
Beyond The Winter League
After the Winter league has concluded the Billiards Season will take place which will end mid August. You may have realised that each year it has become more and more difficult to fit in a full programme of Winter, Billiards & Summer Leagues. In recent years the Winter League has started later and later and so there is now an urgent need to reset the start of the Winter League to the more traditional early September. This will mean that we are no longer able to have a Summer League. In 2027 Billiards will finish at the end of July which will leave August free of any matches before we restart the Winter League in the first week of September. August is usually a hot month and perhaps not best suited to competition snooker.
A number of changes above although perhaps not too difficult to understand. As always I am happy to answer any questions so don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Have a great season everyone.
Gary Curtis Hon.Sec
4th September 2025