April.2014
WEISFJORD NEWS
WEXFORD SNOOKER STAR RODNEY GOGGINS ON CUE he clearest and earliest memory I have of snooker is watching the 1984 World Doubles Championships, Alex Higgins partnering Jimmy White against Steve Davis and his partner Tony Meo on a small black and white television upstairs that we use to have in our house. Couple of weeks later I got a small Steve Davis Pot Black 4 by 2 snooker table for Christmas. I was six and sports mad. Three Christmas’ later I progressed to a 6 by 3 snooker table. For a couple of years I played a frame a night on it against my father, Paddy (RIP), who thought me how to hold the cue and bridge, but after that I was on my own. My dad wasn’t a great snooker player but could make a 20 odd break. But he was a very good handball player and sport, was a big thing in our house and in the street that we lived in, Liam Mellows. Myself and Dad’s games at times got heated, the arguments that we use to have, he wouldn’t give an inch and be winding me up to the last when he beat me. I didn’t like getting beat, least of all by my Dad, tantrums was thrown in for good measure, I was a fiery little bugger. For a couple of years I hadn’t a clue what was what on a snooker table, I just got down and hit the ball, I had no control of the white ball. An odd time we would go to the Phoenix bar or Caesars Palace for a game on a full size table, that was heaven, even though the table was too big for me. But I really enjoyed it, I was no good though, I pot a few balls alright, but nothing out of the ordinary. I got really mad into playing when I was 11 or 12, bought a lot of magazines and books about snooker. Played on the 6 by 3 table at home night noon and morning. Started to tape a few matches and be watching constantly how players hit the ball and different shot selection. Was really interested in players technique, on how they walked into the shot, how many feathers they give the white, pause, fire, keep the head down. I’m very attentive like that, though last year Ronnie O’Sullivan was on Life Stories on ITV4 and he said he use to watch Steve Davis like a hawk when he was a youngster. Copied everything about him, there probably is something to it. When I started Steve Davis was king, in a long match, he was people’s banker for a tournament win. Alex Higgins was the driving force for snooker, he dragged snooker by the coat tails and made it popular. Heroes would have been Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White. But like all youngsters you tend to favour the best , Stephen Hendry was the man throughout the 1990’s. I really liked the way he always played, attacking snooker, always trying to kill the frame off in one visit. Also a fierce competitor and great bottle. I’m a big snooker fan, I have a lot of Hendry’s wins on video tape, the man’s appetite and will for winning and records was unbelievable. The present day, Ronnie O’Sullivan is at the zenith of the game. The last two years he has reached a level for playing snooker that hasn’t been surpassed. You can rattle numbers and records to me that Davis or Hendry has more titles and whatever. Snooker has never been played like this before. O’Sullivan is an artist on the table, break builder, potter and safety player. Great for the sport he is, when he’s going well, (you see it in all the clubs, there busier when O’Sullivan is on form)a little bit of the Alex Higgins mould with a lot more clinical and machine like finish to him. It be great if he can make it six championship’s this year at the Crucible.
