POOL CLUB
Business House League (seasonal) – Monday to Wednesday (as required) – 7.00pm start
Mini-league round-robin competitions before and after the Business House League season.
Inter-club and Club Champs (seasonal) – Sunday – Start times vary.
For all inquiries please contact Dave on 027 754 9961
Email: David.Ollason@hotmail.com or pool@warkworthrsa.co.nz
Please note that the golf tournament between the Warkworth Golf Club and the Warkworth RSA scheduled for Sunday 23rd November has been cancelled.
Regards,
Tony Hatton
Mens Singles 2025
On Sunday 12th we had a great turnout of 18 players for the Men's Singles! A huge welcome to Garry (Daniels brother) who is new, and a great welcome back to Tim Drinnan, who we have not seen for a couple of years.
A few of us may have been a little dusty after Muzzs birthday bash the night before, but not birthday boy himself, who was sharp as a tack. So, two sections of 9 and best of 1 for the qualifying and we got stuck in just after 9am.
I said this about the Mixed Pairs and I'm saying it again now - the standard of pool was absolutely top drawer. I had an 8 ball clearance, which I have not done too many times before and we had at least 3 tin hats during qualifying!
By the halfway point there was one player in each section on a clean sheet - Tony & Bob, with a few on 3 from 4. And by the end of qualifying we decided to take 4 from each through to the quarter final stage - Ash, Bob, Storm, Thrax and in section two, Tony, Muzz, Bobby & Tim.
The quarters were great games that ultimately led to the semi-finals of Muzz vs Tony, Tim vs Bobby. And both semis were nailbiters that went the distance, producing a final between birthday boy Muzz and Tim. And what a final it was. Muzz took the first, but then Tim came back to take the next two to lead 2:1. The 4th frame was a cracker with Muzz grinding out the win to level at 2:2.
Yet another final to go the distance and leave us with a thriller of a last frame to finish. It was a bit to and fro with both players playing well and Tim reaching the black first with Muzz only one ball behind. Crunch time came when Muzz had an opportunity to get his last ball plus position on the black, and he did just that to take the title!
Lunch today was the (not so) regular BBQ. Both Rachel and Marcia volunteered to cook and Rachel brought along some surprise dessert too, which was fabulous. Many thanks to both of you, it was certainly appreciated by all.
Huge congratulations to Murray (Muzz) for the sensational win - What a birthday present.
Papatoetoe Home Sat Oct 4th
On Saturday we hosted 16 players from Papatoetoe for our return match. Their captain, Di, had a lovely trophy with the past three years results engraved on it:
2022 - Warkworth
2023 - Draw
2024 - Papatoetoe
Clearly two very evenly matched teams, but we were going into Saturday's match with an 11 game deficit, which was an enormous hill to climb.
Having said that, we started off really well and won the doubles round 7-2 and there was hope. But many of their side were new to the club and new to our tables and by the time the singles came around the new players had settled in and were playing better. The singles was a much more even affair going slightly in Papatoetoe's favour at 8:10
The final score for the day was Warkworth 15:12 Papatoetoe, and huge congratulations to our team who played very well!!
Unfortunately our winning margin was not quite enough to take the year overall, so congratulations to Papatoetoe.
This was the last event where we were providing lunch and the team ended the year in absolute style with a fantastic spread of (too much) food. It was very much appreciated by Papatoetoe and thanks again from me to all involved.
This Sunday is the Men's Singles and food will be BBQ.
Cheers
Dave
Curry League Aug-Sept 2025
Last Tues night, the 30th, was the last night of the Aug-Sept Curry league.
This is a hugely popular league that is relaxed, fun and just a little bit competitive too.
This time, there were two teams that led throughout and came down to the deciding night last Tues.
The winners were Bhuna - Gary, Dave, Ash and Jim
And in Second place was Madras - Murray, Jill, JJ and Ray.
Congratulations to both teams and keep a lookout in the new year for the next league which will run March-April.
Mixed Pairs 2025
On Sunday we had a very healthy turnout of 15 pairs for the Mixed Pairs 2025, which was fantastic.
For qualifying we had one group of 8 and another of 7, both playing best of 1. Pressure makes diamonds, as they say, and several of the teams rose to the challenge of sudden death play-offs, producing some really fabulous pool. In fact, I'd say that was a particular theme this year - top quality pool with clearances made under pressure plus well thought out safety.
As the qualifying started to draw to a close, the top 4 qualifiers in Section 1 became clear: Jim & Marcia, DaveO & Leigh, Ash & Nadine and Bobby & Tracey.
Whilst in Section 2 the top 3 were clear - Storm & Tammy, Garry & Jennie and Muzz & Jo, all on 5 from 6. But the 4th spot was still up for grabs. And grab it in style di Yash & Anjali, with a win in their final game!
The quarter final just sharpened the focus of very high quality pool and saw some fantastically close matches and many whoops and ahhs from the audience. Perhaps the highlight, given that it was only Anjali's second tournament….ever, was their win to get to the semis - very well done! They would face Storm & Tammy and the other semi was between Ash & Nadine and Bobby & Tracey.
Again, very tense games that ultimately set us up for a final between Storm & Tammy and Ash & Nadine, best of 5.
I thought it would be a short one as S&T got out of the gate flying into a 2:0 lead. But, undeterred, A&N produced some great pool to claw it back to 2:2 and take us to a decider. It was an edge-of-the seat final frame, and some members who weren't part of the tournament were clapping along.
Ultimately, Ash & Nadine prevailed and congratulations to them both!
Commiserations to Storm & Tammy, so close.
Lunch, as ever was well managed by everyone and featured a morning tea for players to snack on before the main event, loads of lovely food. Once again, thank you very much to all involved.
It was a little late in finishing, but it was a fabulous day and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.
This Saturday is Home against Papatoetoe, which should be a good one!
Cheers
Dave
INTER-CLUB v Wellsford Home - Sunday 21st September
On Sunday we hosted Wellsford for the second leg of our 2025 interclub. Having won the first leg 11:7, we were quietly confident going into the match.
Wellsford brought 14 players and we managed to rustle up two more of our own to match - thank you Trout and Brian for agreeing to play at short notice.
With the smaller numbers we can afford to have best of 3 throughout, and we kicked off with the doubles. We got off to a good start that simply built and built and we ended up winning the doubles 5:2, which was fantastic. And the singles continued the theme where we won 6 of the first 7, making the match well and truly in the bag.
Lunch was fabulous as ever and sincere thanks to all those involved in bringing food, buying food, laying out and cleaning up afterwards. I say this in every report, and I will continue to do so - the day is a team effort and thank you all.
Although we dropped a few more games in the second half of the singles, we still won it 4:3 and the overall score was
Warkworth 15:6 Wellsford
And the trophy stays with Warkworth for another year.
This was a great performance from the team as a whole and we should be very proud.
Special shout out to Tracey J who took on Wellsford's Krissy in the singles and beat her 2:1. Krissy is a very good player indeed, so, well done Tracey!
A good day was had by all.
Next Sunday is the mixed pairs and the following Sat (Oct 4th) we're hosting Papatoetoe at home and we need more players for that one as they normally bring around 25.
Cheers
Dave
Dick Pye Open Singles 2025
On Sunday we had a very healthy turnout of 19 players for the Dick Pye Open singles, 7 of whom were women, which was great to see. We split the squad into two sections for qualifying best of 1.
Single frame matches are a bit like playing in business house and they can produce some of the best drama. There was a lot of skill on display alongside a smidgen of misfortune. A few in-offs and a few stumbles at the final hurdle. It was a great qualifying session all round with many examples of tightly contested games that went down to the wire.
Lunch was a lovely range of food brought by the players plus pizza and chicken bought on the day. As ever it was wonderful and huge thanks to everyone involved in the setup and the cleaning up. You know who you are and it is much appreciated by everyone!
We were doing well for time and decided to take the top 4 from each section through to the quarter final stage.
For section 1 that was Bobby, Rachelle, Marcia & Ben, and for section 2 it was Tony, Storm, Murray & Thrax.
Rachelle kept the flag flying with a great win over Murray to reach the semis, where she was joined by Tony, Bobby and Storm. An elite group to be part of, well done Rachelle!
Bobby vs Storm was a titanic clash that went to 3 with Bobby prevailing in the end. And although Rachelle worried Tony in the first, it was not quite enough and so the final was set.
Bobby vs Tony
They had been in different qualifying sections and both had done very well Bobby on 7/8 and Tony on 8/9 wins.
Tony was on a roll in the first, until he went in-off the black, gifting the frame to Bobby. The second also went to Bobby, but with no luck this time, just great pool. In the third both players were playing well with Bobby reaching the black first with Tony still having two left. Tony laid a brilliant snooker, covering the obvious escape. But the last shot of the final was the best shot of the day - off two cushions to hit and pot the black to win! Well done Bobby!
Finally, I'd like to call out the only person to beat Bobby throughout the whole day - kudos to Mike J well done!
It was a fabulous day and we finished in good time at 5pm.
We are still looking for players for the home match against Papatoetoe on Saturday Oct 4th. Please put your name on the sheet if you can play.
Cheers
Drawn Pairs 2025
On Sunday 31st, we had 22 players for the 2025 Drawn Pairs. Phew! - it's always nice to have an even number for this tournament, and we drew the 11 pairs and decided to have a single section best of 1 frame. After the first five rounds four pairs were looking good on 3 wins, and one team on 4 (Trish & Bobby) and another on 5 wins (DaveO & Tony) - very much anybody's game at the halfway stage.
As always, lunch was fabulous and many thanks to all who brought food and to those who contributed their $10 towards additional pizza. And thanks as ever to the team of players who did all the cleaning up, and a shout out to Trout who I saw with his sleeves rolled up. Well done all!
After lunch we moved into the second half of qualifying and Tony & I got a wake up call as we were soundly beaten in our next three games. Other teams, however, were a bit more consistent and we had three teams finishing on 6 - Bobby/Trish, Jo/Marcia and Jill/Murray, plus two teams on 7 - DaveO/Tony and the top qualifier Gary/Trout. Unfortunately as we compared the three on 6, Jill/Murray just missed out on the semi finals - bad luck and Net Time!
Semi 1: DaveO & Tony vs Jo & Marcia
We had lost our qualifying match, or should I say, Jo & Marcia won it in style, coming from behind with a 5 ball clearance. Fortunately for us, there was no repeat in the semi and we ran out winners.
Semi 2: Bobby & Trish vs Gary & Trout
I'm not sure who won in qualifying but I'm guessing it was close because the semi certainly was. G&T got the first, then Bobby pulled out a clearance to take the second and the third was close and ultimately went in favour of Gary & Trout.
Final: DaveO & Tony vs Gary & Trout
G&T had won, convincingly as I recall, in the qualifying, so we were all set for a good one, and that's what we got. The first two frames were shared and D&T got the third to lead 2:1. All the games were high quality and the 4th came down to the black, where Gary had an agonisingly close miss in the middle and ultimately DaveO & Tony took the match.
Commiserations to Gary & Trout and congratulations to myself and Tony for the win.
We finished just before 5pm and all agreed It was another great tournament and everyone had a lot of fun, as you can see in the photo below.
Next Sunday is the Dick Pye Open Singles, which is open to both men and women.
Cheers
Dave
INTERCLUB - ONEHUNGA @ WARKWORTH - Sunday 24th August
On Sunday we hosted Onehunga for the second leg of our 2025 interclub, and similarly to Birkenhead, with an 8 point deficit to make up following the Away game.
We had 22, our largest turnout this year, to their 23, so we played 24 a side with some double ups. We had a number of newbies to the Interclub matches, Welcome: Murray, Jo, Bros, Jammin, and Eddie W and also Welcome back Jodene. With such large numbers it's becoming the norm to start with doubles, best of 3, followed by the singles best of 1.
