3-Cushion
SLUISKIL - The leading team in the Dutch three cushion league, SIS Schoonmaak from the Hague, will play an away match against Dallinga in Sluiskil this Sunday. That should be a tough mission, but the Hague team has the advantage, because the Zeeland team doesn't play in its strongest line-up. The Buffalo League, the main division, now depends on the whims of top players who are also playing in other leagues. As Dave Christiani says: one week you play against a team with its four best players, the other week against a team with its four weakest players.
Dick Jaspers, Jean Paul de Bruijn, to name two of the best-knowns, are playing for their German team in the Bundesliga this Sunday and not in the Netherlands. Those are the agreements made in advance. Meerten Dallinga, team leader at the Dallinga team: ,,I have to work with two players (Caudron and De Bruijn), who also play in other leagues. And I have to deal with that. We would normally be able to make a bid for the play-off places, but because Caudron only plays 13 times, it will be a difficult mission.''
The Dutch competition, says Meerten Dallinga, is an amateur competition with many professional players. ,,We are actually playing for nothing and that doesn't make it attractive to the players. When we won the cup, we received a few thousand euros to divide among our players. But if you win the championship, we just receive a trophy. The KNBB (billiards federation) should reward the champion with some money to make the championship and the competition more attractive.''
The most important competion has become a lottery. The foreign top players are very important, of course, since a team can even play with four foreigners. But there is a different of sponsors and strategy. Glenn Hofman (SIS Cleaning) says, for example, ,,Our sponsor said at the start of the league: I will pay for the team, but everyone must be available every Sunday.'' Dave Christiani, playing for D & B Ledermode: ,,That agreement we also made, more or less, for our team. For me, and also Eddy Merckx, the Dutch league is our first choice, followed by Germany.''
Meerten Dallinga: ,,We don't have these agreements, unfortunately. Caudron and De Bruijn can earn more money in Germany and France than in the Netherlands. In Belgium, it's even less, but these matches are played on Monday or Tuesday. That doesn't disturb our competition. I want Caudron to play in every home match, because he is the most important for our team, but in our away matches, he can't play most of the time. If I want him to play all matches, I have to go far over my budget. I've been looking for a ten thousand euro sponsor for five years now. When I find him, the problem will be solved.''
Even more crazy: Dallinga can't put Caudron, De Bruijn, Vasseur, Ceulemans (Raymond) and the Korean Shin in his line-up, later in the season in the away match against SIS The Hague. So... talking about the main competition, it's not even certain that Dallinga can show up with four players that Sunday. Meerten Dallinga: ,,We are lucky, this year, that we can put ten players on the list, at least we can scramble and play.''
Dick Jaspers, another example, will play for Magdeburg this weekend, Jean Paul de Bruijn for Elversberg. That means, Dallinga actually is already 4-0 down before the start. Dinand Prinsen (Haarlo) misses Jaspers, but in a match that usually will be won. ,,I have Eddy Leppens to play on the number one-postion and in extreme cases, I can put Jef Philipoom in the line-up. But basically, Jaspers, who plays a total of 12 matches, will always play for us when it is important.''
There is also the possibility that players come into action in two leagues on one day. Peter Ceulemans will first show up in Germany this Sunday morning and then travel quickly to Zundert to play in the Dutch league. His opponent, Thorsten Frings of MCR, will do the same: first in Germany, then in the Netherlands.
John Tijssens, team leader L & B Leermode: ,,We agree with most teams that our competition has nothing to do with top sport. Suppose we make a ten player selection with Blomdahl, Sánchez and Sayginer. And if we come to the play-offs, I make a line-up with these top guns to take the title. That is ridiculous and unfair. I've spoken to a few teams: this has to be changed for next year. They should make new rules, for example that players must play a certain number of matches, then you don't get these kind of nonsense. And we also have to return to teams with a maximum of two foreigners to make the competition fair and attractive again.''
Martin Spoormans (DPC) contradicts: ,,When you look at football, they sometimes play with eleven foreigners in a team. If they only would play with Dutch, it would be a poor competition.''
The line-ups in the main competition, in short, are a surprise every week. The matches and the teams for this weekend:
HCR Prinsen-MCR
Leppens-Frings
De Kleine-Nick Loenen
Pijl-Brouwer
Swertz-Randy Loenen
STZ Zundert-'t Hartje
Forthomme-Van Havere
Ceulemans-Koorevaar
B. van Beers-Martens
Groot-Broeders
Team Eekhoorn-A1 Biljarts
Van Kuyk-Rudolph
Ceulemans-Van der Spoel
Wijnen-Blauwblomme
Hermans-De Zwart
Bousema Lochem-De Veemarkt
Coklu-Tasdemir
S. Galla-Capak
De Jaeger-Kiraz
Schollink-Dericks
DPC-L&B Mode
Uymaz-Merckx
Spoormans-Christiani
Melnytschenko-Valentijn
Bitalis-Tijssens
Dallinga.com-SIS Schoonmaak
Caudron-Hofman
Van Acker-Van Erp
Vasseur-Burgman
Dallinga-Van Daalen.
Meerten Dallinga: they should pay some money for the champion to make it more attractive for the players and the teams
Peter Ceulemans, two matches on one day in Germany and Holland