Ace ‘red’ team blackballed

The pool team at the White Hart, Royton

A PUB team from the White Hart in Royton has been blackballed from the Shaw Pool League — for being too good.

One of landlord Mark Dwayre’s two sides in the competition recently potted their way to top spot, losing only three matches out of 38 over the course of the season.

But the elation of victory has vanished with the news that the triumphant “Red” team from the White Hart will NOT be allowed to defend their title by order of the committee.

The accusation levelled at Mr Dwayre by the committee is that he is effectively “pot-hunting”, having parachuted in a new team designed to claim all of the available prizes.

“We first got wind of it five or six weeks ago,” said Mr Dwayre. “We heard a few people saying things like, ‘you won’t be in it next year’.

League chairman Ian Shaw does not dispute that Mr Dwayre and his crack outfit have played everything strictly by the book in terms of league rules.

But he believes that the White Hart Red team’s unbridled success in scooping all of the cash prizes and trophies, if left unchecked, would result in a host of rival sides departing and the league collapsing.

With little prospect of a reconciliation, Mr Dwayre is currently examining the possibility of setting up a rival league for his team to play in.

The Shaw League committee, which meets for its annual meeting next week, invited him to do just that.
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