Warkworth got off to a flying start, winning 4 of the first 6 matches and, unlike Birkenhead, hopes were rising again of a possible turnaround. The second half of the doubles was split 3 apiece so we still had a 2 match cushion going into the doubles. The game was still very much alive going into the singles.
We broke for afternoon tea before the singles and it was, as ever, absolutely fantastic with a great mix of hot and cold food and a sweet table that would make any bakery proud! Well done and a huge thank you to everyone involved - you know who you are.
With two such well-matched teams it was no surprise that the first 12 singles were split evenly at 6:6 and with a slim cushion of 2 the hope for a turnaround was looking shakier. But in the second half of the singles, we started incredibly strongly winning 5 of the first six - Game ON!
The final six singles games were all amazing and very tight, and the teams showed just how close we are by splitting them 3:3! For those keeping up with the maths, that means we won the day Warkworth 21:15 Birkenhead, which was fabululous! But, literally by the slimmest of margins, we fell short and ended up losing the year 29:31.
Well done to Birkenhead but equally well done to Warkworth - we played really, really well and won the day handsomely and came agonisingly close to winning the year.
Congratulations to everyone, and special mention to Jodene & Eddie for being the only pair to win both singles and doubles.
We all had a fantastic day!
Next Sunday is the Drawn Pairs.
Cheers
Ladies Singles 2025
On Sunday, our ladies turned out in record numbers (18!) for the Ladies Singles 2025. With two sections of 9, qualifying was best of 1 and we kicked off just after 9am.
After the first 5 rounds in Section 1 there were two clear frontrunners - Tammy & Jo - but nipping at their heels were strong showings from Kim, Jill and Tracey J, all on 3.
And in Section 2 we had a very similar story with Cheryl and Marcia out in front on 4 wins, closely followed by Milly, Nadine and Rachelle all on 3. Everything to play for and it was great to see that the draw had produced two evenly matched sections.
To save time, and just because it's a nice, relaxed thing to do, we didn't formally break for lunch, but rather people grazed throughout the day on a feast fit for Queens!
As the qualifying drew to a close, the same two players from each section cemented their places in the semi-final - Tammy, Jo, Marcia and Cheral. Other players played really well, and special mention to Nadine and Tracey J who, despite commendable scores of 5 from 8, just missed out. Next time.
The two semi-finals were Tammy vs Marcia and Jo vs Cheral, and both were very tight with some great pool on display. Marcia prevailed in the first and Cheral in the second to set up the final, best of 5.
It was truly a fabulous final with frames going to each player in turn before we reached 2:2 and the final frame. Even in the final frame, the game swung both ways and it came down, inevitably, to the black where both players had their chances before Cheral sunk it for the win!
Well done Cheral and commiserations to Marcia.
Another great pool tournament and everyone had a blast and we finished at 5:30pm
Next Sunday is Onehunga at Home, muster at 12pm, and there are still spots available.
John Stephen Memorial Pairs 2025
On Saturday we had 26 pairs for the John Stephen memorial pairs 2025. We were a few short for a variety of reasons including sickness, unscheduled whanau meetings and, thankfully for the first and hopefully last time, one of our teams were involved in a serious car accident of no fault of their own. Happy to say that they are OK.
Muster was at 8 am and everyone turned up on time and we were going by 8:30 am.
As seems to be frequently the case, we were joined by a number of first-timers to the club as well as one or two we haven't seen in a while - Welcome to Sue, Wally, DaveO & son James and Sam, and welcome back to Mark Dellow and Tony VW.
I'm going to mix up the report a little this time and talk about notable events in the day. The first being that Jennie & Jill took part for the first time - great to see - and beat Simon & Young from Birkenhead in the first round - well done J&J! Unfortunately, Simon & Young took revenge on WW in the plate by knocking out Storm & Thrax.
Peter & Toby knocked Gary & Scotty into the plate, from which they beat two teams to land in the semis, before falling to Brett & Gordy. And similarly, Ben & Mark also got to the other semi in the Plate, before falling to Dennis and Carl. And finally, myself & Tony played some great stuff to reach the semi of the main, before unravelling at Glen and Richie.
So, we had two WW teams in te semis of the plate and one in the semis of the main - not too bad.
Then we saw DaveO and James (14) show true class in their first tournament here by beating three stiff teams to reach the semi-final in their first attempt - well done indeed!
The final of the Plate was Dennis & Carl vs Brett & Gordy and it turned out to be a bit one-sided at 3:0 in favour of Dennis & Carl - well done!
But nothing could have been more different with the Main final, which was between Glen & Dennis vs Peter & Toby. 1:0, to 1:1, to 1:2 and at this point Peter played a marvelous clearance of 4 balls to leave a cut into the middle…..which he narrowly missed. G&R cleared up to leave a final frame, which G&R ultimately won for the title, but oh so close.
Well done to Glen & Richie and huge commiserations to Peter & Toby who really drove to the last.
Lunch, of course, was amazing. This time we had beef cheeks, mash, veggies and gravy and it was absolutely beautiful. Thank you Raina and Shirley.
We finished at 4:30pm and many were still around for a group photo at the end.
A fantastic day had by all and a fitting end to the invitational tournaments for the 2025 season.
Cheers
Dave
An apology
Let me start with an apology and a correction from last week's report.
The second Business House team going up to Division A next year, is the Cranes and no 2 Shots. My mistake and congratulations to the Cranes!
Men's Pairs 2025
On Sunday we had 12 teams for the Men's Pairs 2025, which is a very healthy turnout. Two of the players had recently joined the RSA to be able to play our tournaments - Welcome Neil from Kerikeri and also welcome Jammin (Bros' son).
We split the teams into two sections of 6 and played the qualifying best of 3 and got cracking at 9 on the dot. The first round of qualifying often sees a lot of nervy, tentative play, as players are settling down. But this year, and by popular demand, I am required to say that round one shall be remembered for time immemorial as Dave O's fluke of the century! It's difficult to describe but suffice it to say it was a fluked black in the final frame of the match against Muzz and John B, and it won us the game. Storm later offered me a place on his BHP team, Flukers.
Moving right along…
At the round 3 stage, there were two clear leaders in section 1 - Storm & Thrax and Bobby & Brian, both with clean sheets and in section 2 Bob & Chris were also clean but the second place team was less clear.
Two more rounds and a great BBQ lunch later, positions were clarified.
In section 1, the same two teams B&B and S&T progressed to the semis and in section B Dad'n'Son combo Bros & Jammin, cleared up any confusion there may have been by winning their last two emphatically to qualify with 4 wins.
In the first semi S&T had a great tussle with B&J which eventually saw S&T triumph. This is a good point at which to congratulate 15 year old Jammin, who is a very good potter with a cool head on his shoulders - Well Done.
And in the other semi B&C managed to edge past B&B to set up a final between the current champions, Storm & Thrax and Bob & Chris. I should point out that both teams had won all their qualifying matches and their semi, obviously, so both teams had won 6 straight matches to reach the final.
The final was best of 5 and the first frame was fairly even and went to B&C. In the second, S&T played some amazing pool at were looking to be in Tin Hat territory. With only the black left, S&T had to escape snookers, which they did, before a slim chance fell to T who left the black right over the corner pocket. Storm's escape from the snooker unfortunately fouled and potted the black. This was demoralising and Bob & Chris won the next to take the title.
Congratulations to Bob & Chris and commiserations to Storm & Thrax.
Everyone had a good time and the final finished in good time at 4:30pm
I'd like to finish with huge thanks to Tony for doing the BBQ, helping with the board and prepping the table for the final - Thanks mate, much appreciated.
We have the John Stephen pairs next Sat, 9th August and then the Sun afterwards is Onehunga at home, if you'd like to sign up and play.
Cheers
Dave
2025 Business House Prizegiving
I was told recently that the 2025 season was the 45th year of the Business House pool league! And we had a great turnout last Wed for prizegiving with players representing each and every one of the 22 teams across the A & B divisions.
This year we welcomed one new team - The Tahi Bar - to the league and they thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the Rams and Cue Crew the year before, and will be back for more next year, where we hope to fill the league completely with 24 teams.
We had various individual prizes this year, including two tin hats in the one match, one from each team!
Congratulations to the top two teams in the B division - 2 Shots and the winners Contractors - who will be progressing to the A division next year.
And congratulations to Mill Lane for winning the A division and huge respect and congratulations to Rams, who pushed us all the way and it came down to a single point in the end!
The Curry league sheet went up at the end of prizegiving and was filled up in less than 30 mins. Feel free to add your name as a reserve, as we often need reserves.
SUNDAY 27th July - Away v HIBISCUS COAST
On Sunday we had 9 players make the trip to Hibiscus Coast for the second leg. It was disappointing that we had only 9 players - several of our players had to pull out for various reasons - but in the end that did not matter and we had a fabulous time.
The hospitality was fantastic and we were welcomed with a drink voucher and a lovely lunch, brought by the players, an idea borrowed from us.
They even lent us a player, Toby, to make 10 and two of our players played twice to match their team of 12.
We started with the six doubles matches, and we split the score 3:3. It was clear the two teams were evenly matched and we were in for a nailbiter.
Moving into the singles, I got us off to a W, but that was followed by L, W, L….Looking like a nailbiter indeed.
Warkworth won the singles by the smallest margin 7:5
We had time and everyone was having so much fun that we decided to finish off with a last round of reverse doubles with the scores at Warkworth 10:8 HBSC with 6 more matches to play.
Once again, the matches were going each way and as we got to the last match the scores were WW 12:11 HBSC, with our Bob & Jill battling against Mike & Michael (who Tony & I only narrowly beat in the Colin Whalen).
The match went to 3, of course, and Bob managed to rifle in the final black for the win!
Well done Warkworth, it was a great win, and a fabulous day. The trophy will stay with HBSC, but we will be back for it next year!
Cheers
Dave
SUNDAY 20th JULY 2025
Sunday saw us hosting the Ladies pairs competition in a different format, Ladies drawn pairs, with our pairs Champs Tammy and Tracey defending their title. With a last minute ring around on Saturday night to find a replacement player, we had a full complement of 24 players/12 teams. What a turn out!
The biggest attended ladies competition to be had at the club ever and all attended wearing Pajamas! We had a lot of new players and also a group of out of town players with supporting partners all the way from Kerikeri. This turned out to be a fun day filled with many
laughs, loads of prizes, a birthday cake and a lot of pool playing.
The draw produced some very unlikely pairings and gave for some interesting team tactics. Our first round started off to a slow start with the format having to be changed to accommodate our ladies careful playing. We saw our shot of the day by birthday girl Anjali, a newcomer to pool and our chocolate fish prize (fluff of the day) to Erana.
The quarter finals saw 8 teams in a knock out round with some very close games, a lot of which went down to 3 games. This round saw Millie and Ange knockout our defending champs.
The semi finals produced 4 steady teams with tough competition for the final spots, Jo and Karen faced Jan and Leigh, Milly and Ange faced Rachelle and Cheral. Jo and Karen secured their spot, to compete against Rachelle and Cheral who won their match up.
The final was a nail biter with the teams playing best out of 5 games. Each team won two games meaning we saw a tie breaker on the fifth game. This game saw Jo and Karen reach the eight ball first to have a couple of tries at it before succeeding in winning the game. Congratulations Jo and Karen for the win, also to our runners up Rachelle and Cheral.
To wrap it up I would like to thank Jill, Kim and Tracey Ollason for helping with
decorations and prizes. Also hats off to all our ladies for the terrific food and that they all stayed through the whole day to the very end to support their other team mates through the competition.
