The Link below will direct you to the old website where you can look back at forum posts from previous years
http://aberdeensnooker.cmlwebdesign.com/index.php/test
Derek Hearns Memorial 25
Final Result:
Marc Davis 5-3 John McCann
Marc 41, 47
John 57, 68
Thanks to Derek and the Culter club for hosting the event, Stuart for refereeing the final(did a great job!) and Derry for the semis. Hard luck to John, was a bit of a tactical battle, needed to play Kipper like snooker, fitting for the tournament in his memory, to get the win.
The minute silence at the start was very fitting for Derek and Sandy. The room wasn't the same without Sandy in his usual seat which made me think also of my nan who used to sit up there too so it was a tough minute. You will live in our memories Sandy, thanks for everything you did, rest in peace mate.
On going forward........ Thanks for the messages of congratulations and also the ones from others with feedback. The general talk is that the tournaments are getting boring for people with the same finalists. Some don't enter as a result of this. Lots would like to see a bit of a handicap in place to spice things up, i.e some 'shock' results etc. The North Of Scotland should be a scratch event however the rest could have some handicapping to give other players a nudge along to enter knowing they can win if they get in first with a small break or play well etc. Maybe the following could be an idea, and it's only a guide using players who have historically done well in tournaments and still playing in the leagues, successful recently, Counties A team etc, and again, only an example which could get tournament numbers up perhaps for next season....
Example:
John McCann, Marc Davis (-35)
Barry Smith, Alec Main, Rene Taticek (-21)
Jamie McNolty, Andy Gerrie, Derek Hudson, Paul Hardy, Derek Morrison, Mike Thomson, Mark Oaten, Steve Martin, Stuart Garden, Raymond Murray, Dave Thomson, Tony Dean, Patrick Lovie, David Goodfellow JNR, Mark Gall, Adrian Johnson, Scott Patterson (-14).
Again only an example and would need agreed on at an AGM but it could get people more involved, OR, we just use league handicaps. It's just thoughts and i'm sure many will have opinions on the best way forward to encourage numbers and make it even more competitive. Feel free to respond. Want to see everyone playing happily, our game would grow from it and encourage others!
Cheers guys!
Marc
Congrats on the win Marc.
best players should get to the final and win the comps. There’s already the league handicapped and a handicap singles and also an event for scratch or higher handicaps, also you and John don’t always enter the singles. There’s also a six division singles league with competitive matches throughout, I don’t see the need to mess with the scratch comps.
People surely enter comps to play matches and see how far they get, anyone not entering cos they don’t think they can win, I just don’t understand. The problem isn’t with you or John.
if these are handicapped and/or you and John don’t enter, who really wants to win one knowing the best players weren’t there or were disadvantaged.
Lots of good players in Aberdeen, not just us. Maybe random draws would be good with the exception of NOS but that effects Counties team selection process..... We are not doing Aberdeen Singles again i believe. Perhaps we could enter Interclubs and NOS only in the future. I enjoy competing but tournaments fail without all the other guys so got to listen to all players opinions which i am doing.
Marc, we have plenty entries. As Steve says folks are entering to get as far as they can and hopefully on a good day challenge you and John plus rack up much needed ranking points to get up the rankings and potentially qualify for counties selection. It’s not so much about winning but competing and getting the opportunity to challenge better players. Think it was good that you both did not enter the Aberdeen singles last year as opened up the opportunity for probably a good number of players to lift a trophy as does the handicap comp.
Handicapping comps was a point brought up at the AGM and was not deemed as the way forward.
- Congratulations to Marc for another great win and well done to John for getting to the final 👏👏👏👏
- it’s really good to see Marc coming up with ideas for change but at the end of the day there’s not much wrong with the best players winning the comps. I agree with Marc that change is needed but I also agree with Biggsy that the comps can’t be handicapped cause there is more than enough handicap snooker. I think random draws is definitely worth considering for more comps cause the draw itself is exciting and the Aberdeen Singles was a brilliant comp last year. I’d like to see us go back to having more than just semi and final at the venue and the last 8 and possibly the last 16 held at venue. It would also be really good to get more players posting their feelings and ideas on here cause that’s the only way the committee know what we want and why we aren’t going to watch finals any longer.
Not sure who’s complaining but the singles league where every match is pretty competitive between players of similar ability attracted more entries from the pool league than the top 32 in our rankings..
considering Nigg played sporty on Monday and they are two of the clubs that support finals as well as any, it wasn’t a bad crowd.
not sure there would’ve been many more there if the final wasn’t you vs John, perhaps team mates of whoever was in the final.
I agree re open draws gives people chance if the draw falls kindly - but then you should have some advantage for being seeded higher I guess
qfs at least should be venue - it’s a shame they aren’t - but then we’ve been there and nobody turned up and we couldn’t even get refs.
i played the boy that travelled up from Dundee in one once and there was me and him in the room. Other qf scheduled had been conceded.
I feel the comps are fine as they are. We have a random draw event and a handicap event plus a plate comp. We need to remember we have a ranking system mainly to determine seeds but more recently to determine the counties teams. Random draw for each comp defeats this….. also would love for each comp to have last 16 at a venue but we need spectators to make it an occasion or else no point. The NOS will remain as last 16 to the venue and the only way we would consider returning to last 16 at venue for all comps would be for people to support and come along to spectate. Also we need other clubs to come forward and offer to host the final stages. Culter is a good venue but too many moaning it’s an advantage to Culter players, which is arguably not the case when the tables run true. So who’s up for hosting the final stages of a comp?????
Quote from Monsoon111 on December 10, 2025, 3:19 pmI feel the comps are fine as they are. We have a random draw event and a handicap event plus a plate comp. We need to remember we have a ranking system mainly to determine seeds but more recently to determine the counties teams. Random draw for each comp defeats this….. also would love for each comp to have last 16 at a venue but we need spectators to make it an occasion or else no point. The NOS will remain as last 16 to the venue and the only way we would consider returning to last 16 at venue for all comps would be for people to support and come along to spectate. Also we need other clubs to come forward and offer to host the final stages. Culter is a good venue but too many moaning it’s an advantage to Culter players, which is arguably not the case when the tables run true. So who’s up for hosting the final stages of a comp?????
“Culter is arguably not an advantage for Culter players” When you read stupid comments like that it’s little wonder some players have given up caring!