History of the mspl

1978-1982:  How it all began.

To be completed

1982-1989:  The Early Years

The early years of the MSPL were dominated by the Dodgers and St. Francis.  League titles were pretty much shared over this period with only the Junction ‘A’ (1984) and Heath ‘A’ (1985) breaking the monopoly.

Competition success at local level was to be dominated by players from the Dodgers and St. Francis with the only Singles winners breaking the cartel being Andy Creek (Junction A’ - 1982) and Tony Norman (Specials – 1988).  It was a similar story in the doubles.

With Mid-Sussex pool expanding with the creation of a second tier in the league, 1986/87 saw the inaugural Team Knockout won by Simon Hancocks Junction ‘A’ side including Simon, Andy Creek, Jason Fowles and Paul Brown.  The original format of the TKO was to mirror that of the league. This structure was to remain in place for a decade before it was changed to ensure all players were guaranteed to play at least one frame (there hadn’t been much appetite for teams to continue a match when 3-0 down in a knockout format).

Mid-Sussex Pool was to begin to make a name for itself on the county scene with players starting represent the county.  The flag was flown by the no.1 player in the league at the time; Steve Chapman.  Steve was to go on to be the first Mid-Sussex player to gain international recognition and play for England during this period.  Superleague was also introduced and Mid-Sussex was to be at the forefront of the competition, going on to secure regional victories and subsequent representation at the national finals in Great Yarmouth.

1989-1994:  Domination

With the preceding four years being a two-way tussle between the Dodgers and St. Francis ‘A’, the 89/90 season witnessed players break away from established sides to produce the first ever MSPL super-team where top players from several different teams would unite to form the Conservative Club side (who would later be named the Squatters). 

This merger of players saw Leigh Mase (3x Singles winner - Dodgers) team-up with Dennis Baker (1x Singles winner – St. Francis ‘A’), Tony Norman (England International and 7x Singles winner – The Specials) and a 17yr old Sean O’Riordan (4x Singles winner and England U-18 international - St. Francis ‘A’). 

These four players combined with a selection of other players coming and going, was to go on to win five successive league titles and steam-roller everyone in its path.  An impressive feat considering that the Dodgers were still a force to be reckoned with following the arrival to Kevin Costello (arguably the best player never to have won the singles), to join a side still including Steve Chapman (1x Singles winner and full England International) and Mick Austen (who would go on to win the Singles title that very season).

Sussex County Pool was to continue to be heavily influenced by Mid-Sussex players during this period, with several regional Superleague titles won and subsequent national finals.  Success was also to be had in the BAPTO seven and three man events with several trips to Blackpool having qualified for the Nationals.  The Sussex County side also had strong MSPL representation under the Captaincy of Leigh Mase.  Players including Steve Chapman, Kevin Costello, Sean O’Riordan and Tony Norman, combined with Morray Dolan and Steve Ringsell (Crawley), Sean Langridge (East Grinstead) and Paul McNeil, Darren Welfare and Paul Tarry (Brighton), meant that Sussex was a force to be reckoned with on the national stage.

The MSPL also saw the introduction of a new competition during this period.  For the 1991/92 season, the 77-Cup was introduced to the MSPL calender. This survived 2 seasons before being revamped and becoming the 101-Cup (because matches were finishing too early).  The first three finals were contested by the Squatters.  However, each of these finals was against the same opposition – Simon Hancock’s Junction ‘A’ was re-emerging....

1994-1996:  A New Order

A period of competitiveness followed the previous era, courtesy of both the Squatters and Dodgers sides retiring from the MSPL and moving to pastures-new in the Snooker world. 

The Junction ‘A’ who were already a force to be reckoned with following three consecutive 77/101 finals and two league runners-up positions, moved into pole position to take over the status of top-dogs.  A team that already included Simon Hancock (2x singles winner), Andy Creek (2x Singles winner) and Justin Young, was to be further strengthened by the arrival of Tony Norman who had elected against switching codes to the snooker league. 