INTERCLUB v BIRKENHEAD - Sunday 13th July
On Sunday we hosted Birkenhead for the second leg of our 2025 interclub, with an 8 point deficit to make up following the Away game.
We had 18 to their 21, so we played 22 a side with some double ups. With such large numbers it's becoming the norm to start with doubles, best of 3, followed by the singles best of 1.
Warkworth got off to a flying start, winning 5 of the first 6 matches and we were certainly daring to dream of a brilliant turnaround. But as is so often the case, the match appears to be a game of two halves, and Birkenhead clawed back winning 4 of the last 5 doubles and leaving us with a score of 6:5 in our favour going into the singles. Ahh well, but at least the current match was very much alive.
We broke for afternoon tea before the singles and it was, as ever, absolutely fantastic with a great mix of hot and cold food and a sweet table that would make any bakery proud! Well done and a huge thank you to everyone involved - our food is really second-to-none!
With two such well-matched teams it was no surprise that the first 11 singles resulted in 6:5 to Birkenhead, bringing the overall score level at 11 apiece as we headed into the home stretch.
As the final 4 singles matches were underway, the score was 15:14 to Birkenhead with everything still to play for. Alas, the last 4 singles were split between the teams and the final score was
Birkenhead 17:16 Warkworth
Well done to the Warkworth team. With the exception of your captain, you all played very well indeed. Sssooo close.
Despite the narrowest of losses, pride was restored and we all had a fantastic day!
Next Sunday, 20th July is the much anticipated Ladies Drawn Pairs pyjama party, which promises to be heaps of fun.
Cheers
Dave
Colin Whalen Invitational Pairs 2025
The real test of the move to Saturdays for the invitational tournaments was on Saturday for the 2025 Colin Whalen Invitational pairs, and we had a full field of 32 pairs, plus a few spectators, mustering at 8am. It's the first time we've had a full tournament in the past few years, and it was great to see.
As is becoming the norm, there was a healthy mix of frequent flyers plus some familiar faces, but who have never played the tournaments before and finally we had around 5 newcomers, some of whom proved to be dark horses! (More later).
After a welcome and a run through of the rules, we got underway at 8:30am sharp. We had a great turnout of 10 pairs from Warkworth and thankfully, the draw was such that no 1st round matches were between Warkworth teams. And 6 of our teams made it through with the other 4 moving on to the Plate.
Newcomers, Josh & Bryce (Kerikeri) produced the first apparent upset of the day by beating Glen & Richie in round 1. Upsets turned out to be a theme for the day with Jared & Moloi going out in round 2 and Deon & Eli exiting stage left in round 3.
The only Warkworth derby came in round 2 where Bobby & Merle (Tahi bar) faced off against Storm & Thrax (Flukers). It wasn't really a derby in that they'd never played before, and it was a fabulous match that went down to the wire with some cerebral safety play plus some outstanding clearances. Ultimately Storm & Thrax won out - well done!
After the 2nd round, only 2 of our 6 Warkworth teams remained in the Main - Tony & I and Storm & Thrax. And in the Plate Bob & Chris and Ash & Kev were still going strong. It was proving to be a good day for Warkworth.
This good fortune continued and Tony & I made the semis after a brilliant match against Peter & Charlie (HSBC) as did Storm & Thrax after dispatching Dennis & Carl (Swanson).
And in the Plate semi we had both Bob & Chris and Ash & Kev flying the flag.
In the Plate semi Bob & Chris came off 2nd to brothers combo Simon & Chris (BKHD), but Ash & Kev beat Brett & Gordy to reach the final - well done!
All the matches by this stage are tight, and the final was no exception with Simon & Chris running out winners 2:1.
Tony & I faced Simon & Sion whereas Storm & Thrax had the dark horse newcomers, Josh & Bryce. Both semis were tight affairs with great pool on display, but sadly for Warkworth, both ties went the other way, setting up the Main best-of-5 final of
Josh & Bryce vs Simon & Sion
S&S stormed into a 2:0 lead, before J&B pegged it back to 2:2 all to set up a final frame, which after much toing and froing ultimately was won by Simon & Sion. Well done!
And very well done to Josh & Bryce - first time on our tables, first tournament and into the final!
Lunch was lamb shanks with all the trimmings and was absolutely fabulous - thank you Raina & Eddie.
I'm happy to say that each and every one of the newcomers said they were keen to come back in the future.
It was a late finish, but everyone had a wonderful time and we got heaps of compliments for our tables, the food, the atmosphere and the running of the tournament - many thanks to Tony, Storm, Bob and Michael for your help here.
The next, and last, invitational for 2025 is the John Stephen memorial pairs on Sat Aug 9th. The sign-up sheet will be up soon.
Cheers
Dave
SNOOKER OPEN 2025 - Sunday 29th June
On Sunday we had 7 players for the 2025 Snooker Open.
The 80s with players such as Higgins, White, Davis and the dulcet tones of whispering Ted Lowe - "For those watching in black and white, the pink is behind the blue".
This was when I started watching snooker avidly on the telly and rooting for my favourites (White, Higgins) and generally marveling at the sheer skill on display.
Ahh, nostalgia is not what it used to be….but I digress.
With a single section of 7 we kicked off with the 6 qualifying rounds, best of 1 frame. After the first 3 rounds, Tony was out in front with a clean sheet, but both Ash and Brian were not far behind on 2.
We had taken the decision to not have any formal food and rather have the players get their own food after qualifying - this seemed to work pretty well for a small group event.
After the end of qualifying, Tony had been playing extremely well and won all 6 of his games! Our rules for running events state that if a player wins all games in a single-section event, then we progress to the final and find the 2nd placed player as the opponent.
That was a decision between Ash and Brian, both of whom had 4 wins, and the decision is based on the match between the two during qualifying, which was won by Ash and so we had the final set - Tony vs Ash.
The final was best of 3 and both players were quite even in the first frame, each scoring a few points before having to play safety, hoping that the other would make a mistake. I can remember that the scores were even at 43:43 at one point as we approached "the colours" which is the final 27 points available. This is where the utter cruelty of the game of snooker really comes to the fore. Every ball you pot denies your opponent that ball, so it's almost like you are scoring and thieving at the same time. Tony's form in the final, particularly in the latter stages of the frame, was just too strong for Ash and Tony claimed victory 2:0. Well done Tony, and Ash - next time.
To give you an idea of how well he was playing, it's not uncommon to see breaks of 18-24, but in his last qualifying round, Tony knocked in a 52, which is very rare indeed. Masterclass.
We were finished by 2:30pm and everyone had a great time.
LADIES 9 BALL - SUNDAY 15th June
On Sunday we had 11 ladies for the Ladies 9 Ball tournament, which was started last year in response to the huge popularity of the format. We had a few new faces with Dawn & Cheral from Kerikeri, who joined our RSA to play these tournaments, and also Tracey O & Christine, playing in their first tournament.
We decided to repeat the winning formula from the 9 Ball Open and have a large section with everyone in it and play the qualifying as best of one.
Once again, this was a huge success and the games were flowing nicely and the results coming in so fast it was hard to keep up. There were ooohs and ahhhs as the 9 ball was planted or cannoned in early and many frames that went down to the 9 ball, where, especially in sudden-death, a nice leave is worth its weight in gold.
After the first 5 rounds some frontrunners were emerging, with Nadine, Marcia and Tracey O all on 4 wins. But hard on their heels was Rachelle & Wendy on 3 and the majority on 2.
The second half saw two of the frontrunners, Marcia & Tracey O, continue in their winning ways and finish on 7, where they were joined by Jennie who had saved the best till last winning all 5 of her final matches!
We then had 6 players all on 5 wins each and we were looking to take a total of 8 players forward to the knockout. We compared the matches between these players and, unfortunately Rachelle missed out in the end.
We took a break for lunch, which was absolutely fabulous, as it always is - many thanks to all for the lovely food!
The quarter finals were best of 3 and there were some great matches that ultimately saw our four semi-finalists be: Marcia vs Tracey O and Dawn vs Jennie.
Again, some great 9 Ball in the semis from all the players which served us up a best of 5 final between Marcia and Dawn.
The final started off with a tit-for-tat at 1:1 after the first two frames, then Dawn took a 2:1 lead, putting the pressure squarely on Marcia in the 4th frame. That pressure proved too much and Dawn finished with a fine clearance to take the title.
Well done Dawn! Particularly as this was not only her first RSA tournament win, but also because it was her first time with 9 Ball.
Commiserations to Marcia, next time.
But let's finish with congratulations to everyone for turning out, playing great pool, cheering on and generally making for a fantastic day of pool!
INTERCLUB - SATURDAY 7th JUNE @ Papatoetoe
On Saturday 14 intrepid potters made the trip down for the first 2025 match against Papatoetoe RSA. This is only the 3rd year that we have been playing together, and yet the fixture is one of the ones we look forward to the most.
We were warmly greeted in the carpark by Robert, and then moved through to meet up with Di, Lou and the gang of 26 players!
Papatoetoe love their pool and always have a great turnout and Saturday was no exception, and almost all of our team had to play twice.
With that number of players, the doubles was best of 3 and the singles was sudden death and we kicked off with the doubles.
Jill and I (mainly Jill) led us off to a winning start and after the first 6 doubles games we were at 3 apiece and looked to be settling in for a tight affair. However, we suffered a collapse in the remaining 7 doubles, with myself and Marcia being the only win and the doubles end up being 4:9 to Papatoetoe.
Lunch was from a local Chinese and was absolutely fabulous, and we hoped it would give us the strength needed for a comeback in the singles. I led us off to a shocking start, but the team were holding our own in the first half at 7:7 after the first 14 games. All we needed was for our captain to show us the way for the final 12 games, however, instead, I showed the team the fine art of snookering oneself on one's own black and losing…mea culpa!
There wasn't much joy in the final 12 games, save for Gary, Tony and Tracey all winning.
The final score was a resounding thrashing of Papatoetoe 25:14 Warkworth. Cheekily, Di offered me a pack of tissues at the end
Having said that, the only thing better than the Papatoetoe welcome and the camaraderie during the match, is their haka-style farewell and all the congrats and looking forward to the return. Tony actually commented that he'd never hugged so many people in one day before.
Despite the defeat, we all thoroughly enjoyed the day and are looking forward to the return match in Oct, where we will be hoping for a repeat of last year when we reversed the scores for an overall draw.
We have the ladies 9 Ball singles next Sunday, which should be a great event.
Cheers
Dave
INTERCLUB - SUNDAY 25th May @ Wellsford RSA
On Sunday an evenly balanced team of 6 men, 6 women and a mascot (Dave H :-) ) set off to play Wellsford, which is the longest running fixture of them all, and is limited to 12 players a side.
Wellsford have two 8 foot pool tables plus one 12 foot full size snooker table. In order to ensure we made best use of the time, it was decided to play the doubles on the snooker table and the singles on the pool tables, with the remaining doubles played on the pool tables once the singles ended.
Therefore, two sets of results started rolling in simultaneously, and we were having dramatically different results in each. We won 5 of the first 6 singles but lost all of the first 3 doubles. I blame the snooker table myself - most of our players will have rarely, if ever, played on one.
We had a lovely afternoon tea with a mix of hot and cold food plus some oysters for good measure! Very nice.
The matches were all best of three and very tight with many were going the distance. I do have to call one that didn't go the distance, which was Trish's superb win over the Wellsford captain, Bryce. Well done Trish!.
As we got the final two doubles games on (Me & Rach and Kev & Jim) the score was set 9:7 to Warkworth, meaning that we had secured a minimum of a draw and just needed one of these two for the win. That winning point came from Kev & Jim as they overcame Mark & Bob, and it certainly took a little pressure off our match, where we were one down and in the second frame. Rach finished that frame off in style, potting a very difficult black down the cush into the corner pocket.
