The Spirit of the Game
The Billiard Player. March, 1933
I believe in the game of billiards. It is one of the most perfect games we have. To do justice to its excellence, it deserves to be played under the best conditions. Essentially a game of delightful accuracy and exquisite precision, I think the spirit of the game is dimmed unless the table is good, balls perfect, cloth truly fit for play, and the cushions responsive to the manifold requirements of the man behind the cue.
The true spirit of the game of billiards is a clean and wholesome thing. To play the game well demands that co-ordination between hand and eye which only temperate living can give. Physical condition must also be taken into account. Sheer muscular strength is not necessary, but touch has to be kept keen and sensitive, and in these days when breaks in both amateur and professional play are continually on the upgrade, the strain imposed by concentration on continuity of accuracy can only be met by players who keep themselves fit.
The Salt of Billiards
The spirit of the game we love is pacific and companionable. Our game, at heart, is not a bit like war. I do want to stress that point, because it makes a strong appeal to me. We all play hard to win—that is the salt of billiards, or any other sport worthy of the name. But, to my mind, the spirit of the game demands that you take care to win as real sportsmen should. Victory is an end which by no means justifies any means to attain it, not even if the strict letter of every printed rule is observed with a constant pertinacity which revels in detecting the slightest infringement—even technical, even debatable,—seizing upon every point, or half-point, which can be raised to set an argument afoot.
A game won in such an acrimonious manner is rather an empty husk, a barren offering to the spirit of the game. It does not satisfy, breeding contention which may merge into downright ill-feeling. No game, not even billiards, is worth playing if this is the ultimate result. It very seldom is, I know that. But I also know that quarrelsome cuemen are to be met with.
A Plea for Sporting Amity
Let us, then, play our billiards in the true spirit of sporting amity. Be the event a championship, a tournament, a league contest, a handicap heat, or what you will, which brings us swinging our cues against each other, let the meeting be the cause of cementing old friendships or starting new ones. Let it also be the means of increasing the prestige not only of your own prowess, but of the club or league you may represent, and the great game you play.
As regards the rules, remember that the spirit of the game demands sporting equity in the interpretation of points in the rules which may be arguable in relation to actual happenings on the table. No set of rules yet devised will cover every possible contingency that may arise in your various games. Certain things will crop up occasionally which can only be decided by an appeal to equity, by asking yourself the question: What is the fair thing to do in the circumstances?
Billiards Better Than Ever
At the present time I am very pleased with the condition of amateur and professional billiards. It has never been so good during the whole of my long experience in connection with the game. Amateur form improves every year. New players of great promise keep coming forward, often from the most unexpected quarters. This, to my mind, is largely due to leagues and local associations, particularly in the provinces. These excellent organisations encourage the game in every way, and infuse a healthy tendency to press for improved playing conditions.
That is the right spirit. I want it to go on and prosper. Later on, surely, it may be possible to organise all the leagues, clubs, and other playing units into one great whole, which will place the game of billiards on a higher pedestal than it is to-day. There is abundance of rich reward awaiting such combined effort. The ploughing of lonely furrows in billiards results in a barren harvest at the best. At the worst, too often seen, it raises a crop of the weeds of contention, delays progress, and spoils the spirit of the game.
A Tribute to Lindrum
Never at any time in the history of the game have we seen professional billiards like that of to-day. With the advent of Walter Lindrum the professional game has improved, in my opinion, fully a third in scoring efficiency and beyond computation in artistic effect. Lindrum, to billiards, is what a Shakespeare is to literature—one of those rare beings, gifted with a supreme genius, who only appear, it may be, once in the history of a nation. I think the Lindrum period in billiards will go down to history as the golden age of the game. And, before I leave Lindrum, I want to place on record my personal appreciation of his deep regard for the spirit of the game. A better sportsman never struck a ball.
Because I have not mentioned the names of other professionals, it must not be thought that I am unmindful of their skill or sporting qualities. The tribute I have paid to Lindrum is his by reason of his outstanding genius, both as an executant and creative artist. As a sportsman he does not stand alone—far from it,—but I feel it would be rather invidious to mention names in this connection.
Joe Davis, the Snooker Wizard
In fairness, however, I must mention one other name, that of Joe Davis, professional champion of billiards and snooker. Davis has done as much for snooker as Lindrum has done for billiards—perhaps more,—and that is no small achievement. Quite apart from his skill as a billiard player (and that is only eclipsed by the transcendent genius of Lindrum), Joe Davies has raised snooker to a pitch of perfection which can only be realised when we see him in play. He has made a scientific game, and a very beautiful one, of what was formerly regarded more in the light of a pastime worthy of the occasion when a “round game” was in demand in clubs and rooms. Snooker is still that, of course, and very good it is as such, but as a game of precision, of downright genius in ball control and break building, snooker owes far more to Davis than these words of mine can repay. As a sportsman, Davis needs no “points” from Lindrum or any other player of any game on earth. There are others I could say the same about, but I am sure they will understand that what is meant for Lindrum and Davis is meant for them so far as the spirit of the game applies.
The Game Invites
As Chairman of the Billiards Association and Control Council, I welcome the desire of rising amateurs to enter their local championships. This will bring them eventually into National and Imperial events, and I do hope that all who can possibly do so will play in their local contest. Come all, from North, South, East, and West. That is the spirit in which the game invites, and I know my readers will be guided by it.
I cannot conclude without wishing “The Billiard Player” every success under its new Editor, Mr. W. G. Clifford. Having known him for many years, I am certain he has the best interests of the game at heart, and is a keen supporter of the spirit which alone makes it worth playing.
John C. Bisset,
Chairman of the Billiards Association and Control Council