This Junction ‘A’ side went on to win two titles in three years (also playing as the Top House ‘X’).  There were additional successes in both the TKO and 101, but the side was short-lived and Tony Norman and Justin Young were to move on.  However, this brief spell in the same side for Tony and Justin was to sow the seeds of what was to become the most successful doubles pairing in MSPL history.  Six finals in six years with only one defeat (losing 5-4 having been 4-1 up to the Hancock/Creek partnership), will take some beating.

The 94/95 season also witnessed the single most impressive individual record in the history of the league.  Having gone 1-frame down in the opening fixture of the season courtesy of going in-off the black, Tony Norman then proceeded to win 40 consecutive frames to end up with a record of P20 / W20 / L0 / F40 / A1 (+39).  This performance along with his seven singles titles and seven doubles titles cements Tony’s status as undoubtedly the greatest pool player ever to play in the MSPL.

County representation was virtually non-existent during this period and Super-league only continued on a sporadic basis. With most of the top players having gone into retirement in the early 90’s, Mid-Sussex pool was no longer the force it once was on the county circuit. The 95/96 season was to be the last time Mid-Sussex were to enter a side for well over a decade.

1997-2001:   Return of Legends.

The 97/98 & 98/99 seasons were closely fought affairs due to the quality of opposition that Simon Hancock’s newly formed Cricketers ‘X’ side faced.  Jon Lang (1x singles winner) arriving from the Potters, and Alan Martin (2x singles winner) from St. Francis A, were to replace Justin and Tony in Simon’s new-look side.

Teams from Kings Head BH (including Tony Norman and the ridiculously talented Shaun Sothern) plus the Burrell ‘A’ (with Ian Janman, Mick Austen, Justin Young & Richard Cradduck) were to push Simon’s team all the way but ultimately came up short.  Indeed the 97/98 season was the closest fought season in the history of the MSPL with the Cricketers ‘X’ winning their last four league matches 5-0 to win the league title by just a single frame on frame difference.  A truly unbelievable effort.

However, hierarchy was to be restored in the 99/00 season with the return of many of the greats that had retired six years previously.  A new Burrell squad was put together including Leigh Mase (3x Singles winner), Dennis Baker (1x Singles winner), Ian Janman (1x Singles winner), Sean O’Riordan (4x Singles winner and former Junior International), Mick Austen (1x Singles winner), Steve Chapman (1x Singles winner and former International), alongside Kevin Costello, Ali Gemmell, Garry Wall and Justin Young.

Nostalgia dictated that this Burrell side named themselves the Dodgers, and between them they went on to account for the Premier League, 101+, Consolation Plate, Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Individual Premier Best Record in a single season. 

2000 also saw the Dodgers enter the ‘John Smiths’ National Killer-Pool Championship.  Regional qualifiers were negotiated with relative ease; the trickiest encounter being that of getting past a crack Southampton outfit in the semi-finals.  The National Final’s held in Wokingham were to prove too much for the other 31 teams who had qualified from across the British Isles.  The Dodgers represented the MSPL with distinction to become National Champions.

However, the return of the Dodgers was all too brief.  The following season saw them win the TKO, 101, Singles, Doubles and Mixed, but the opening of the Orange Square bar in Haywards Heath in September 2001 (with half the squad owning it), saw the side struggle to fulfil league fixtures and the side went into retirement for a second time.  The greatest MSPL side ever?  History will decide.

2001-2003:  The Untouchables

With the retirement of the entire Dodgers squad, 2001-2003 became a period of domination that had not seen in the MSPL since the Conservative Club/Squatters side sixteen years earlier.  Simon Hancock’s Cricketers ‘X’ side, now progressing under the ‘LOT’ naming convention, completed a clean sweep of Premier, TKO and 101 cup in both the 01/02 and 02/03 seasons.  The 01/02 season also saw Andy Creek win the Singles for a second time, a full eighteen years after his first title.  It’s was difficult to see singles wins this far apart ever being repeated.... however it eventually would.  This period also witnessed Jon Lang win his first Individual Premier best record – something he’d go on to achieve twice more in the next three seasons and equal Tony Normans record of three titles.

The Cricketers ‘X’ did not have it all their own way though.  2002/03 saw a pairing of Paul Friend & Dean Cave win the doubles in what was to be their first of three doubles finals in a seven year period (winning twice).  More notable however was Tony Norman, who went on to win his seventh singles title before leaving the MSPL.  Would anyone dare bet against an eighth title if he were ever to return?