T
I joined the Liam Mellows club, in Grogan’s Road, when I was 14, and from there snooker just took over, every evening, after school, without fail, I play. Great atmosphere that club, even though it had only one table, every Wednesday night when County League snooker was on, the card table got stopped and every one looked at the five home individuals play a frame of snooker against five lads from another club. It was brilliant, great competition that between clubs all around the County of Wexford. (Needs to be brought back, to get Wexford snooker up and running again, to be a major force on the National set up) From there I went to the 147 Club to seek better competition, good players around back then, they were very sharp. Definitely a handful of players that were Irish team standard or very near Irish team standard. I was getting games with the likes of Joe Delaney, Philip Siggins, Kevin Kehoe, Marty Hayden, John Connolly, Mick Farrell, Cal Hynes, Iggy Clarke, Pat Furlong, Deckie Waters (RIP) and sometimes John Buckley and Robert Brady would come down from Enniscorthy to play. That brought my game forward picking up balls for these players, very frustrating though, but unfortunately all part of a snooker players education. Took me a few years to get up to speed with the top players, practising non stop. A lot of them gave me good encouragement. My Dad, with being a competitive handball player, was a great help to me at times, he knew when to leave me alone and he knew when to have a word to me. At one stage I was practising in every club in Wexford, to play on different tables and different players. The clubs were all very good and kind to me. I enjoyed playing in the CYMS, no one bothered you there, you could go in and practice your weak shots without anyone around. Also table 1 in there was a low table in height, which to the naked eye wouldn‘t mean a whole lot, but it can kick you out from your alignment, also up in the old Ivy Rooms Carlow, where they played National tournaments and the Irish Championship Final, table 9 was low, so you had to master a low table. Pat Furlong of the Roadhouse Tavern, Curracloe started to sponsor me when I was 16, this enabled me to play weekend tournaments around the country. I have to say he was very loyal, I use to get beat early a lot in the senior tournaments for a year or two, but he stayed sponsoring me, fair play to him. The only disagreement we ever had, was that he thought I was too open, which I was, but as a youngster you want to play open, natural tendency is to go for a pot but I have reigned that in over the last decade, as you get older you cut out the loose shots in your game, well you try J. Around 1997, at 19, a late bloomer in snooker terms, my game started to come together in competition, I made the Irish Senior team for the first time, won my first senior title, on the Irish scene, the Leinster Close Championships in Celbridge, Co Kildare. Two year after that I started to get coached by Larry Codd (RIP), a former billiards champion, he was brilliant to me, always made time for me, he always made the game interesting and he show you how to play shots with a bit more control than what you were doing. With his help I went up a level, where previously I was a nearly man, after a couple of months I started to win on the national scene regularly and could handle myself against anyone internationally as an amateur. I started to win a lot of tournaments on the national amateur scene and pro-
Rodney Goggins part of the Irish team 2012 Home Internationals Champions
am scene. Around then, I started to go outside Wexford for practice, practising in Wicklow and Celbridge, eventually going to Leeds for 14 months. I also changed to wearing glasses at the snooker table, I say I played half blind in my late teens for 4 years for fear that people would laugh at me wearing them big snooker glasses. In the end I had to relent, and start wearing them and they made my game better, when I first tried them, the difference they made was unbelievable, the balls lost there dullness and they were instantly changed to a powerful radiant colour and I could see the edge of the ball, no more guessing angles and I knew they would be no holding me back, pity I didn’t make the change 4 years previous. I was very fortunate that I played three seasons as a professional, that experience made me into a better snooker player. Mind you, I had to work very hard to get them three years, qualifying through the Challenge Tour in England and the second time I qualified through Ireland. My highest ranking was 71 in the World in 2008 as a pro. I had a good attitude towards the game and relentless dedication to practice. I learned this very early on in England, you have to play a great scrapping B game. As somedays your A game wouldn’t be there. To score and not to be scored upon. Anything your opponent scores, make them earn it. Feed them scrap’s as they old schooler’s would say. Sitting in the seat, whilst playing a match, waiting to get back on the table, agony at times, a lot of things can happen to player’s mind. Positive mindset with an even keeled temperament has always been the way forward for a snooker player, we all know it, some of us are better than others in doing it. I feel I always had the temperament and patience to play match play snooker. I learned a lot by watching and try to absorb the information of older and wiser players. Had a chance to go back to the pro tour in 2010, but I declined, I was working away in my job and I seen there would have been a lot more travelling than previous years, with Barry Hearn just been elected chairman of the professional game. More tournaments but also more money required to play in these events, so I said no. It be nice to see snooker grow back in Wexford, as well as Ireland, a lot of clubs have closed down over the country over the last decade. It’s a pity, but on the positive side I think snooker is on the up again, I don’t think it will ever hit the height of the 80’s. There seems to be a lot of stir among clubs lately in playing and organising tournaments themselves and RIBSA, the national governing body, has circuits running through a season, ranging from Under 14s, 16s, 19s, 21s, Over 40’s, Intermediate, Women’s and Senior Level in snooker and Intermediate and Senior in billiards. Seems to be a lot of non-competitive players coming in and knocking around a few balls for a hour or two in Wexford. That’s what we all want, obviously like all sports, youngsters are the future and will keep the game alive, for parents, that think that their kids are interested or half interested in the game, I would say snooker is a great sport, takes a lot of commitment but shows you great discipline, concentration and you have to have respect for yourself and your fellow players and officials. In the 147 Club at the moment we have last year’s Under 16 Irish Champion and the current Irish Number 1 in the Under 19‘s, Shane Bates. If we can get a few more like him, it be great for Wexford snooker in the future.