The final frame was a very nervy affair, but again Rach rose to the occasion and controlled the pressure of a black ball pot for the win.
Well done to the entire team! The final score was Warkworth 11:7 Wellsford.
The team played really well and thoroughly deserved the win. It was our first win of the season, coming off the back of two hefty losses and a draw, and despite the rain, we headed home happy....and a little relieved.
It's the King's birthday next week and the Saturday after is Papatoetoe Away.
Cheers
Dave
RSA Invitational Singles 2025 - Saturday 17th May
The move to Saturdays for the invitational tournaments continues to prove itself and we had a full field of 32 players arrive at 8:30am for the 2025 Invitational Singles. Players came from far and wide - Warkworth, Northland, Swanson, Glen Eden, Birkenhead and Hibiscus Coast - and whilst the majority were familiar faces, we had one newcomer, Ange, who was part of the Northland crew.
After a welcome and a run through of the rules, we got underway at 9am sharp. After the first round, three Warkworth players remained in the Main – Storm, Tony & Thrax – with the remainder of myself, Michael, and JJ making our way into the Plate.
In the second round all three of our players in the Main played some great pool but unfortunately couldn't quite get over the line and went out. One 2nd round match was the talk of the day - Ange vs Moloi. Ange had summarily dismissed me in the first round and now faced Moloi in the second, where she produced some amazing play to take the match 2:1 with a stunning final (difficult) black, taken with confidence and ease. And in the following round, Ange met Glen, and she nearly had him too, taking him close to the wire in each frame - Glen's comment "What a Player!".
Warkworth had to look to the Plate for further success in the tournament, and we certainly found it. But not from me as JJ, who obviously hadn't got the memo, blew past me 2:0 and the next round to land in the semis. And in the other half Michael was seemingly unstoppable and also booked a semi spot against Rob. The game was a very tactical safety battle, but Michael was motoring now and took the match to progress to the final, where he met Bill, who had beaten JJ.
In the final, Michael played fabulous, open potting pool and sealed the deal 2:0 to take it! Well Done Michael.
The final of the Main was best of 5 and between two players who had been partners in our tournaments for decades - The Westies, Glen & Dennis. Although Dennis did play some great pool and took a good frame, Glen was ultimately too strong and he won his second event of 2025, having also won the Clive Hulme in March!
I'd like to finish by talking about some of the feedback received from several of the players throughout the course of the day. The first is now typical and is around Raina's lunch which is fabulous and everyone really looks forward to it. Dennis thinks he would come just for that alone - Thank you Raina & Eddy!
The second piece of complimentary feedback was around how the tournament is run, how welcoming it is and what a good time the players have.
This sentiment, together with the FOMO (Fear of missing out) generated by the increased popularity, has meant that I have received no fewer than 10 requests to be included in the Colin Whalen pairs on July 5th, including from a pair that I don't know and have never been here!
The sign up sheet for the Colin Whalen has gone up today and hopefully we'll manage to fill this pairs tournament this year.
Another fabulous day of pool - check out the smiles below.
Interclub, Wellsford Home
On Sunday we hosted Wellsford for the second leg of our 2025 interclub. Having won the first leg 11:7, we were quietly confident going into the match.
Wellsford brought 14 players and we managed to rustle up two more of our own to match - thank you Trout and Brian for agreeing to play at short notice.
With the smaller numbers we can afford to have best of 3 throughout, and we kicked off with the doubles. We got off to a good start that simply built and built and we ended up winning the doubles 5:2, which was fantastic. And the singles continued the theme where we won 6 of the first 7, making the match well and truly in the bag.
Lunch was fabulous as ever and sincere thanks to all those involved in bringing food, buying food, laying out and cleaning up afterwards. I say this in every report, and I will continue to do so - the day is a team effort and thank you all.
Although we dropped a few more games in the second half of the singles, we still won it 4:3 and the overall score was
Warkworth 15:6 Wellsford
And the trophy stays with Warkworth for another year.
This was a great performance from the team as a whole and we should be very proud.
Special shout out to Tracey J who took on Wellsford's Krissy in the singles and beat her 2:1. Krissy is a very good player indeed, so, well done Tracey!
A good day was had by all.
Next Sunday is the mixed pairs and the following Sat (Oct 4th) we're hosting Papatoetoe at home and we need more players for that one as they normally bring around 25.
Cheers
Dave
On Sunday we hosted 15 players from the Hibiscus Coast team at Warkworth. We had 14 (5 men and 9 women) so we made it 16 a side.
Although we have been playing this team for many, many years, on Sunday there were at least three players who had never played at our club before - they were suitably wowed by their first experience of our tables and their welcome and will certainly be back next year.
We started with the doubles and the games were well contested with many black ball games and many matches going to 3. Hibiscus had the upper hand after the doubles, winning 5 of them, but I was happy that it could so easily have been 4:4.
Heading into the singles, we got off to a great start, winning the first 3, but Hibiscus fought back and after the first 8 singles the scores were tied at 4:4 and we were still 2 behind overall and still in with a shout. Unfortunately Hibiscus started to turn the screw from that point forward and we suffered the pool equivalent of a batting collapse, winning only one more singles game of the back 8, so to speak.
The overall score was a hefty defeat at: Hibiscus Coast 16:8 Warkworth
It is a bitter pill to swallow, but on the positive side, it was still a great day of pool with some good people, both familiar faces and some new ones.
We thanked each other and Hibiscus's new captain, Dave Addy, made special mention of the food, which was as always absolutely fabulous - thanks to all who were involved with the food.
I'd like to make a special mention to both Trish and Gary for winning their singles games 2:0 against two of Hibiscus's best players, Jenny & Toby - Well Done!
It's Mothers Day next weekend and the week after we have Wellsford away. The Wellsford fixture is limited to 12 players and is currently full, but there is space to write your name as a reserve in case anyone pulls out.
Cheers
Dave
POOL REPORT - 29th April 2025
Hibiscus Coast playing us here on 4th May Sunday muster is 12noon.
BUSINESS HOUSE POOL
Please note that team Rangi have withdrawn from the Business House Pool B Division league. For the calendar any team scheduled to play against team Rangi should treat this match as a BYE.
Enquire NOW TO SEE IF THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A LAST MINUTE TEAM ENTRY
The business house pool draw has been finalised and can be viewed on our website or by clicking on the LINK ABOVE
SUMMER CURRY LEAGUE 2025
On Monday we had the last week of the Summer Curry League.
The Curry League is heaps of fun with just a sprinkling of competition and everyone had a great time this summer.
Going into last night's matches, there were two clear front runners and Butter Chicken were just a single point ahead of Bhuna - everything to play for.
It was a great match and I saw Trout get a fabulous black but wondered why Gary's head was in his hands as I hadn't seen the white go in. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune strike again.
Bhuna had a great night and ended up reversing the score deficit to become the winners.
We have prizes and will present them as part of the Business House Prize giving.
9 BALL OPEN - Sunday 13th April 2025
On Sunday we had a whopping 22 players for the 9 Ball Open tournament, 9 women and 13 men. This was our largest tournament turnout and testament to the growing popularity of the 9 Ball format which Tony started several years ago.
We decided to run two qualifying sections of 11 best of 1 frame. After a rules check we got going at 9am and the format proved to be a huge hit. We were flying through the games and players had very little wait time between matches, and it proved to be a winning formula with everyone engaged throughout.
After the first 5 rounds there were some clear patterns emerging. In section 1, Jo, Storm and Rachelle were leading the pack with 4 wins, but Tony & Thrax were not far behind on 3. Similarly in section 2, Marcia & Jimmy out in front with 5 wins and Jim and Jennie on 3.
Largely speaking, these leading players continued their winning ways but we also saw Bob & Dave H, come into contention and Tony cementing his position after a slower start.
We broke for afternoon tea at 1pm and, as is always the case but perhaps particularly so on Sunday, the food was absolutely fabulous! I'd like to thank JJ for doing the BBQ and to everyone who spent the time and effort bring food and helping to lay out and tidy up afterwards. It was next level and really helped to add to the day.
In the quarter finals were Jo/Jim, Marcia/Storm, Bob/Tony and Jimmy/Rachelle and it was great to see so many women qualifying. Both Jo and Marcia progressed to set up a semi-final clash and in the other half it was Tony vs Jimmy, thus guaranteeing a woman in the final!
That woman was Jo who prevailed over Marcia and she was up against Tony who had the better of Jimmy.
The final was best of 5 and Tony got the first but then Jo got the second with an excellent clearance of the last three balls. Tony then showed why his name is on the trophy multiple times with some great clearances to take the match 3:1.
Huge congratulations to Tony, but also very well done indeed to Jo.
Perhaps it was to do with the 9 Ball format, or the two sections of 11, or the amazing food and atmosphere, or perhaps a combination of them all, but Sunday's tournament really was fantastic!
Thanks to everyone.
Rodney Rams Home Sunday April 6th
This time a year ago, we played the Rams in their first ever foray into interclub. We had a fabulous day, but the Rams being a newly formed team, were understandably nervous and lacked confidence and the final score was 21:9 to us. However, as a direct result of that match, the Rams entered a team into the B Div of the Business House and they went on to win it!
On Sunday we hosted the Rams and I wondered to myself what difference a year will have made.
The answer, quite frankly, is it had made a HUGE difference, visible from the get go when 13 relaxed, confident and smiling players arrived.
No need to review the rules (Rams have adopted ours) and with 16 a side, we got stuck into it with the doubles. The first four were evenly shared and then we took an edge in the final four making it 5:3 to us at the end of the doubles.
But it was in the singles that the Rams really started to fire, winning 6 of the first 8 singles!
Afternoon tea was absolutely fabulous, as it always is, and huge thanks to all who were involved in the cooking, laying out and cleaning up - Jill, Rach, Marcia and Jennie, to name a few.
As we approached the pointy end and with the final 4 singles games on, we had caught up and the score was nicely poised at 10:10. There were nail-bitters, in-offs and near misses, but in the end we split these last 4 games evenly too and the final score was 12:12.
Quite honestly, the score was a great reflection of the pool on the day, and as the Rams' captain Geoff mentioned in closing, it's not about the score, it's about the vibe and having fun amongst great company.
From a Warkworth perspective, many congratulations to:
-
Myself, Gary and Ash for winning both singles and doubles
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And to Trish and JJ for also winning both, but as a partnership
Well done all!
Here's hoping that this fixture continues for many years to come.
Next Sunday is the 9 Ball Open.
Cheers
Dave
Birkenhead Away Sunday March 30th
On Sunday, after the AGM, 14 of us headed down to the Birkenhead RSA for our away game.
Birkenhead is a large club with a very strong and active pool and snooker section, and the coordinators, Paula & Tina, had amassed an impressive 23 players, meaning that many of our players and one of theirs played twice.
Given the size of the field and the slightly later than normal start, we decided that the doubles would be best of 3 and the singles sudden death.
Myself and Marcia were up against one of their top players, Maurice, partnered with Mitchell, a youngster (14) who is being coached into the team and was playing his first interclub match. It went to 3, but ultimately Maurice's experience won out. Unfortunately, this was repeated across all 4 of the first matches and we had to wait for Jim & Rach to restore some pride with our first win.
Although the matches were close, with many going to 3, we only had another two wins in the doubles and were left staring at an unflattering 3:9 score line as we moved into the singles.
Our woes continued in the singles, where we took only 3 of the first 12 singles before heading to afternoon tea. But we were treated to some lovely Chinese food, which certainly brought smiles back to our faces and set us up for the second half of the singles.
