The Official Merseyside County Pool Association

Dear All

Merseyside County 8 Ball Pool Association is the Merseyside County Representative of the English Pool Association and as such is governed by its rules and regulations when administering the County.

As most of you are aware the existing county set up had folded in 2005 and various attempts to resurrect it were unsuccessful.

In Dec 2009 I decided I would like to give it ago and with the help of Christine Owen as secretary we re-established the county, this has required a lot of dedication ,commitment and hard work and we are pleased to announce that it has been now been successfully running for two years.

We would like to thank everyone for their commitment and support to the county during the 2011 season and in particular both Andy Mc Donald as A Team Captain and Barry Finnan as Vice Captain for successfully achieving the title of Region 2 A Teamwinners.

Whilst winning the region is a fantastic achievement in order to get to this point a lot to time and effort has to be put in to the background set up including the annual EPA Memberships, Local League affiliations and the Inter League set up,as you would not have a county team without these, and to this end the county committee needs to constantly maintain a strong administrative background and both the committee and the EPA registered players need to have complete respect for the English Pool Association

As we were not local to the area, we have always promised since day one that we would get the county up and running before passing it over to a local committee made up of  local people with the relevant local connections who would be able to take the county to the next level and to this end we are pleased to announce following our recent AGM  the appointment of our new committee:

Chairman

Stuart Mc Gill

Secretary

Charmaine Hunter

Treasurer

Chris Mc Ginnity

Interleague Co Coordinator

Brian Jackson

ID Secretary

Chris Longley

Merseyside Referees Delegate

Chris Longley

Merseyside Region 2 Delegate

Chris Longley

Junior Team Manager

Brian Jackson

It is also very encouraging to see that following on from the resurrection from MCPA that Pool on Merseyside has developed even further by the establishment of a new Merseyside Blackball County Association, headed by Peter Hodgson.

As this is completely separate to the English Pool Association, this now gives all Merseyside players the opportunity to choose which body they wish to be part off and should go some way to allowing players who no longer want to be part of the EPA to continue playing pool at County Level rather than leave the game. We would like to wish Peter Hodgson, his Secretary John Dunne and Andy Mc Donald his new A Team captains every success.

Formal handover of MCPA to the new committee will take place at the Region 2 meeting on Saturday 21st January 2012 and all future correspondence should now be directed to:

The Chairman

Merseyside County Pool Association

7 Johnston Avenue

Bootle

L20 6HE

Tel: 07403 033923

E-mail:Merseysidecountypoolassociation@hotmail.co.uk

Website:http://www.merseysidecountypoolassociation.webs.com

We would like to remind all players of the following:

2012 EPA Registration

Any player playing Intercounty, Interleague or Champion of Champions must hold a current EPA Registration Card.

The cost of these is £15

2012 Team Trials

The 2012 season kicks off on 1st January and our first county fixtures will be held in March 2012

Trials will be held on Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th January at JJ’s Pool Hall and will be run using the Swiss System.  Registration is 11am

Existing players who have achieved the 2012 selection criteria whilst playing in the 2011 season will not have to attend trials, but in order to retain their place must have renewed their 2012 membership no later than 25th January 2012.

2012 Captains

The role of team captains are crucial to the success of the county, so we want to ensure that we have the right people, who are prepared to undertake such a responsible role, they need to be good organizers, be able to adhere to strict reporting requirements and deadlines and have the respect of fellow team members.

Although the A Team Captain’s position was for a period 2 years and therefore not up for renewal until Dec 2012, this has become available as a result of Andy MacDonald switching to Blackball County

Once the trails are completed and the team selected then nominations will be taken for the position of Captains, voting for this will be by secret ballot and will beopen to any 2012 EPA Merseyside member.

2012 Senior County Team

Region 2 will continue running the County Senior (Over 50’s) Team; this will be a 5 man team and will run parallel to normal county matches

2012 Affiliated Leagues

In order to play county, all players must play for an affiliated league.

2012 league affiliations are £75.00 per year, (all cheques to be made payable to EPA Region 2 and must be paid in full prior to the county players first match).

Any county players whose league is not affiliated prior to the first county match will not be allowed to play.

A representative from the affiliated league is expected to attend committee meetings.