Rodney Goggins with 6 times World Snooker Champion Steve Davis, and 7 times World Champion Stephen Hendry
Page 4
FAN FICTION LOIS & CLARK CONTINUED eah, I heard a scream, sounded like a man yelling and then I looked around and I saw that old building collapse, there was rubble and dust everywhere. I assumed there was demolition work going on, but then Superman appeared from the cloud of dust. He looked strange and then he just flew off.” Lois was fighting to blink back tears at this point. “Strange?” “Yeah, he was dishevelled, he looked panicked too.” “Thanks.” Lois forced out, trying to conceal her emotion. It sounded like Clark needed help, this wasn’t like him and if he wasn’t behaving rationally how was she going to help him? She thought she could face one more interview before her emotions would get the better of her. Though now she felt like she was on a mission to find and save Clark. She edged through the crowd and came to an older man, probably in his seventies. “Excuse me sir, I’m a reporter for the Daily Planet,” she said flashing her Press Pass. “Can you tell me what happened here?” “Excuse me miss........?” “Lane, Lois Lane.” “Miss Lane, I saw Superman standing outside that derelict building, he had an intense look on his face. Then he yelled something, went inside and then there was just rubble. He took off then, he flew up in the sky. I guess someone must have called the cops, because they showed up not long after.” “Did you see anything else? Was there anyone else around at the time?” Her reporter’s instincts were now starting to take over. “No miss, that’s about the size of it.” Now Lois had to see for herself, she couldn’t hold back any longer. She trudged through the crowd and came face to face with a young police officer at the barricades. “Lois Lane, Daily Planet. I need to get in, have a look around to verify a few things for my story.” She said, trying to turn on the charm. But this rookie cop was having none of it. “Miss, this is a restricted area, no one is allowed past here, not even reporters.” Lois stretched on tip toe, trying to catch Bill Henderson’s eye, she had just seen him walking past on the other side of the barricades. “Bill!” She exclaimed. Inspector Henderson approached the young cop. “I’ll vouch for her Delmar, let her through. Officer Delmar parted the barricades, and allowed Lois to enter what resembled a demolition site. Lois had to watch her step as she carefully made her way through the debris. She looked at the building; well what was left of it and her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe her eyes; this place had been totalled. “What had happened here? Why had Clark done this?” These were just some of the thoughts racing through her head. She knew one thing for sure; she couldn’t make sense of any of this. She was up to her ankles in rubble, which was the only clue to the fact that a building once stood there. She desperately hoped that Inspector Henderson could shed some light on this and contradictory to eye witness accounts that there was some rational explanation for Clark’s actions. “Bill, what happened here?” Lois asked. “Well Lois, we’re not entirely sure. From eye witness statements all we can
Y
piece together is that Superman showed up, was alarmed by something, entered the building, and well the result is what you see here.” Inspector Henderson informed her, sounding puzzled. “That’s it Bill! Come on! You’ve got to give me something more to go on than that!” “That’s all we’ve got Lois.” “But this doesn’t sound like Superman.” Lois was trying to convince herself just as much as Bill of Clark’s innocence. “No, then again neither does the incident at the Park, but there’s a first time for everything, even for Superman, and if a being as powerful as he is, is out of control, we could have a panic on the streets. I’m putting out an APB for Superman we need to track him down.” “Bill, can’t you give me a chance to find him?” “No Lois. Not this time. Though what good it’ll do, I don’t know, we can’t exactly take him into custody.” “You don’t think he’ll come willingly?” Lois’ voice almost cracked at this point. “Right now, I have no idea.” Lois was deep in thought as she headed back to The Planet. She had two options, either wallow in self pity, or fight to save Clark. And she knew which one she was going to pick. CHAPTER 4 “Ding!” Lois was so deep in thought contemplating her next move, that she barely noticed that the elevator had stopped on her floor. She got out and walked purposefully towards her desk. “Jimmy! What have you got for me on that coal mine explosion this morning?” “Hey Lois! Did you get that message from Bobby Bigmouth about Superman? He just trashed a building downtown.” “Jimmy, the explosion.” – Lois