The 2005 Bar Billiards World Championship at the Hotel de Normandie will be even more special than usual marking, as it does, the 25th playing of a competition that has been organised since its inception by the Jersey Bar Billiards League.
The very first tournament took place, as the British Isles Open, at the Inn On The Park in 1981 and was won by local player the late Harry Siddal.
Steady Over 300 players took part in that first event.
Numbers entering have fluctuated over the years, but have remained steady at 200 plus for the past few years.
This year’s competition, which will take place in the hotel’s Burgundy Room, features 232 players, the vast majority of whom will be coming to Jersey especially to take part.
Astonishingly, a good number of them will have played in every event, including Wallingford’s Derek Payne, the runner up in that very first tournament.
With the main championship as well as a plate competition for all of the first round losers taking place play is pretty much continuous over both Saturday and Sunday, apart from an evening dinner break on Saturday and a lunch break on Sunday.
Many previous winners will be taking part and, generally speaking, they are spread fairly evenly throughout the draw.
