Billiards players from the Stellenbosch area, including one Stellenbosch University (SU) student, are competing in the South African Blackball Championships at Gold Reef City, Johannesburg.
This is according to Shaiyene Fritz, SU student and secretary of the Western Cape Pool Union.
The term ‘billiards’ is used for different types of cue sports, such as 8-ball, blackball, carom and many others. This is according to Shaiyene Fritz, a billiards player from Lavender Hill. PHOTO: Joel Ontong
The six players who are competing at the championship are Fritz, Alexia Julius, Michael Laatz, Jason Edwards, Pierre du Toit and Lootfieh Crombie, according to Louis Peregrino, secretary of the Western Cape Blackball Association (WCBA).
The competition is taking place from 9 to 29 May and top players will be eligible to compete in the World Blackball Championship, which will take place in Morocco in October 2022. This is according to a letter by the WCBA sent to all competitors on 31 March.
The Western Cape delegation, which includes the six Stellenbosch players, “will consist of no less than 70 players competing in various categories during the tournament”, said Peregrino via email correspondence with MatieMedia .
To compete in this championship, players must first compete in different local and provincial trial tournaments, according to Julius, who is from Idas Valley. The top players from these competitions are then eligible to compete nationally, she explained.
Blackball is played with 15 coloured object balls and a white cue ball, which is used to hit other the coloured balls, according to the Blackball International website. The first party to sink all their balls in the pockets of the billiards table wins the game, states the website.
Pooling together funds
Participants in the competition must pay a fee of R7 500 to the WCBA, which will go towards “transport, accommodation, fees and the like”, according to the WCBA letter.
Shaiyene Fritz is a billiards player from Lavender Hill, Cape Town, who studies at Stellenbosch University. Fritz told MatieMedia that she will be competing in this year’s South African Blackball Championships and has been using her photography business to fund her participation in the competition. PHOTO: Joel Ontong
Some players have had some difficulty covering this fee, according to Fritz.
Fritz used the earnings from her photography business to fund the fee, she stated. “Coming from a place like Lavender Hill, our parents don’t always have the money.”
Covering competition costs becomes especially difficult if players compete in multiple competitions a year, explained Fritz.
With assistance from his ward councillor, Crombie, another Idas Valley resident, applied for funding from the mayor of Stellenbosch to help cover the competition cost, said Fagwah Crombie, his mother. Fagwah told MatieMedia that they also approached different brands for possible sponsorships, to no avail.
Lootfieh Crombie is a billiards player from Idas Valley who will be competing in the South African Blackball Championships. In an interview with Matiemedia, Crombie comments on his views regarding the popularity of billiards in Stellenbosch. AUDIO: Supplied/Lootfieh Crombie
“In general, I am feeling quite excited about facing new opponents and getting to know other people in the cue sport community,” said Crombie.