This week saw the commencement of the First Division in the 2016-17 season of the Ormskirk & District Amateur Snooker League.

The top Division contains fourteen teams, and the merit league will also run alongside the usual proceedings with each team receiving a points handicap, first and second at the end of the season, as usual, will each receive a trophy. The updated league table for this can be found every week after the First Division report from week three onwards.



This week saw defending champions Les Dodd SC get off to an average start with a 3-3 stalemate with Olympic BC. The Walton side will be thrilled with their excellent opening match performance as it was a very difficult fixture for them. The match also saw Olympic's Mark Randles in fine early season form with a nice break of 32 in his frame success.

Last years runners-up, Crosby Village SC, kicked off in very steady fashion with a comprehensive 5-1 triumph, at the expense of Scarisbrick NSC, to become co-leaders. The Crosby outfit won all of the five frames contested as they could only field a team of five players.

This match also saw Crosby's Ian A Jones seal the first 'Break of the Week' accolade with a nice break of 36 in his frame win. Ian's break began with an excellent long red ball pot to gain ideal position on the pink ball. He dispatched that pink and proceeded to pot four further reds, all with pinks, with pinpoint position and very steady potting. To continue his break, Ian potted a further superb long red but, unfortunately, missed a difficult pink ball.

Ian began playing in the Ormskirk League when his club, Crosby Village SC, joined our league at the commencement of the 2012-13 campaign. He has been an important member of that team since inception as they have finished runners-up in each of their first four seasons in the league, narrowly missing out on each occasion. Ian has already build up an impressive list of honours on the Individual & Pairs competition front. He was Pairs Handicap champion in both his debut campaign in our league in 2012-13 and he retained it in 2013-14 with his partner and team-mate, Paul Williams, and were going for the unique hat-trick, never done in the past, but they were defeated in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners. Last season they continued their wonderful partnership as they were beaten on the pink ball in the second of the two frame final. Ian was also runner-up in 2014-15 Individual Championship final after a fine competition. He's is also a member of our representative team who performed so well last November by reaching the semi-final and will be Leeds bound with the squad in two months time for this year's renewal.

Maghull RBL B got their campaign off to a superb start as they recorded an excellent 5-1 victory over Skelmersdale Wardens A to be one of the other pace-setters in the league standings. The match saw Maghull B's Gary Coleman in good form with a good break of 30 in his frame success.

Stanley Club A, defending Merit League Champions, are the other co-leaders as they defeated Aughton Institute A 5-1 to hold that top spot too.

The new-look Maghull RBL A team commenced their season with a 4-2 win over Rainford X SSC to sit in joint fourth slot in the league table.

The other match played this week saw Quarry Green TAC also get off the mark at the first time of asking with a 4-2 success over Upholland Social.

The St Cuthberts and Aughton Institute E match was postponed due to several holiday commitments from the Aughton side. This match will be played on Thursday 6th October. The new Aughton Institute E outfit are the old Maghull RBL A and will always remain the E team, despite any honours, as all the other Aughton teams can keep their identity especially
as two of the sides have had recent cup successes.

Division 2

Farmers Club are now joint leaders of the Second Division after an excellent 4-2 triumph at the expense of Aughton Institute C, this result sees them hold a two point advantage over the third placed team.

The other side to sit as joint pace-setters are Stanley Club B as they recorded their first victory of the campaign with a solid 4-2 away success over Aughton Institute B and will surely be pushing for the title after finishing runners-up last term.

Lathom & Burscough RBL got off to a fine winning start after last week's postponement due to the illness of one of the players involved. They comprehensively defeated Skelmersdale Wardens C 5-1 to lie in third spot but with an all-important match in hand over the two top teams. This result for the Burscough outfit was greatly helped by the Skelmersdale Wardens C side only fielding four players.

The other match played this week saw Aughton Institute D also commence with a victory as they gained the upper hand with a 4-2 success over Skelmersdale Wardens B to move into
fifth slot in the league table and, they also, have a match in hand over three of the four teams above them. The Skelmersdale side sit in fourth place in the standings. The match also saw
Skelmersdale B's Jay Roughley in decent form with a good break of 22 in his frame victory.