Perhaps knowing that the match was lost put the team in a more relaxed frame of mind, because we came back swinging and won 7 of the final 12 singles matches . It was still a hefty defeat:
Birkenhead 23:13 Warkworth
But a modicum of pride was restored and we had all had a great day, as you can see below.
I'd like to make a few special mentions:
Gary for his excellent win in singles against Moloi (Their top player)
Rach for winning the last match of the day, under intense pressure with everyone watching.
Shirley for winning her singles and to Trish and myself for being the only partnership to win both singles an doubles.
Well Done All!
As we wrapped up and were thanking the teams, Tina made special mention of the fact that it was great to see so many ladies playing for Warkworth.
This is a sentiment that I share and have expressed in these reports before - Go Warkworth Ladies!!
Cheers
Dave
Onehunga Away Sunday March 23rd
On Sunday, 15 intrepid potters made their way to Onehunga RSA for our first interclub of the 2025 season.
Onehunga also had 15 players so one player on each team (myself and Wazza) played twice making a round 16 a side.
After a very warm welcome and a run-through of the rules - Onehunga, like Papatoetoe, play the Northern area or National rules, which are quite different - we started with the doubles.
After the first 4 matches, Warkworth had only one win - Well done Marcia & Gary - against three losses. A pattern was emerging and one that would continue into the next four matches where, again, we had only one win - The two Daves. It wasn't that we were playing badly - most games were going the distance to three frames - but we were struggling with the rules a little and needed to settle into it. The score at the end of the doubles was Onehunga 6:2 Warkworth.
Perhaps our fortunes would change in the singles round? And indeed, things were looking a little better with the singles tied at 4:4 after the first half of the matches.
We broke for afternoon tea at 3pm, which was a lovely chicken burger and chips and looked to capitalise with renewed energy. Sadly, however, the last half of the singles was a 2:6 loss making the final score Onehunga 16:8 Warkworth.
It was disappointing, but I was reminded of the fact that the exact same thing happened last year where we got thumped Away but then thumped even harder on the Home game and came away with the trophy. Here's hoping we do the same again this year!
I do want to thank both Keanau and JJ for playing this event for the first time, and also to call out Gary, Marcia and Dave Harvey for having won both their singles and their doubles - well done!
We handed the trophy over for safe keeping until the return match, when we very much hope to return it to its rightful place on our shelf.
A reminder that this coming Sunday is Birkenhead Away and we will leave as soon as the AGM is over.
Cheers,
David
Scotch Pairs Sunday March 9th
The RSA 2025 pool tournament season kicked off on Sunday with the Scotch Pairs, and what a fantastic opening to the season it was!
We divided the 12 teams into two pools of 6 and kicked off the round-robin at 9am. A huge welcome to Storm's son Marshall (12) who was playing with Dad in his first tournament - we were all keen to see how he would go. Like a duck to water, was the answer, taking out their first two matches in style!
As the round-robin phase was drawing to a close, we broke for lunch. This year we have decided to make the tournaments $5 entry plus $10 or a plate for food, and we had a great mix of lovely plates plus some BBQ sausages and steak cooked by Dave Harvey - thank you Dave and everyone for the food.
It was Malcolm Kidd's (Trout) birthday, and we wished him all the best in the traditional manner, and here he is enjoying his cake with chocolate fish - Happy Birthday Trout!
At the end of the round-robin, it was clear that in both sections there was a natural break between the top 4 and the bottom 2 teams, so we decided to start the knockout stage with a quarter final.
Tony & I were lucky to squeeze past Storm & Marshall in the quarters and even luckier to make it past a very in-form Trout & Jennie in the semis. Both matches we 2:1 nailbiters.
And Kev & Noelene had a similarly tough journey to final via Thrax & Milly and Jo & Murray. Again, both tight matches.
We had lost in the round-robin 1:2 and were out for revenge in the final. And it was looking very good for us with an initial 2:0 lead in the best of 5, needing only one frame from 3. But Noelene & Kev had other plans and played really well to bring the score level at 2:2 and set us up for a decider. Not only a decider, but one that went to the black which took a few attempts both sides, before falling to Kev for the decisive pot.
Well done to Kev & Noelene as the 2025 Scotch Pairs winners, thoroughly deserved!
Dick Pye Open Singles 2025
On Sunday we had a very healthy turnout of 19 players for the Dick Pye Open singles, 7 of whom were women, which was great to see. We split the squad into two sections for qualifying best of 1.
Single frame matches are a bit like playing in business house and they can produce some of the best drama. There was a lot of skill on display alongside a smidgen of misfortune. A few in-offs and a few stumbles at the final hurdle. It was a great qualifying session all round with many examples of tightly contested games that went down to the wire.
Lunch was a lovely range of food brought by the players plus pizza and chicken bought on the day. As ever it was wonderful and huge thanks to everyone involved in the setup and the cleaning up. You know who you are and it is much appreciated by everyone!
We were doing well for time and decided to take the top 4 from each section through to the quarter final stage.
For section 1 that was Bobby, Rachelle, Marcia & Ben, and for section 2 it was Tony, Storm, Murray & Thrax.
Rachelle kept the flag flying with a great win over Murray to reach the semis, where she was joined by Tony, Bobby and Storm. An elite group to be part of, well done Rachelle!
Bobby vs Storm was a titanic clash that went to 3 with Bobby prevailing in the end. And although Rachelle worried Tony in the first, it was not quite enough and so the final was set.
Bobby vs Tony
They had been in different qualifying sections and both had done very well Bobby on 7/8 and Tony on 8/9 wins.
Tony was on a roll in the first, until he went in-off the black, gifting the frame to Bobby. The second also went to Bobby, but with no luck this time, just great pool. In the third both players were playing well with Bobby reaching the black first with Tony still having two left. Tony laid a brilliant snooker, covering the obvious escape. But the last shot of the final was the best shot of the day - off two cushions to hit and pot the black to win! Well done Bobby!
Finally, I'd like to call out the only person to beat Bobby throughout the whole day - kudos to Mike J well done!
It was a fabulous day and we finished in good time at 5pm.
We are still looking for players for the home match against Papatoetoe on Saturday Oct 4th. Please put your name on the sheet if you can play.
Cheers
Drawn Pairs 2025
On Sunday 31st, we had 22 players for the 2025 Drawn Pairs. Phew! - it's always nice to have an even number for this tournament, and we drew the 11 pairs and decided to have a single section best of 1 frame. After the first five rounds four pairs were looking good on 3 wins, and one team on 4 (Trish & Bobby) and another on 5 wins (DaveO & Tony) - very much anybody's game at the halfway stage.
As always, lunch was fabulous and many thanks to all who brought food and to those who contributed their $10 towards additional pizza. And thanks as ever to the team of players who did all the cleaning up, and a shout out to Trout who I saw with his sleeves rolled up. Well done all!
After lunch we moved into the second half of qualifying and Tony & I got a wake up call as we were soundly beaten in our next three games. Other teams, however, were a bit more consistent and we had three teams finishing on 6 - Bobby/Trish, Jo/Marcia and Jill/Murray, plus two teams on 7 - DaveO/Tony and the top qualifier Gary/Trout. Unfortunately as we compared the three on 6, Jill/Murray just missed out on the semi finals - bad luck and Net Time!
Semi 1: DaveO & Tony vs Jo & Marcia
We had lost our qualifying match, or should I say, Jo & Marcia won it in style, coming from behind with a 5 ball clearance. Fortunately for us, there was no repeat in the semi and we ran out winners.
Semi 2: Bobby & Trish vs Gary & Trout
I'm not sure who won in qualifying but I'm guessing it was close because the semi certainly was. G&T got the first, then Bobby pulled out a clearance to take the second and the third was close and ultimately went in favour of Gary & Trout.
Final: DaveO & Tony vs Gary & Trout
G&T had won, convincingly as I recall, in the qualifying, so we were all set for a good one, and that's what we got. The first two frames were shared and D&T got the third to lead 2:1. All the games were high quality and the 4th came down to the black, where Gary had an agonisingly close miss in the middle and ultimately DaveO & Tony took the match.
Commiserations to Gary & Trout and congratulations to myself and Tony for the win.
We finished just before 5pm and all agreed It was another great tournament and everyone had a lot of fun, as you can see in the photo below.
Next Sunday is the Dick Pye Open Singles, which is open to both men and women.
Cheers
Dave
INTERCLUB - ONEHUNGA @ WARKWORTH - Sunday 24th August
On Sunday we hosted Onehunga for the second leg of our 2025 interclub, and similarly to Birkenhead, with an 8 point deficit to make up following the Away game.
We had 22, our largest turnout this year, to their 23, so we played 24 a side with some double ups. We had a number of newbies to the Interclub matches, Welcome: Murray, Jo, Bros, Jammin, and Eddie W and also Welcome back Jodene. With such large numbers it's becoming the norm to start with doubles, best of 3, followed by the singles best of 1.
Warkworth got off to a flying start, winning 4 of the first 6 matches and, unlike Birkenhead, hopes were rising again of a possible turnaround. The second half of the doubles was split 3 apiece so we still had a 2 match cushion going into the doubles. The game was still very much alive going into the singles.
We broke for afternoon tea before the singles and it was, as ever, absolutely fantastic with a great mix of hot and cold food and a sweet table that would make any bakery proud! Well done and a huge thank you to everyone involved - you know who you are.
With two such well-matched teams it was no surprise that the first 12 singles were split evenly at 6:6 and with a slim cushion of 2 the hope for a turnaround was looking shakier. But in the second half of the singles, we started incredibly strongly winning 5 of the first six - Game ON!
The final six singles games were all amazing and very tight, and the teams showed just how close we are by splitting them 3:3! For those keeping up with the maths, that means we won the day Warkworth 21:15 Birkenhead, which was fabululous! But, literally by the slimmest of margins, we fell short and ended up losing the year 29:31.
Well done to Birkenhead but equally well done to Warkworth - we played really, really well and won the day handsomely and came agonisingly close to winning the year.
Congratulations to everyone, and special mention to Jodene & Eddie for being the only pair to win both singles and doubles.
We all had a fantastic day!
Next Sunday is the Drawn Pairs.
Cheers
Ladies Singles 2025
On Sunday, our ladies turned out in record numbers (18!) for the Ladies Singles 2025. With two sections of 9, qualifying was best of 1 and we kicked off just after 9am.
After the first 5 rounds in Section 1 there were two clear frontrunners - Tammy & Jo - but nipping at their heels were strong showings from Kim, Jill and Tracey J, all on 3.
And in Section 2 we had a very similar story with Cheryl and Marcia out in front on 4 wins, closely followed by Milly, Nadine and Rachelle all on 3. Everything to play for and it was great to see that the draw had produced two evenly matched sections.
To save time, and just because it's a nice, relaxed thing to do, we didn't formally break for lunch, but rather people grazed throughout the day on a feast fit for Queens!
As the qualifying drew to a close, the same two players from each section cemented their places in the semi-final - Tammy, Jo, Marcia and Cheral. Other players played really well, and special mention to Nadine and Tracey J who, despite commendable scores of 5 from 8, just missed out. Next time.
The two semi-finals were Tammy vs Marcia and Jo vs Cheral, and both were very tight with some great pool on display. Marcia prevailed in the first and Cheral in the second to set up the final, best of 5.
It was truly a fabulous final with frames going to each player in turn before we reached 2:2 and the final frame. Even in the final frame, the game swung both ways and it came down, inevitably, to the black where both players had their chances before Cheral sunk it for the win!
Well done Cheral and commiserations to Marcia.
Another great pool tournament and everyone had a blast and we finished at 5:30pm
Next Sunday is Onehunga at Home, muster at 12pm, and there are still spots available.
