In my regular Five Minutes With slot I’ve tried to feature a different sporting discipline each week.
This time it’s the turn of snooker and answering the questions is Kevin Basnett, certainly one of the leading cueists in the county.
What is the state of snooker in Cumbria at the moment?
Obviously not as popular as it was in the 80s but there’s a core of diehards, like myself, who are keen see the game stay alive in the area.
Snooker clubs are few and far between in Cumbria, there’s just nowhere for the youngsters to even try it out like they could 30 years ago. That said Martyn Gowing at the Qzone in Carlisle is doing a fantastic job at improving the facilities at his club and if anyone is keen to give snooker a go I would strongly advise you make the trip.
The Rack Shack in Whitehaven is improving all the time too and if Carlisle is too far to travel then definitely give the West Cumbria club a go.
I can recall in Workington in the 50s and 60s the Oxford billiard hall with at least a dozen tables. Is there anywhere like that operating in the county and would more of them help grow the sport?
As mentioned previously the Qzone in Carlisle is the only place in Cumbria that has a multi table (plus four tables) set up. The tables are excellent and the club is suited to all ages.
The county definitely needs more clubs (snooker clubs and working men’s clubs) that cater for the younger generation.
The late Mike Dawson took young players under his wing. Is there anybody coaching youngsters at the moment?
There are no qualified snooker coaches in Cumbria but I personally have helped anyone who is willing to learn. There are qualified coaches situated in the North East whom I am in contact with, hence anyone who wants coaching to that level of tuition I am more than willing to help.
Are there plenty of younger players in the county or is it dominated by older players?
There aren’t many young players (under 30) in the county currently but that is purely due to there being limited places to try the game of snooker out. My own boys love to play but it’s pretty much limited to trips to Whitehaven or Carlisle.
Your own West Cumbria League seems to be short of teams. How can the numbers be increased?
It really needs support from local clubs to encourage those who turn out to play socially to join in. It’s in the best interests of all clubs (snooker clubs and working men’s clubs) to promote team sports, which is a means to generating regular profit via league nights every week.
Many fine professionals have played exhibitions frames in the county over the years. Does that still happen and are there any coming up shortly?
Since I took over the L&L Property Contractors Snooker League (formerly the Cockermouth and District Snooker League covering West Cumbria) I have brought many top pros /ex-world champions to West Cumbria including Steve Davis, Jimmy White, John Parrott, Ken Doherty, Dennis Taylor, Stephen Maguire, Alan McManus and many more.
As part of our league presentation night we invite a professional along each year who always provides brilliant entertainment in the form of single frame challenges against league opponents. The Qzone in Carlisle often put similar exhibition nights on and have featured Judd Trump and Mark Williams recently. Shaun Murphy also appeared earlier this month with the feedback being really good.
Does Cumbria have any players on the pro circuit and have we any with the potential to get there?
Cumbria does not currently have any pros registered on the main tour (TV tour). There have been a couple in the past with Carlisle’s Mike Nixon and Kendal’s Andy Milliard featuring. Londoner Leo Fernández now lives in Kendal and often tops up the pro events as a leading amateur and can sometimes be caught on the TV.
You are one of the leading amateur players in the county. How often do you practice?
Snooker is a difficult game and requires a lot of time to get to a decent level (making regular 100 breaks).
I started playing at 10 years old back in the North East. At the time I was playing 40 hours a week (four hours Monday to Friday and 10 hours on Saturday and 10 hours on Sunday).
Top pros are practicing six hours a day and without that level of commitment, coupled with all the other coaching expertise and sports psychology stuff included, there is no chance of getting close to what you see on the TV. Personally, with family commitments and a responsible job I find it difficult to practice as much as I would like even though I still have the appetite at 50 years old.
However, I do mange at least a few hours practice a week and with competitive play included I probably play about 10 hours a week now.
We hear very little of billiards these days. Is that still played in the county – where and how well supported is it?
Billiards is a beautiful game and is one for the absolute purists.
Again, with my north east background, taking me to the Teesside area, I was brought up with some of the best billiard players to have ever (this needs to be emphasised) played the game.
Middlesbrough’s Mike Russell is one of the finest three ball players ever with 12 world titles (1989 to 2016) and if you have any interest billiards at all I recommend you look him up on YouTube.
Billards was still played in West Cumbria in the early 90s and I brought Middlesbrough’s Peter Gilchrist (three times world champion) to Maryport in the late 90s.
Peter put on a quite brilliant night and produced a 300 break to boot. This is still one of the evenings I am most proud of promoting and I’d love to have him back in the county again even though he is now based in Singapore.
Carlisle’s Qzone have also hosted a couple of big pro billiards events over the last few years which have been very well received.
As a result the Carlisle league have recently introduced a billiards season and the players are loving it. Again, I have a few billiards contacts and if anyone is interested in giving it a try I can definitely put them in touch with someone who could help.
If money was available to spend on snooker in the county how would you spend it?
I would definitely love to see more clubs in the county. However, I’m not naive enough to the point where I see snooker as the focus of such venues.
From what I have seen throughout the country snooker, English 8 ball, American 9 ball and Darts for example all have a place under the same roof.
I have also seen instances where such venues also cater for evening revellers with entertainment etc. available. At the end of the day it all has to be financially sustainable, however along with Martyn Gowing at Carlisle’s Qzone Scott McKelvey at Whitehaven’s Rack Shack is also doing a fantastic job in doing just that.
