EPSB Season Set to Recommence

Following consultation with relevant authorities over recent months, we are pleased to announce that our 2019/20 season will recommence in October.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the EPSB season was brought to a halt in March with several competitions still to reach a conclusion. Despite this, a commitment was made to complete all events that had already started, these being the English Under 14, 16, 18 and 21 Snooker Championships, the Over-55s Championship and the Under-21 Premier Development Tour Playoffs.

In order to facilitate and make these events as safe as we can, we have made changes to the originally advertised formats in our tournament pack earlier this season.

Junior Championships

All four national junior championships are at the last 16 stage. We have decided to split each championship up into ‘North’ and ‘South’ regions with eight players in each.

Each event will have straight knockout quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final – all completed on one day. The regional winners of each event will then meet for the overall national title at Finals Day, which we intend to be held in November.

For the players who originally qualified from the Midlands events, we used postcodes to determine which region they were placed in for each tournament (whoever was furthest north/south etc. on the map). Please check to see where you are placed for each and every tournament, as each is independent because of who is left in. There are also player lists now active on snookerscores.net for each championship – either type your name into the search bar there or visit the individual event pages.

All events in the north will be played at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, and the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading will host the south events. The EPSB would like to thank both venues for allowing us to use their facilities and the work they have done to make sure it is as safe as possible to do so.

All four tournaments will be played across the weekends of 10th/11th and 17th/18th October.

English Under-14 Snooker Championship – Saturday 10th October

All matches throughout the day will be the best of 5 frames. Players will be seeded from Stage Two.

North – Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds

Brandon Garside, Nathan Barton, Stan Moody, Ali Khan, Ethan Llewellyn, Westley Cooper, Jack Wise, Jamie Horseman

South – Crucible Sports and Social Club, Reading

Oshay Scott, John Donovan, Dylan Smith, Connor Wollen, Edward Jones, Harry Wyatt, Owen Jenkins, Thomas Mcevoy

English Under-16 Snooker Championship – Sunday 11th October

All matches throughout the day will be the best of 5 frames. No seeding.

North – Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds

Liam Pullen, Dylan Kemp, Stan Moody, Riley Fisher, Samuel Lee Stevens, Michael Roberts, Paul Deaville, Jake Crofts

South – Crucible Sports and Social Club, Reading

Oliver Sykes, Samuel Laxton, Brandon Nguyen, Riley Ellis, Mason Wilson, Aidan Murphy, Mitchell Berry, Edward Taylor

English Under-18 Snooker Championship – Saturday 17th October

Match lengths are to be confirmed. No seeding.

North – Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds

Ryan Davies, Sean Maddocks, Liam Pullen, Lewis Harper, Jack Townsend, Lewis Ullah, Jake Crofts, Westley Cooper

South – Crucible Sports and Social Club, Reading

Connor Benzey, Oliver Sykes, Jack Haley, Ryan Hughes, Mickey Joyce, Aidan Murphy, Halim Hussain, Joe Woodhouse

English Under-21 Snooker Championship – Sunday 18th October

Match lengths are to be confirmed. No seeding.

North – Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds

Manasawin Phetmalaikul, Liam Pullen, Brandon Hall, Ryan Davies, Sam Dexter, Sean Maddocks, Jenson Kendrick, Chae Ross

South – Crucible Sports and Social Club, Reading

Jamie Wilson, Lennard Cripps, Bradley Cowdroy, Jack Haley, Mark Lloyd, Jack Harris, Jed Mann, Halim Hussain

Important Information for Players and Guardians

All players will be emailed separately closer to the time with information on start times, format, officials and coronavirus guidance.

Please bear in mind that the coronavirus situation in the country may change before these events take place, and perhaps at very short notice – this may be out of our control, and therefore the tournaments are only subject to happening as advertised if the situation remains the same. We suggest that players and guardians think carefully regards travel and accommodation arrangements.

Participants are encouraged to travel and attend on their own wherever possible, except under-18s who must attend with a parent or guardian. However, the EPSB will allow up to two guests per player, who should be from the same household as the player. Guests will have to remain away from the playing area at all times, and must maintain social distancing from others within the venue.

It is important that if you intend to withdraw from any of the events, you make us aware as soon as possible. Player numbers will have an impact on how we run each tournament. Because of possible withdrawals and situation changes, we are reluctant to do the draw now, but intend to do so and make public on the last Monday before each tournament is set to take place.

Other Remaining Tournaments

We are planning to have the Under-21 Premier Development Tour Playoffs some time in November.

The final of the Over-55s Championship will be played on Finals Day, hopefully in November.

Both the Playoffs and Finals Day will be over separate weekends. Again, though, everything is subject to the situation remaining unchanged.

Should you have any questions or concerns about anything above, please use the contact form on our website or message us via our social media channels on Facebook and Twitter.

We look forward to welcoming you back to the baize!