Kevin Scoops Sportsmanship Award

Several years ago, the Stalybridge Snooker League decided to launch a new trophy to reward league members who are very helpful to other league members and to give advice when needed.

The trophy was called The Sportsmanship Award and it is voted for by all the teams in the league.This year the award was given to Kevin Welsh, Staly Labour's captain.

The team joined the league some five years ago and Kevin joined, initially, as a player, when approached by the team captain and has played ever since. The following year, after changes within the team, he became team captain, as he is today.

During the teams' initial years in the league, the players had to learn to play billiards for the first time and Kevin was no exception.They had also to learn to play whist, but could not get any regular players until last year. Kevin's feedback is that most players actually prefer to play billiards than snooker. He thinks that billiards is an underrated game.

As the team improved in the league, they have been picking up more and more trophies and this year they have picked up a Man of the Match trophy, The Individual Billiards trophy, The Snooker Killer trophy, and Kevin himself has finished runner up in the Six Reds Competition, as well as getting the prestigious Sportsmanship Award.

Kevin said that the team had thoroughly enjoyed their time in the league and he is proud to be their captain.They try to honour all the league's traditions of competition and sportsmanship, that have developed and remained since 1910. He was delighted to have been honoured at our recent Presentation Night.

Kevin is a member of the leagues governing body along with League Secretary and Chairman. He has taken on board some additional duties regarding the league's finances and hopefully will be involved for many years to come. League Secretary, Ian Hopton, said that Kevin is a credit to the league, and looks forward to working with him for many years to come. He thoroughly deserves his award and is always trying to improve his game to do the best for his team.