replied firmly, as she wasn’t in the mood to discuss Superman right now. “Oh yeah right, well I’ve compiled a list of possible suspects, but top of that list is Wallace Wolcott. You know that guy who used to work for Jefferson Cole? If anyone had the technical know-how to pull off a bomb that couldn’t be disarmed by the bomb squad, it’s him and Cole, but you already know about that since he tried to make a courtroom full of people think that you killed..............” “Jimmy!” “Sorry Lois. I’ll see if I can get an address for him. Why are you so interested in the bomb? I would think the story about Superman is a bigger deal.” “Well it is Jimmy, but I’m starting to wonder what happened to Superman after that explosion to make him act the way he did?” “You could be onto something, I’m going to ring my contact in the police department, see if anyone noticed anything going on with Superman. If you want I can try to track down his movements all morning.” - Jimmy said with youthful enthusiasm, excited at the prospect of being able to help Superman. “That would be great Jimmy, thanks.” Now Lois could breathe, she had dodged Jimmy’s questions on Superman, which she wasn’t in the humour to answer right now. Besides what was she supposed to say? “My husband is acting strange and gone AWOL!” And Perry was in a meeting with the publishers, so he was going to be out of her hair for a while. Now she had time to come up with her next move. She needed to stay calm and level headed if she was going to stand a chance to help Clark. She summed up the facts in her head, and came to two conclu-
sions; the first being that someone had deliberately set a bomb for Superman, she decided that she should probably go to the coal mine and take a look around later on, the second conclusion was that Clark was acting irrationally and extremely out of character, and that the two were probably related. But first things first, she needed to find Clark; she knew that he hadn’t been back to the Planet, so where would he go? She tried his cell phone and it rang out, she also tried their home number, but again no answer. She did wonder if he may have gone to Smallville, after all it was a place for him to find solace in the warm and embracing home of his parents. She knew the number by heart, and her fingers dialled it automatically. Her heart fell as she realised that the line was dead. Then she stood up from her desk, well now was a time for action if there ever was one. She wasn’t going to find Clark from her scenic view of the bullpen. She had to get out and pound the pavement. Dashing toward the elevators and pulling on her wool coat as she went, she called out behind her: “Jimmy, keep trying the Kents’, their phone lines are down.” ***** Lois was headed home, and she was beat. She had already tried to find Clark on her way there; she’d covered a lot of ground too. She had even been to Suicide Slums, not even the cops went there very often, and if Clark knew she had gone there alone, she would have been in for the greatest telling off of her life, but it seemed like a good place to start. She knew Clark wasn’t thinking rationally, so who knew where he might go. Besides Superman sightings there wouldn’t attract much attention, or camera crews for that matter. On her way back from there, she had been up and down every alley and street between Hobbs Bay and Hyperion Avenue, and had yet to locate him. She had interviewed several people, but there had been no further Superman sightings all day. If phone watching had been a national sport, Lois would have come in first place, she had her watchful eye on her cell phone since this morning, but there had been no calls, even her persisted attempts ring Clark or the Kents’ produced no results. As much as she needed to find Clark, she needed to rest too, just for a few moments. Emotionally she was a wreck, and her choice of footwear this morning was adding to her discomfort. She had intended to go home, change her clothes, grab a bite to eat and check in with the Planet, to see if there was any more news on Superman. Then she was going to return to her mission to find Clark before the authorities did. TO BE CONTINUED DISCLAIMER Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Characters as portrayed in this story are from the TV show "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman", and are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and December 3rd Productions. "Lois & Clark" was developed for television by Deborah Joy LeVine. The element of Silver Kryptonite was taken from the TV show "Smallville", an episode entitled "Splinter" written by Steven S. DeKnight and Tim McCanlies. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a non profit work.