MEMBERS of The Select Six held a meeting on Thursday March 5th to discuss the subject of the Alan Hopkinson Memorial Trophy having to be recovered from a roof in Belper having been reportedly thrown there after the Christmas Snooker Shootout Night at Jaxx Q Club in December.
Internet messaging had alerted committee members that the trophy might be missing and it seemed to be common knowledge in the Edgefold Club that it had been thrown there by Martyn Taylor on the way home that night.
Team members and Martyn himself were contacted with no response until a meeting was called and acting captain Sean Dobney (who was the actual prizewinner) reportedly retrieved the trophy himself around 10 weeks after the incident and returned it on request for inspection to the Edgefold Club.
The committee found there was a small dent on the front and a medium sized one on the back of the cup but deemed that it was still fit for the purpose as otherwise the cost of paying repairs may have been forwarded for an act of vandalism or if all else failed prize money reduced to cover it.
This was the second incident this season involving Martyn following an episode at Matlock Conservative Club where the match had to be abandoned before the final frame due to him throwing shoes on the table during a frame which caused the balls to be displaced and also beer was reportedly poured/spilled down the pockets of a table which had just been re-clothed.
Also the bar-lady that evening complained of him being very rude and asked for an apology, which has since been firmly declined. A letter was sent out by the club to the effect that on future visits he would not be served alcohol and would be required to leave after he had played his frame.
Martyn denied the beer incident though did admit to throwing shoes on the table, though other witnesses said that both these things occurred.
So given the hearsay it was decided by the committee that in all probability Martyn did throw the trophy onto the roof that night (he has since said that there was "no proof" without denying it) and due to the fact that it was a second serious offence in the space of a few weeks, they felt there was no choice but to suspend him from all league and cup competitions for the rest of this season before a possible further incident reared its head.
This would be reviewed in time for next season on condition that a letter of apology be received by the committee as well as the safe return of the OMYA Cup in the next couple of weeks of which he was the winner last season.
This had already been requested to be returned 3 times to no avail as yet, but had been signed for by the recipient agreeing to pay a sum of money to replace it if it is not returned.
Since being informed of the suspension, Martyn has indicated he is not going to return it anywhere so if that is the case the committee reserve the right to call in the police as a last resort but we hope it does not go that far and that this was just an initial knee-jerk reaction.
At the end of the day the League is there for the enjoyment of its participants, and if everyone was acting in the manner above it would not be possible for it to have any future so the committee in their opinion had little option but to issue a minimum length suspension which could easily have been much more if a hard line approach had been adopted.
All committee members are very disappointed that no apologies for either incident had been forthcoming in the interim period.
People have got to be seen to be held accountable when their actions are outside of what is acceptable in a league structure and the committee are confident that even the first instance would have resulted in a life ban in many other Leagues so they have in their opinion at least tried to keep the door open if everyone uses a bit of common sense.
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