On Thursday, January 20, Burley-in-Wharfedale's Steve Crosland will be flying to Belfast to represent England in the annual encounter against Northern Ireland for the aptly named 'Friendly Cup'. This was first played for in 1996 in Belfast when the Irish were easy winners. The following year in Kings Lynn the English team gained revenge.

In 1998, at the seaside resort of Bangor, just outside Belfast, the match ended all square but England retained the trophy. Last year the Irish team travelled to Harrogate where England won convincingly.

Next week the England team will be without its outstanding amateur player Lee Lagan from Teesside, who is unable to make the trip. Also missing will be Paul Bennett, who has turned professional. Nevertheless, the English players, under the guidance of non-playing captain Derick Townend, from Harrogate, are confident of success but expect the customary hard battle.

Crosland, along with Peter Shelley, of Stoke, and Phil Welham, of Norfolk, has been ever-present in the England team since the initial match back in 1996 and it is likely that he will be playing top board this time.

The England team contains two more players from Yorkshire. County champion Richard Lodge, from Bradford, and York's Gary Rogers will be joining Crosland in Ireland to make their debuts in the 'Friendly Cup'.

Also making the trip to help with official duties are father and son Dave and Graham Richardson, from Yeadon, who recently officiated in the Yorkshire Under-19 junior snooker championships at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds.

Crosland lost 688-86 to Lee Lagan of Middlesbrough in the final of the Amatauer Billiards Circuit National Ranking Tournament at The Club House in Cue Gardens, Bradford.

In the semi-finals Crosland had beaten David Nichols of Norwich 347-325.

Wharfedale in action

JUST before Christmas Wharfedale were entertained in the Yorkshire Inter-District League by Huddersfield Two. The Wharfedale squads were looking to gather useful points against the weaker of the two Huddersfield team.

As it turned out the snooker squad had to be content with a 3-3 draw thanks largely to Richard Brooke, who took two comfortable frames off Lee Mosely, making a 53 break in the process, winning 86-7, 59-43.

Mark Kaye secured the third point by sharing the spoils 1-1 against Mark Boylan with frame scores of 48-44, 38-61. Wharfedale's captain Andy Blamire unexpectedly lost both frames to Glen Wilkinson, 28-68, 63-68.

The billiards team won their match 5-2 with Ronnie Haigh, making his debut for Wharfedale, defeating Frank Griffin by 200 to 92 with breaks of 39 and 51. John Bowden levelled the match by defeating Jack Parker by 200 to 145 but Steve Crosland played last board against former Yorkshire champion Tom Donlan and hit good form with breaks of 51 and 114 to win by 200 to 76.

Wharfedale played their first match of the New Year last Saturday when they travelled to Harrogate. The snooker team had a good win by four points to two with Andy Blamire (73-18, 80-3) and Richard Brooke (81-41, 61-60) both winning 2-0. Blamire played particularly well and had breaks of 40, 32 and an excellent 74. Mark Kaye unfortunately lost both frames to Keith Thornhill, 46-60, 35-53.

The billiards team suffered a disappointing defeat when a comfortable win was expected. Both Ronnie Haigh and Jack Parker found it difficult to sustain any rhythm and fluency losing by 200 to 170 and 200 to 145 respectively. Steve Crosland, with breaks of 48 and 67 unfinished, took the last game for Wharfedale by 200 to 36 and salvaged the aggregate point thus limiting the defeat to one point by four points to three.

The draw didn't help Wharfedale when it paired its strongest player against Harrogate's weakest thus leaving the other two players somewhat vulnerable. Harrogate's Derick Townend can be a match for anyone on this day and so it proved on this occasion.

Wharfedale's next match is on Sunday, January 16, when they entertain Leeds Two at the Dragon's Club, Yeadon.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.