John Stephen Memorial Pairs 2025
On Saturday we had 26 pairs for the John Stephen memorial pairs 2025. We were a few short for a variety of reasons including sickness, unscheduled whanau meetings and, thankfully for the first and hopefully last time, one of our teams were involved in a serious car accident of no fault of their own. Happy to say that they are OK.
Muster was at 8 am and everyone turned up on time and we were going by 8:30 am.
As seems to be frequently the case, we were joined by a number of first-timers to the club as well as one or two we haven't seen in a while - Welcome to Sue, Wally, DaveO & son James and Sam, and welcome back to Mark Dellow and Tony VW.
I'm going to mix up the report a little this time and talk about notable events in the day. The first being that Jennie & Jill took part for the first time - great to see - and beat Simon & Young from Birkenhead in the first round - well done J&J! Unfortunately, Simon & Young took revenge on WW in the plate by knocking out Storm & Thrax.
Peter & Toby knocked Gary & Scotty into the plate, from which they beat two teams to land in the semis, before falling to Brett & Gordy. And similarly, Ben & Mark also got to the other semi in the Plate, before falling to Dennis and Carl. And finally, myself & Tony played some great stuff to reach the semi of the main, before unravelling at Glen and Richie.
So, we had two WW teams in te semis of the plate and one in the semis of the main - not too bad.
Then we saw DaveO and James (14) show true class in their first tournament here by beating three stiff teams to reach the semi-final in their first attempt - well done indeed!
The final of the Plate was Dennis & Carl vs Brett & Gordy and it turned out to be a bit one-sided at 3:0 in favour of Dennis & Carl - well done!
But nothing could have been more different with the Main final, which was between Glen & Dennis vs Peter & Toby. 1:0, to 1:1, to 1:2 and at this point Peter played a marvelous clearance of 4 balls to leave a cut into the middle…..which he narrowly missed. G&R cleared up to leave a final frame, which G&R ultimately won for the title, but oh so close.
Well done to Glen & Richie and huge commiserations to Peter & Toby who really drove to the last.
Lunch, of course, was amazing. This time we had beef cheeks, mash, veggies and gravy and it was absolutely beautiful. Thank you Raina and Shirley.
We finished at 4:30pm and many were still around for a group photo at the end.
A fantastic day had by all and a fitting end to the invitational tournaments for the 2025 season.
Cheers
Dave
An apology
Let me start with an apology and a correction from last week's report.
The second Business House team going up to Division A next year, is the Cranes and no 2 Shots. My mistake and congratulations to the Cranes!
Men's Pairs 2025
On Sunday we had 12 teams for the Men's Pairs 2025, which is a very healthy turnout. Two of the players had recently joined the RSA to be able to play our tournaments - Welcome Neil from Kerikeri and also welcome Jammin (Bros' son).
We split the teams into two sections of 6 and played the qualifying best of 3 and got cracking at 9 on the dot. The first round of qualifying often sees a lot of nervy, tentative play, as players are settling down. But this year, and by popular demand, I am required to say that round one shall be remembered for time immemorial as Dave O's fluke of the century! It's difficult to describe but suffice it to say it was a fluked black in the final frame of the match against Muzz and John B, and it won us the game. Storm later offered me a place on his BHP team, Flukers.
Moving right along…
At the round 3 stage, there were two clear leaders in section 1 - Storm & Thrax and Bobby & Brian, both with clean sheets and in section 2 Bob & Chris were also clean but the second place team was less clear.
Two more rounds and a great BBQ lunch later, positions were clarified.
In section 1, the same two teams B&B and S&T progressed to the semis and in section B Dad'n'Son combo Bros & Jammin, cleared up any confusion there may have been by winning their last two emphatically to qualify with 4 wins.
In the first semi S&T had a great tussle with B&J which eventually saw S&T triumph. This is a good point at which to congratulate 15 year old Jammin, who is a very good potter with a cool head on his shoulders - Well Done.
And in the other semi B&C managed to edge past B&B to set up a final between the current champions, Storm & Thrax and Bob & Chris. I should point out that both teams had won all their qualifying matches and their semi, obviously, so both teams had won 6 straight matches to reach the final.
The final was best of 5 and the first frame was fairly even and went to B&C. In the second, S&T played some amazing pool at were looking to be in Tin Hat territory. With only the black left, S&T had to escape snookers, which they did, before a slim chance fell to T who left the black right over the corner pocket. Storm's escape from the snooker unfortunately fouled and potted the black. This was demoralising and Bob & Chris won the next to take the title.
Congratulations to Bob & Chris and commiserations to Storm & Thrax.
Everyone had a good time and the final finished in good time at 4:30pm
I'd like to finish with huge thanks to Tony for doing the BBQ, helping with the board and prepping the table for the final - Thanks mate, much appreciated.
We have the John Stephen pairs next Sat, 9th August and then the Sun afterwards is Onehunga at home, if you'd like to sign up and play.
Cheers
Dave
2025 Business House Prizegiving
I was told recently that the 2025 season was the 45th year of the Business House pool league! And we had a great turnout last Wed for prizegiving with players representing each and every one of the 22 teams across the A & B divisions.
This year we welcomed one new team - The Tahi Bar - to the league and they thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the Rams and Cue Crew the year before, and will be back for more next year, where we hope to fill the league completely with 24 teams.
We had various individual prizes this year, including two tin hats in the one match, one from each team!
Congratulations to the top two teams in the B division - 2 Shots and the winners Contractors - who will be progressing to the A division next year.
And congratulations to Mill Lane for winning the A division and huge respect and congratulations to Rams, who pushed us all the way and it came down to a single point in the end!
The Curry league sheet went up at the end of prizegiving and was filled up in less than 30 mins. Feel free to add your name as a reserve, as we often need reserves.
SUNDAY 27th July - Away v HIBISCUS COAST
On Sunday we had 9 players make the trip to Hibiscus Coast for the second leg. It was disappointing that we had only 9 players - several of our players had to pull out for various reasons - but in the end that did not matter and we had a fabulous time.
The hospitality was fantastic and we were welcomed with a drink voucher and a lovely lunch, brought by the players, an idea borrowed from us.
They even lent us a player, Toby, to make 10 and two of our players played twice to match their team of 12.
We started with the six doubles matches, and we split the score 3:3. It was clear the two teams were evenly matched and we were in for a nailbiter.
Moving into the singles, I got us off to a W, but that was followed by L, W, L….Looking like a nailbiter indeed.
Warkworth won the singles by the smallest margin 7:5
We had time and everyone was having so much fun that we decided to finish off with a last round of reverse doubles with the scores at Warkworth 10:8 HBSC with 6 more matches to play.
Once again, the matches were going each way and as we got to the last match the scores were WW 12:11 HBSC, with our Bob & Jill battling against Mike & Michael (who Tony & I only narrowly beat in the Colin Whalen).
The match went to 3, of course, and Bob managed to rifle in the final black for the win!
Well done Warkworth, it was a great win, and a fabulous day. The trophy will stay with HBSC, but we will be back for it next year!
Cheers
Dave
SUNDAY 20th JULY 2025
Sunday saw us hosting the Ladies pairs competition in a different format, Ladies drawn pairs, with our pairs Champs Tammy and Tracey defending their title. With a last minute ring around on Saturday night to find a replacement player, we had a full complement of 24 players/12 teams. What a turn out!
The biggest attended ladies competition to be had at the club ever and all attended wearing Pajamas! We had a lot of new players and also a group of out of town players with supporting partners all the way from Kerikeri. This turned out to be a fun day filled with many
laughs, loads of prizes, a birthday cake and a lot of pool playing.
The draw produced some very unlikely pairings and gave for some interesting team tactics. Our first round started off to a slow start with the format having to be changed to accommodate our ladies careful playing. We saw our shot of the day by birthday girl Anjali, a newcomer to pool and our chocolate fish prize (fluff of the day) to Erana.
The quarter finals saw 8 teams in a knock out round with some very close games, a lot of which went down to 3 games. This round saw Millie and Ange knockout our defending champs.
The semi finals produced 4 steady teams with tough competition for the final spots, Jo and Karen faced Jan and Leigh, Milly and Ange faced Rachelle and Cheral. Jo and Karen secured their spot, to compete against Rachelle and Cheral who won their match up.
The final was a nail biter with the teams playing best out of 5 games. Each team won two games meaning we saw a tie breaker on the fifth game. This game saw Jo and Karen reach the eight ball first to have a couple of tries at it before succeeding in winning the game. Congratulations Jo and Karen for the win, also to our runners up Rachelle and Cheral.
To wrap it up I would like to thank Jill, Kim and Tracey Ollason for helping with
decorations and prizes. Also hats off to all our ladies for the terrific food and that they all stayed through the whole day to the very end to support their other team mates through the competition.
INTERCLUB v BIRKENHEAD - Sunday 13th July
On Sunday we hosted Birkenhead for the second leg of our 2025 interclub, with an 8 point deficit to make up following the Away game.
We had 18 to their 21, so we played 22 a side with some double ups. With such large numbers it's becoming the norm to start with doubles, best of 3, followed by the singles best of 1.
Warkworth got off to a flying start, winning 5 of the first 6 matches and we were certainly daring to dream of a brilliant turnaround. But as is so often the case, the match appears to be a game of two halves, and Birkenhead clawed back winning 4 of the last 5 doubles and leaving us with a score of 6:5 in our favour going into the singles. Ahh well, but at least the current match was very much alive.
We broke for afternoon tea before the singles and it was, as ever, absolutely fantastic with a great mix of hot and cold food and a sweet table that would make any bakery proud! Well done and a huge thank you to everyone involved - our food is really second-to-none!
With two such well-matched teams it was no surprise that the first 11 singles resulted in 6:5 to Birkenhead, bringing the overall score level at 11 apiece as we headed into the home stretch.
As the final 4 singles matches were underway, the score was 15:14 to Birkenhead with everything still to play for. Alas, the last 4 singles were split between the teams and the final score was
Birkenhead 17:16 Warkworth
Well done to the Warkworth team. With the exception of your captain, you all played very well indeed. Sssooo close.
Despite the narrowest of losses, pride was restored and we all had a fantastic day!
Next Sunday, 20th July is the much anticipated Ladies Drawn Pairs pyjama party, which promises to be heaps of fun.
Cheers
Dave
Colin Whalen Invitational Pairs 2025
The real test of the move to Saturdays for the invitational tournaments was on Saturday for the 2025 Colin Whalen Invitational pairs, and we had a full field of 32 pairs, plus a few spectators, mustering at 8am. It's the first time we've had a full tournament in the past few years, and it was great to see.
As is becoming the norm, there was a healthy mix of frequent flyers plus some familiar faces, but who have never played the tournaments before and finally we had around 5 newcomers, some of whom proved to be dark horses! (More later).
After a welcome and a run through of the rules, we got underway at 8:30am sharp. We had a great turnout of 10 pairs from Warkworth and thankfully, the draw was such that no 1st round matches were between Warkworth teams. And 6 of our teams made it through with the other 4 moving on to the Plate.
Newcomers, Josh & Bryce (Kerikeri) produced the first apparent upset of the day by beating Glen & Richie in round 1. Upsets turned out to be a theme for the day with Jared & Moloi going out in round 2 and Deon & Eli exiting stage left in round 3.
The only Warkworth derby came in round 2 where Bobby & Merle (Tahi bar) faced off against Storm & Thrax (Flukers). It wasn't really a derby in that they'd never played before, and it was a fabulous match that went down to the wire with some cerebral safety play plus some outstanding clearances. Ultimately Storm & Thrax won out - well done!
