South Wilts season preview

A MAN who “fell out of love” with the game 20 years ago will make his debut in the Cuestars South Wilts Snooker League tonight.

John Rice, who happens to be Anthony and David’s dad, worked in and managed various snooker clubs from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

He ran several competitions including the Pizza Rapida Summer League for teams in the Dorset area in the summer of 1988 and did some coaching in the early 1990s.

But the 51-year-old from Fordingbridge, who also played pool for Hampshire in the 1995-96 season, packed his cue away when snooker clubs stopped being snooker clubs.

“I fell out of love with the game with snooker clubs turning into social clubs with pool tables, dart boards and live music,” he explained. “I suppose at that time snooker clubs had to change to keep afloat.”

Apart from the odd frame or two with his sons at a social club in Fordingbridge, Rice didn’t play competitively again until he was approached by the club’s team captain five years ago.

But 20 years after witnessing the death of traditional clubs, Rice discovered “sheer bliss” again. On the way home from attending the 2015 Masters at the Alexandra Palace with Anthony and David, he was taken to Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club.

“It was sheer bliss to see a snooker club with only tables again,” he said.

The Cuestars South Wilts Snooker League was founded in 2005 in memory of former Durrington professional Graham Lee, who died suddenly in 2004 at the age of 44.

Players from the Salisbury area compete on alternate Thursday evenings until April, 2017, at Salisbury Snooker Club.

All matches are played off scratch and consist of five frames. One point is awarded for each frame won with a bonus point for the winner.

Ten-time and defending champion John Hunter compiled the league’s highest break of 139 against Alex Thorn in the 2007/08 season.

Twelve players are competing in this, the 13th season, for the Graham Lee Memorial Trophy.

They are: John Rice (Fordingbridge), John Hunter (Andover), Stuart Dreyer (Salisbury), Richard Arnold (Salisbury), David Rice (Fordingbridge), Simon Peacock (Winterbourne Gunner), Neil Carroll (Rownhams), Steve Ashton (Salisbury), Neil Herd (Frome), Gary Hart (Porton), Anthony Rice (Fordingbridge) and Paul Burt (Britford).

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By Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)