2004-2009:  Recent History

The 2004-2009 period saw the MSPL go from strength to strength.  Gone were the days that saw a single team dominate the pool league for any significant period of time.  The Witch ‘A’, already established as a serious threat to the established sides, were further strengthened with the signing of Kevin Costello in the 2003/04 season. This was the last side to manage a clean sweep of Premier Division, TKO and 101 in the same season. 

Since then, no more than two of these competitions have been won by the same side in the same season and the 05/06 season saw the three main competitions won by three different sides for the first time in the leagues history.  The Legion ‘X’ (Simon’s previously titled ‘lot’ side) taking the Premier League, the Trickshots ‘A' (including Paul Friend and Dean Cave) winning the TKO, and the Talbot ‘A’ successfully defending their 101+ title.  This was repeated the following year in the 06/07 season to confirm the MSPL as being a truly competitive league, however the Talbot 'A' were proving to be top dogs taking the league and 101+ double in both the 07/08 and 08/09 seasons under the captaincy of Justin Young.

The same can be said of the singles.  From the 04/05 season, the league was to produce five consecutive first-time singles winners including not only the newly established stars such as Dean Cave, Paul Friend and Richard Cradduck, but also the more unlikely success stories of Greg Sherman and Jim Denison.  In fact no player has retained the singles title for over a decade now.

Strangely, while the league has been relatively open and changed hands in recent seasons, the cup competitions have been monopolised during this time with the Mother Lovers / Trickshots ‘A’ winning an incredible four consecutive TKO’s from the 05/06 to 08/09 season, and even more astonishingly, Talbot ‘A’s five consecutive 101+ title’s spanning the period of 04/05 through 08/09 seasons.

Not only did the MSPL website become available thus bringing the league into the 21^st century, the 2006/07 season saw the Mid-Sussex All-Stars event held for the first time;  A charity match contested by the most successful players from each division competing in an end-of-season showcase event between Burgess Hill and the Rest of the League.  This proved to be a resounding success and has since become an integral part of the MSPL calendar that has raised nearly £6000 to date for local good causes.

2008/09 also saw the resurrection of a Mid-Sussex Super-League side (now referred to as Interleague), for the first time in nearly 15 years. Only a smattering of players from the last MSPL Interleague side from the mid-90’s were still actively involved in local Pool, but combined with the talented new players now available, Mid-Sussex participated in their first match on 26^th April 2009.  A convincing 16-11 win over a Brighton second-string gave cause for optimism, but Mid-Sussex’s reputation as a force to be reckoned with once more was cemented during the Interleague Cup played six weeks later.  An amazing effort having been away from competitive county pool for so long saw Mid-Sussex narrowly lose in the final (enough for them to qualify for the National Finals in Great Yarmouth).  The future was starting to look bright, and no doubt the rest of the county were looking on with interest;  The mighty Mid-Sussex was back, and a powerful outfit they were looking.

A reflection of the 30-year old league they represent!

International Honours

     Full:  Steve Chapman

         Tony Norman

U-18:  Sean O’Riordan

Singles Wins.

Tony Norman:          7

Sean O’Riordan:       4

Leigh Mase:             3

Doubles Wins

Tony Norman:          7

Justin Young:          6

Mixed Doubles.

Debbie Ferris:          7

Jon Lang:                5

Premier Titles

Simon Hancock:       12

Andy Creek:             11

Team Knock-out Wins

Andy Creek:             7

Tony Norman:          7

Simon Hancock:       7

101+ Wins

Justin Young:            10

John Norris:             6

Danny Turner:         6

Premier Individual Records

Tony Norman:          3

Jon Lang:                3

Justin Young:           3

Ladies Singles

Debbie Ferris:           7

Naomi Sands:           3

Stacey Hancock:       3

Senior Officers of the MSPL

Honourary Life President:     Mick Welstead

           Chairpersons:     Leigh Mase

                                               Simon Hancock        

               Secretaries:    Naomi Sands

                                      Steve Aylward

                                  Nigel Farley

                                    Debbie Ferris