Humours of Refereeing

The Billiard Times. August, 1911

As a rule, the referee at a billiard match is thoroughly grounded in the laws of the game, and his deportment is above reproach in every particular. But, here and there, exceptions have occurred, and the billiard referee has added to the gaiety of the nations. An instance of this sort took place a good many years ago when Charles Dawson and Bateman were contesting a match somewhere in the provinces. The referee had not shaped any too well at times from the commencement of the game, but he surpassed himself when he had to decide whether the balls were touching when Dawson was manipulating a run of nursery cannons along the top rail. He was smoking a pipe, and as he leaned over the balls he discharged a plentiful supply of tobacco ash over all three. Nothing daunted, he calmly picked them up, distributed the ash all over the cloth, and put the balls back in an indiscriminate cluster, as he announced, “Not touching.”

Another very funny incident occurred a year or two ago during one of the district finals in the Army and Navy Championship. The game took place in a sergeants’ mess, and the marker was a soldier who usually marked by calling the break only. But he was told by the sergeant-major that during the important game he would have to mark properly by calling the full score after each stroke. He tried, but as anyone who has made the attempt can well understand, he soon began to get rather badly mixed. For a time he struggled manfully, and, aided by plenty of vocal assistance from the spectators, managed to correct his mistakes fairly well. But the strain was too much, and before the second hundred had advanced very far, he exclaimed, “Thirty-seven—twenty-eight, I think/’ and then a little later on: “Forty-two—thirty— er, about.” Finally, he looked very bewildered, gazed hopelessly at the marking board, and ejaculated, despairingly: “Fifty— forty-six, or, er, I hope so.” He was promptly “relieved,” as they say in the army.

But, although not strictly within the scope of refereeing, quite the funniest thing ever heard about in the Army and Navy Billiards Championship was when a luckless soldier wrote to Thurstons and asked whether it was fair “to fasten the cue-tips on with nails,” as this was the practice in the billiard room of his unit. This must not, however, be taken as a sample of billiards in the army, as the many excellent breaks, including several exceeding the century, made by competitors at various times proves that the playing conditions must be quite up to the average taking them all round. Another delicious touch, was provided by a gallant Irish Dragoon, who, after winning two or three games in the Championship, was drawn against the best player in another regiment in the same station. Unfortunately, his opponent met with an accident in the football field, and was in hospital when the game should have been decided. This was not to Pat’s liking, so, with the real sporting instinct of his race, he promptly challenged any other man belonging to the regiment of his disabled opponent, and wrote to Thurstons for permission to decide the round in this novel fashion. But, unfortunately, the conditions governing the Championship did not permit of such a diversion, and the Irishman had to accept a walk-over. He was well trounced in the next round, however.

Harking back to the whimsicalities of refereeing, it is on record that during a long break in a professional match a wellknown referee actually nodded and dozed off to sleep. His nap was disturbed when it became necessary to judge whether the balls were touching, and the report has it that he had to rub his eyes and make sure he was awake before giving his decision. Just to wind up with, a story we heard recently may not be out of place. It was the final of a club handicap, and a good all-round sportsman, who knew more than a little about boxing, was asked to referee. He undertook the task, and did very well until, as the game was a long one for amateurs, an interval of ten minutes was arranged by mutual agreement. Watch in hand, our referee ticked off the seconds as the ten minutes expired, and then announced “Time, gentlemen; seconds out of the ring.”