After the 2nd round, only 2 of our 6 Warkworth teams remained in the Main - Tony & I and Storm & Thrax. And in the Plate Bob & Chris and Ash & Kev were still going strong. It was proving to be a good day for Warkworth.
This good fortune continued and Tony & I made the semis after a brilliant match against Peter & Charlie (HSBC) as did Storm & Thrax after dispatching Dennis & Carl (Swanson).
And in the Plate semi we had both Bob & Chris and Ash & Kev flying the flag.
In the Plate semi Bob & Chris came off 2nd to brothers combo Simon & Chris (BKHD), but Ash & Kev beat Brett & Gordy to reach the final - well done!
All the matches by this stage are tight, and the final was no exception with Simon & Chris running out winners 2:1.
Tony & I faced Simon & Sion whereas Storm & Thrax had the dark horse newcomers, Josh & Bryce. Both semis were tight affairs with great pool on display, but sadly for Warkworth, both ties went the other way, setting up the Main best-of-5 final of
Josh & Bryce vs Simon & Sion
S&S stormed into a 2:0 lead, before J&B pegged it back to 2:2 all to set up a final frame, which after much toing and froing ultimately was won by Simon & Sion. Well done!
And very well done to Josh & Bryce - first time on our tables, first tournament and into the final!
Lunch was lamb shanks with all the trimmings and was absolutely fabulous - thank you Raina & Eddie.
I'm happy to say that each and every one of the newcomers said they were keen to come back in the future.
It was a late finish, but everyone had a wonderful time and we got heaps of compliments for our tables, the food, the atmosphere and the running of the tournament - many thanks to Tony, Storm, Bob and Michael for your help here.
The next, and last, invitational for 2025 is the John Stephen memorial pairs on Sat Aug 9th. The sign-up sheet will be up soon.
Cheers
Dave
SNOOKER OPEN 2025 - Sunday 29th June
On Sunday we had 7 players for the 2025 Snooker Open.
The 80s with players such as Higgins, White, Davis and the dulcet tones of whispering Ted Lowe - "For those watching in black and white, the pink is behind the blue".
This was when I started watching snooker avidly on the telly and rooting for my favourites (White, Higgins) and generally marveling at the sheer skill on display.
Ahh, nostalgia is not what it used to be….but I digress.
With a single section of 7 we kicked off with the 6 qualifying rounds, best of 1 frame. After the first 3 rounds, Tony was out in front with a clean sheet, but both Ash and Brian were not far behind on 2.
We had taken the decision to not have any formal food and rather have the players get their own food after qualifying - this seemed to work pretty well for a small group event.
After the end of qualifying, Tony had been playing extremely well and won all 6 of his games! Our rules for running events state that if a player wins all games in a single-section event, then we progress to the final and find the 2nd placed player as the opponent.
That was a decision between Ash and Brian, both of whom had 4 wins, and the decision is based on the match between the two during qualifying, which was won by Ash and so we had the final set - Tony vs Ash.
The final was best of 3 and both players were quite even in the first frame, each scoring a few points before having to play safety, hoping that the other would make a mistake. I can remember that the scores were even at 43:43 at one point as we approached "the colours" which is the final 27 points available. This is where the utter cruelty of the game of snooker really comes to the fore. Every ball you pot denies your opponent that ball, so it's almost like you are scoring and thieving at the same time. Tony's form in the final, particularly in the latter stages of the frame, was just too strong for Ash and Tony claimed victory 2:0. Well done Tony, and Ash - next time.
To give you an idea of how well he was playing, it's not uncommon to see breaks of 18-24, but in his last qualifying round, Tony knocked in a 52, which is very rare indeed. Masterclass.
We were finished by 2:30pm and everyone had a great time.
LADIES 9 BALL - SUNDAY 15th June
On Sunday we had 11 ladies for the Ladies 9 Ball tournament, which was started last year in response to the huge popularity of the format. We had a few new faces with Dawn & Cheral from Kerikeri, who joined our RSA to play these tournaments, and also Tracey O & Christine, playing in their first tournament.
We decided to repeat the winning formula from the 9 Ball Open and have a large section with everyone in it and play the qualifying as best of one.
Once again, this was a huge success and the games were flowing nicely and the results coming in so fast it was hard to keep up. There were ooohs and ahhhs as the 9 ball was planted or cannoned in early and many frames that went down to the 9 ball, where, especially in sudden-death, a nice leave is worth its weight in gold.
After the first 5 rounds some frontrunners were emerging, with Nadine, Marcia and Tracey O all on 4 wins. But hard on their heels was Rachelle & Wendy on 3 and the majority on 2.
The second half saw two of the frontrunners, Marcia & Tracey O, continue in their winning ways and finish on 7, where they were joined by Jennie who had saved the best till last winning all 5 of her final matches!
We then had 6 players all on 5 wins each and we were looking to take a total of 8 players forward to the knockout. We compared the matches between these players and, unfortunately Rachelle missed out in the end.
We took a break for lunch, which was absolutely fabulous, as it always is - many thanks to all for the lovely food!
The quarter finals were best of 3 and there were some great matches that ultimately saw our four semi-finalists be: Marcia vs Tracey O and Dawn vs Jennie.
Again, some great 9 Ball in the semis from all the players which served us up a best of 5 final between Marcia and Dawn.
The final started off with a tit-for-tat at 1:1 after the first two frames, then Dawn took a 2:1 lead, putting the pressure squarely on Marcia in the 4th frame. That pressure proved too much and Dawn finished with a fine clearance to take the title.
Well done Dawn! Particularly as this was not only her first RSA tournament win, but also because it was her first time with 9 Ball.
Commiserations to Marcia, next time.
But let's finish with congratulations to everyone for turning out, playing great pool, cheering on and generally making for a fantastic day of pool!
INTERCLUB - SATURDAY 7th JUNE @ Papatoetoe
On Saturday 14 intrepid potters made the trip down for the first 2025 match against Papatoetoe RSA. This is only the 3rd year that we have been playing together, and yet the fixture is one of the ones we look forward to the most.
We were warmly greeted in the carpark by Robert, and then moved through to meet up with Di, Lou and the gang of 26 players!
Papatoetoe love their pool and always have a great turnout and Saturday was no exception, and almost all of our team had to play twice.
With that number of players, the doubles was best of 3 and the singles was sudden death and we kicked off with the doubles.
Jill and I (mainly Jill) led us off to a winning start and after the first 6 doubles games we were at 3 apiece and looked to be settling in for a tight affair. However, we suffered a collapse in the remaining 7 doubles, with myself and Marcia being the only win and the doubles end up being 4:9 to Papatoetoe.
Lunch was from a local Chinese and was absolutely fabulous, and we hoped it would give us the strength needed for a comeback in the singles. I led us off to a shocking start, but the team were holding our own in the first half at 7:7 after the first 14 games. All we needed was for our captain to show us the way for the final 12 games, however, instead, I showed the team the fine art of snookering oneself on one's own black and losing…mea culpa!
There wasn't much joy in the final 12 games, save for Gary, Tony and Tracey all winning.
The final score was a resounding thrashing of Papatoetoe 25:14 Warkworth. Cheekily, Di offered me a pack of tissues at the end
Having said that, the only thing better than the Papatoetoe welcome and the camaraderie during the match, is their haka-style farewell and all the congrats and looking forward to the return. Tony actually commented that he'd never hugged so many people in one day before.
Despite the defeat, we all thoroughly enjoyed the day and are looking forward to the return match in Oct, where we will be hoping for a repeat of last year when we reversed the scores for an overall draw.
We have the ladies 9 Ball singles next Sunday, which should be a great event.
Cheers
Dave
INTERCLUB - SUNDAY 25th May @ Wellsford RSA
On Sunday an evenly balanced team of 6 men, 6 women and a mascot (Dave H :-) ) set off to play Wellsford, which is the longest running fixture of them all, and is limited to 12 players a side.
Wellsford have two 8 foot pool tables plus one 12 foot full size snooker table. In order to ensure we made best use of the time, it was decided to play the doubles on the snooker table and the singles on the pool tables, with the remaining doubles played on the pool tables once the singles ended.
Therefore, two sets of results started rolling in simultaneously, and we were having dramatically different results in each. We won 5 of the first 6 singles but lost all of the first 3 doubles. I blame the snooker table myself - most of our players will have rarely, if ever, played on one.
We had a lovely afternoon tea with a mix of hot and cold food plus some oysters for good measure! Very nice.
The matches were all best of three and very tight with many were going the distance. I do have to call one that didn't go the distance, which was Trish's superb win over the Wellsford captain, Bryce. Well done Trish!.
As we got the final two doubles games on (Me & Rach and Kev & Jim) the score was set 9:7 to Warkworth, meaning that we had secured a minimum of a draw and just needed one of these two for the win. That winning point came from Kev & Jim as they overcame Mark & Bob, and it certainly took a little pressure off our match, where we were one down and in the second frame. Rach finished that frame off in style, potting a very difficult black down the cush into the corner pocket.
The final frame was a very nervy affair, but again Rach rose to the occasion and controlled the pressure of a black ball pot for the win.
Well done to the entire team! The final score was Warkworth 11:7 Wellsford.
The team played really well and thoroughly deserved the win. It was our first win of the season, coming off the back of two hefty losses and a draw, and despite the rain, we headed home happy....and a little relieved.
It's the King's birthday next week and the Saturday after is Papatoetoe Away.
Cheers
Dave
RSA Invitational Singles 2025 - Saturday 17th May
The move to Saturdays for the invitational tournaments continues to prove itself and we had a full field of 32 players arrive at 8:30am for the 2025 Invitational Singles. Players came from far and wide - Warkworth, Northland, Swanson, Glen Eden, Birkenhead and Hibiscus Coast - and whilst the majority were familiar faces, we had one newcomer, Ange, who was part of the Northland crew.
After a welcome and a run through of the rules, we got underway at 9am sharp. After the first round, three Warkworth players remained in the Main – Storm, Tony & Thrax – with the remainder of myself, Michael, and JJ making our way into the Plate.
In the second round all three of our players in the Main played some great pool but unfortunately couldn't quite get over the line and went out. One 2nd round match was the talk of the day - Ange vs Moloi. Ange had summarily dismissed me in the first round and now faced Moloi in the second, where she produced some amazing play to take the match 2:1 with a stunning final (difficult) black, taken with confidence and ease. And in the following round, Ange met Glen, and she nearly had him too, taking him close to the wire in each frame - Glen's comment "What a Player!".
Warkworth had to look to the Plate for further success in the tournament, and we certainly found it. But not from me as JJ, who obviously hadn't got the memo, blew past me 2:0 and the next round to land in the semis. And in the other half Michael was seemingly unstoppable and also booked a semi spot against Rob. The game was a very tactical safety battle, but Michael was motoring now and took the match to progress to the final, where he met Bill, who had beaten JJ.
In the final, Michael played fabulous, open potting pool and sealed the deal 2:0 to take it! Well Done Michael.
The final of the Main was best of 5 and between two players who had been partners in our tournaments for decades - The Westies, Glen & Dennis. Although Dennis did play some great pool and took a good frame, Glen was ultimately too strong and he won his second event of 2025, having also won the Clive Hulme in March!
I'd like to finish by talking about some of the feedback received from several of the players throughout the course of the day. The first is now typical and is around Raina's lunch which is fabulous and everyone really looks forward to it. Dennis thinks he would come just for that alone - Thank you Raina & Eddy!
The second piece of complimentary feedback was around how the tournament is run, how welcoming it is and what a good time the players have.
This sentiment, together with the FOMO (Fear of missing out) generated by the increased popularity, has meant that I have received no fewer than 10 requests to be included in the Colin Whalen pairs on July 5th, including from a pair that I don't know and have never been here!