2012 Interleague

Provisional dates have been published on the MCPA website and any league participating in the Inter County Structure will have to submit monthly stats to the Interleague secretary to ensure that all players meet the Interleague criteria.

Each Interleague team must have a minimum of one qualified referee

2012 Referees

The EPRA are keen to recruit referees for Merseyside and are prepared to hold a one day workshop in Liverpool at a cost of £10 per person, this will allow interested parties to sit the relevant referee exams

2012 Champion of Champions – Great Yarmouth

Any player entering the Champion of Champions must have played 50% and above in their affiliated league and provide full supporting evidence of this with their entry form and must be sent to the county secretary.

If your equire any further information then please feel free to contact Stuart Mc Gillour new chairman

Many Thanks

JJ Faul

OutgoingChairman

As per our original post in February 2011 the only players to be retained on the 2012 squad are the players who have achieved 55% winning percentange and who have maintained 75% or more attendance

In October 2011 a suggestion was made by one the players  that this be amended, that player was asked to submit a formal proposal for this to be amended however this was never received therefore the existing rule will continue to apply to the end we confirm that the following players have been retained :

A Mc Donald                              72.5%  / 100%

JJ Faul                                        65  % /  100%

Jay Murphy                                 60%  /   100%

Barry Finnan                              61.11%/ 90%

Tommy Jones                           55.26%/100%

Neil Mc Donnell                        60%     / 80%

Dean Morray                             56.25  /100%  (Only started with County Sept 2011)

Phil Mc cabe                             65.62%/ 80%

Neal Pamer                              60.71%/ 80%  (70% plus dispensation from M1 due to medicial reasons)

All other players will need to attend trials

Congratulations to the following players who have qualified for the Junior England Team.

Full results and photographs are available http://www.epa.org.uk/index.php

Joshua Riddaway from (Region 4)

Cameron Gregory from (Region 7)

John Egan from (Region 4)

James Charlwood from (Region 7)

Richard Haney from (Region 3)

Josh Pollard from (Region

Lee Hinchcliffe from (Region 1)

Aiden Hughes from (Region 2)

Aaron Davies from (Region 2

LIONS ON TOUR TO MALTA

Following the overwhelming success of last year's inaugural tour to Australia, the British Lions are off on their travels again.

If it's half as successful as the Down Under experience, culminating in a dramatic victory in the five test series, then it will be another progressive step for the sport.

This latest ground breaking trip takes the pride of British pool to Malta - one of mainland Europe's hotbeds for eight ball pool.

Led again by Wayne Smith, the Lions will play at least one test against the former European champions plus a number of other friendlies against local representative teams.

Their ranks include Maltese favourite Clayton Attard who played such an instrumental part in the team's triumph over Australia in Sydney last October.

The other six members of the group are: Liam Stanley, Paul Hawkins, Darren Matthew, Jason Murgatroyd, Gavin Lomax and Scott Waring.

With the obvious exception of Attard, the party have dipped into their own pockets to pay for the privilege of representing the Lions as well as funding their own playing tops.

In addition, there has been some other financial support for accommodation organised by Vincent Degiorgio, treasurer of the European 8-Ball Pool Federation.

The party leaves Liverpool John Lennon Airport on January 21 and returns on January 29. Plans to take the squad to South Africa and back to Australia in 2013 are well advanced.

For four of the Lions group, their trip to the George Cross Island will be invaluable match practice ahead of the first ever, amateur only Strachan UK Pool Tour at Blackpool on February 3-5.

Lomax, Stanley, Murgatroyd and Smith have all signed up for the five event Tour boasting a total prize fund of £96,000.

So, it's a shot in the arm for Tour organisers that such a quartet of high calibre players have pledged their allegiance to the innovative tournaments.