The sign up sheet for the Colin Whalen has gone up today and hopefully we'll manage to fill this pairs tournament this year.
Another fabulous day of pool - check out the smiles below.
POOL REPORT - INTERCLUB - HIBISCUS COAST @ WARKWORTH - SUNDAY 4th May
On Sunday we hosted 15 players from the Hibiscus Coast team at Warkworth. We had 14 (5 men and 9 women) so we made it 16 a side.
Although we have been playing this team for many, many years, on Sunday there were at least three players who had never played at our club before - they were suitably wowed by their first experience of our tables and their welcome and will certainly be back next year.
We started with the doubles and the games were well contested with many black ball games and many matches going to 3. Hibiscus had the upper hand after the doubles, winning 5 of them, but I was happy that it could so easily have been 4:4.
Heading into the singles, we got off to a great start, winning the first 3, but Hibiscus fought back and after the first 8 singles the scores were tied at 4:4 and we were still 2 behind overall and still in with a shout. Unfortunately Hibiscus started to turn the screw from that point forward and we suffered the pool equivalent of a batting collapse, winning only one more singles game of the back 8, so to speak.
The overall score was a hefty defeat at: Hibiscus Coast 16:8 Warkworth
It is a bitter pill to swallow, but on the positive side, it was still a great day of pool with some good people, both familiar faces and some new ones.
We thanked each other and Hibiscus's new captain, Dave Addy, made special mention of the food, which was as always absolutely fabulous - thanks to all who were involved with the food.
I'd like to make a special mention to both Trish and Gary for winning their singles games 2:0 against two of Hibiscus's best players, Jenny & Toby - Well Done!
It's Mothers Day next weekend and the week after we have Wellsford away. The Wellsford fixture is limited to 12 players and is currently full, but there is space to write your name as a reserve in case anyone pulls out.
Cheers
Dave
POOL REPORT - 29th April 2025
Hibiscus Coast playing us here on 4th May Sunday muster is 12noon.
BUSINESS HOUSE POOL
Please note that team Rangi have withdrawn from the Business House Pool B Division league. For the calendar any team scheduled to play against team Rangi should treat this match as a BYE.
Enquire NOW TO SEE IF THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A LAST MINUTE TEAM ENTRY
The business house pool draw has been finalised and can be viewed on our website or by clicking on the LINK ABOVE
SUMMER CURRY LEAGUE 2025
On Monday we had the last week of the Summer Curry League.
The Curry League is heaps of fun with just a sprinkling of competition and everyone had a great time this summer.
Going into last night's matches, there were two clear front runners and Butter Chicken were just a single point ahead of Bhuna - everything to play for.
It was a great match and I saw Trout get a fabulous black but wondered why Gary's head was in his hands as I hadn't seen the white go in. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune strike again.
Bhuna had a great night and ended up reversing the score deficit to become the winners.
We have prizes and will present them as part of the Business House Prize giving.
9 BALL OPEN - Sunday 13th April 2025
On Sunday we had a whopping 22 players for the 9 Ball Open tournament, 9 women and 13 men. This was our largest tournament turnout and testament to the growing popularity of the 9 Ball format which Tony started several years ago.
We decided to run two qualifying sections of 11 best of 1 frame. After a rules check we got going at 9am and the format proved to be a huge hit. We were flying through the games and players had very little wait time between matches, and it proved to be a winning formula with everyone engaged throughout.
After the first 5 rounds there were some clear patterns emerging. In section 1, Jo, Storm and Rachelle were leading the pack with 4 wins, but Tony & Thrax were not far behind on 3. Similarly in section 2, Marcia & Jimmy out in front with 5 wins and Jim and Jennie on 3.
Largely speaking, these leading players continued their winning ways but we also saw Bob & Dave H, come into contention and Tony cementing his position after a slower start.
We broke for afternoon tea at 1pm and, as is always the case but perhaps particularly so on Sunday, the food was absolutely fabulous! I'd like to thank JJ for doing the BBQ and to everyone who spent the time and effort bring food and helping to lay out and tidy up afterwards. It was next level and really helped to add to the day.
In the quarter finals were Jo/Jim, Marcia/Storm, Bob/Tony and Jimmy/Rachelle and it was great to see so many women qualifying. Both Jo and Marcia progressed to set up a semi-final clash and in the other half it was Tony vs Jimmy, thus guaranteeing a woman in the final!
That woman was Jo who prevailed over Marcia and she was up against Tony who had the better of Jimmy.
The final was best of 5 and Tony got the first but then Jo got the second with an excellent clearance of the last three balls. Tony then showed why his name is on the trophy multiple times with some great clearances to take the match 3:1.
Huge congratulations to Tony, but also very well done indeed to Jo.
Perhaps it was to do with the 9 Ball format, or the two sections of 11, or the amazing food and atmosphere, or perhaps a combination of them all, but Sunday's tournament really was fantastic!
Thanks to everyone.
Rodney Rams Home Sunday April 6th
This time a year ago, we played the Rams in their first ever foray into interclub. We had a fabulous day, but the Rams being a newly formed team, were understandably nervous and lacked confidence and the final score was 21:9 to us. However, as a direct result of that match, the Rams entered a team into the B Div of the Business House and they went on to win it!
On Sunday we hosted the Rams and I wondered to myself what difference a year will have made.
The answer, quite frankly, is it had made a HUGE difference, visible from the get go when 13 relaxed, confident and smiling players arrived.
No need to review the rules (Rams have adopted ours) and with 16 a side, we got stuck into it with the doubles. The first four were evenly shared and then we took an edge in the final four making it 5:3 to us at the end of the doubles.
But it was in the singles that the Rams really started to fire, winning 6 of the first 8 singles!
Afternoon tea was absolutely fabulous, as it always is, and huge thanks to all who were involved in the cooking, laying out and cleaning up - Jill, Rach, Marcia and Jennie, to name a few.
As we approached the pointy end and with the final 4 singles games on, we had caught up and the score was nicely poised at 10:10. There were nail-bitters, in-offs and near misses, but in the end we split these last 4 games evenly too and the final score was 12:12.
Quite honestly, the score was a great reflection of the pool on the day, and as the Rams' captain Geoff mentioned in closing, it's not about the score, it's about the vibe and having fun amongst great company.
From a Warkworth perspective, many congratulations to:
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Myself, Gary and Ash for winning both singles and doubles
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And to Trish and JJ for also winning both, but as a partnership
Well done all!
Here's hoping that this fixture continues for many years to come.
Next Sunday is the 9 Ball Open.
Cheers
Dave
Birkenhead Away Sunday March 30th
On Sunday, after the AGM, 14 of us headed down to the Birkenhead RSA for our away game.
Birkenhead is a large club with a very strong and active pool and snooker section, and the coordinators, Paula & Tina, had amassed an impressive 23 players, meaning that many of our players and one of theirs played twice.
Given the size of the field and the slightly later than normal start, we decided that the doubles would be best of 3 and the singles sudden death.
Myself and Marcia were up against one of their top players, Maurice, partnered with Mitchell, a youngster (14) who is being coached into the team and was playing his first interclub match. It went to 3, but ultimately Maurice's experience won out. Unfortunately, this was repeated across all 4 of the first matches and we had to wait for Jim & Rach to restore some pride with our first win.
Although the matches were close, with many going to 3, we only had another two wins in the doubles and were left staring at an unflattering 3:9 score line as we moved into the singles.
Our woes continued in the singles, where we took only 3 of the first 12 singles before heading to afternoon tea. But we were treated to some lovely Chinese food, which certainly brought smiles back to our faces and set us up for the second half of the singles.
Perhaps knowing that the match was lost put the team in a more relaxed frame of mind, because we came back swinging and won 7 of the final 12 singles matches . It was still a hefty defeat:
Birkenhead 23:13 Warkworth
But a modicum of pride was restored and we had all had a great day, as you can see below.
I'd like to make a few special mentions:
Gary for his excellent win in singles against Moloi (Their top player)
Rach for winning the last match of the day, under intense pressure with everyone watching.
Shirley for winning her singles and to Trish and myself for being the only partnership to win both singles an doubles.
Well Done All!
As we wrapped up and were thanking the teams, Tina made special mention of the fact that it was great to see so many ladies playing for Warkworth.
This is a sentiment that I share and have expressed in these reports before - Go Warkworth Ladies!!
Cheers
Dave
Onehunga Away Sunday March 23rd
On Sunday, 15 intrepid potters made their way to Onehunga RSA for our first interclub of the 2025 season.
Onehunga also had 15 players so one player on each team (myself and Wazza) played twice making a round 16 a side.
After a very warm welcome and a run-through of the rules - Onehunga, like Papatoetoe, play the Northern area or National rules, which are quite different - we started with the doubles.
After the first 4 matches, Warkworth had only one win - Well done Marcia & Gary - against three losses. A pattern was emerging and one that would continue into the next four matches where, again, we had only one win - The two Daves. It wasn't that we were playing badly - most games were going the distance to three frames - but we were struggling with the rules a little and needed to settle into it. The score at the end of the doubles was Onehunga 6:2 Warkworth.
Perhaps our fortunes would change in the singles round? And indeed, things were looking a little better with the singles tied at 4:4 after the first half of the matches.
We broke for afternoon tea at 3pm, which was a lovely chicken burger and chips and looked to capitalise with renewed energy. Sadly, however, the last half of the singles was a 2:6 loss making the final score Onehunga 16:8 Warkworth.
It was disappointing, but I was reminded of the fact that the exact same thing happened last year where we got thumped Away but then thumped even harder on the Home game and came away with the trophy. Here's hoping we do the same again this year!
I do want to thank both Keanau and JJ for playing this event for the first time, and also to call out Gary, Marcia and Dave Harvey for having won both their singles and their doubles - well done!
We handed the trophy over for safe keeping until the return match, when we very much hope to return it to its rightful place on our shelf.
A reminder that this coming Sunday is Birkenhead Away and we will leave as soon as the AGM is over.
Cheers,
David
Scotch Pairs Sunday March 9th
The RSA 2025 pool tournament season kicked off on Sunday with the Scotch Pairs, and what a fantastic opening to the season it was!
We divided the 12 teams into two pools of 6 and kicked off the round-robin at 9am. A huge welcome to Storm's son Marshall (12) who was playing with Dad in his first tournament - we were all keen to see how he would go. Like a duck to water, was the answer, taking out their first two matches in style!
As the round-robin phase was drawing to a close, we broke for lunch. This year we have decided to make the tournaments $5 entry plus $10 or a plate for food, and we had a great mix of lovely plates plus some BBQ sausages and steak cooked by Dave Harvey - thank you Dave and everyone for the food.
It was Malcolm Kidd's (Trout) birthday, and we wished him all the best in the traditional manner, and here he is enjoying his cake with chocolate fish - Happy Birthday Trout!
At the end of the round-robin, it was clear that in both sections there was a natural break between the top 4 and the bottom 2 teams, so we decided to start the knockout stage with a quarter final.
Tony & I were lucky to squeeze past Storm & Marshall in the quarters and even luckier to make it past a very in-form Trout & Jennie in the semis. Both matches we 2:1 nailbiters.
And Kev & Noelene had a similarly tough journey to final via Thrax & Milly and Jo & Murray. Again, both tight matches.
We had lost in the round-robin 1:2 and were out for revenge in the final. And it was looking very good for us with an initial 2:0 lead in the best of 5, needing only one frame from 3. But Noelene & Kev had other plans and played really well to bring the score level at 2:2 and set us up for a decider. Not only a decider, but one that went to the black which took a few attempts both sides, before falling to Kev for the decisive pot.
Well done to Kev & Noelene as the 2025 Scotch Pairs winners, thoroughly deserved!