For updates on the British Lions' trip to Malta visit www.euro8ball.com and www.wepf.org For further details of the UK Tour visit www.ukpooltour.com

DEADLINES ARE AS FOLLOWS

2012 EPA CARD - £15.00

NEW COUNTY PLAYERS

TRIALS WILL BE HELD ON 28TH AND 29TH JANUARY 2012

SUCCESSFUL TRIALISTS WHO WISH TO TAKE UP COUNTY PLACE WILL NEED TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION FORM THAT DAY

RETAINED COUNTY PLAYERS

RENEWAL FORM TO BE RECEIVED BY NO LATER THAN FIRST POST WEDNESDAY 25TH JANUARY 2012

FAILURE TO RECEIVE WILL RESULT IN THAT PLACE BEING WITHDRAWN AND TRIALS WILL BE HELD TO RE FILL IT

INTERLEAGUE RENEWALS

ALL RENEWALS AND NEW REGISTRATIONS NEED TO BE RECEIVED BY 31ST JANUARY 2012

STANDARD  RENEWALS

AT ANY TIME BETWEEN JANUARY AND OCTOBER 2012

VAUXHALL HOLIDAY PARK  GREAT YARMOUTH

FRIDAY MARCH 2nd 2012

£500-00

GUARANTEED PRIZE FUND

ONLY £10-00 ENTRY FEE

Cheques made payable to English Pool Association

Tournament Director, 9, The Crescent, New Road, Hethersett, Norwich. Norfolk NR9 3HX.

Cheques once banked cannot be refunded, Returned cheques will be subject to a £10-00 admin fee.

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES SATURDAY18th FEBRUARY

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TOURNAMENT RULES.

Entry Open to any player, with E.P.A. I,D. card who is under 21 on December 31st 2011

proof of age may be requested.

Rules. Played to World 8 Ball Rules

Play. Play will commence at 9-30am on Friday March 2nd and will be completed on that day .

Dress. E.P.A. Dress Code. No Denims or Trainers.

Players please note E.P.A operates a drug policy.

http://www.epa.org.uk/events/nationalamateur/2012/Under%2021%20Entry.pdf

Please see attached link for all details

http://www.epa.org.uk/event_home.php?type=events/england/2012/trials12juniors.htmROOT&heading=England%20Trials&event=england&year=2012

Intercounty Format from 2012 on

The draw for all sections will take place at the E.P.A. National Committee Meeting in January each year. The Winner from each Region will be drawn against the Runner-Up from a different Region.

The Juniors and Men’s B sections are to be played Friday evening as it is unlikely any player in the Men’s B teams will be in the England Team Trials. The Junior section to start at 8-00pm, and the Men’s B at 10-00pm.

The Men’s A, and Ladies sections will commence at 8-30am Saturday, the winners of these matches along with the winners from Friday evening will play their second matches at 12-00 noon and all the winners of this session will qualify for the semi-finals at 8-30am Sunday.

The Losers of the 8-30am Saturday matches along with the Friday evening matches will then enter the K.O.Cup and play at 3-30pm.

The winners of the 3-30pm matches will then play the Losers of the 12-00 noon matches to decide who goes forward to the semi-finals of the K.O.Cup at 8-30am Sunday.

All Finals will commence at 12-00 noon Sunday, followed by the presentation at completion of play.

http://www.epa.org.uk/intercounty.php?type=Format.php_GEN

This competition is limited to 64 players.

The tour will comprise of a MAIN COMPETITION and A PLATE EVENT at each venue, with the

GRAND FINAL event at the end of the season.

Any player wishing to enter the tour must send in their name, address, contact number and email, with a £50

deposit (non refundable) to the Tournament director.

Full amount to be paid by 1st March 2012.

Tour Dates

21st/22nd April Morley International Leeds

26th/27th May Club 147 Leicester

4th/5th August Jordan's Kent

29th/30th Sept Players Lounge Stoke

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PLAYED TO WORLD 8 BALL POOL RULES

PLAYERS MUST BE UNDER 18 ON THE 31st DECEMBER 2011 

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Tournament Directors decision is final *

E.P.A. Dress Code applies – IMPORTANT!!

(Black shoes, Plain Black tailored trousers/skirt, no pin stripes, collared shirt. County dress or waistcoats & bow ties acceptable,no trainers, trainer style shoes, denims or tracksuits allowed )

http://www.epa.org.uk/events/juniorstour/2012/Entry.pdf

Golden Cue £15 per Team,

£20,000 Prize Fund,

£3,500 First Prize.

Only a few days left to get your entries in.

Make sure you do not miss out.

Note that the Golden Cue closing date is earlier this time so if you don't want to be disappointed now is the time to get your entries in!

http://www.epa.org.uk/goldencue.php