Allinson: good for morale

Allinson actually made his debut for Ashlett Club in 1964. But he then took a lengthy break.

He picked up his snooker cue again in the 1980s when the A side called on his services.

Installed as captain, Allinson was holidaying in Spain when his lads played Botley Institute in the Peter Marchi Cup semi-final in 2002.

“They rang me up and said ‘5-0’,” recalled the 62-year-old. “I said ‘you idiots, what have you done?’ ‘No, we won 5-0’, they said.”

Former Echo Social Club player Gordon Pitman won the match-winning frame in the final against Acorn Club.

Allinson, who had turned up wearing a blazer, was due on last and didn’t get a game.

Allinson reckons the players of Ashlett Club A stick together for a long time because they are the “best of enemies”.

“I think that helps,” he said. “We’ve had some interesting moments travelling home. And it’s quite some distance to travel home sometimes.”

However, he insists that once the cars have completed the journey down the A326 after long away trips and reached the converted 19th century mill on the edge of Ashlett Creek, near Fawley, peace has usually broken out among the Watersiders.

Another former skipper Derek Francis, one of three brothers in the Ashlett side, agreed. But he added that captains must take responsibility for their selections.

“We’re not scared of telling someone they’re wrong, if they’re wrong,” he declared.

“But if you select someone for your team you’ve got to accept the way they’re going to play. If you don’t want them to play the way they play, you don’t select them.”

Allinson has asked to take a backseat this season because life in the Premier is not to his liking. He misses the traditional friendly doubles at the end of the evening in the lower leagues, which have a one-frame format as opposed to two in the Premier and Super League.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m not playing,” he explained. “It’s a bit of fun and gives you a chance to have some banter, as much as anything else.

“I’ll play if I’m needed. I must say that I don’t have a great enthusiasm to play two frames.”

Teammate and Alain Robidoux lookalike Roy Hutchings is another who thinks “it’s become a little bit serious”. But the 57-year-old admitted enjoying his first ever Premier match.

“I was a bit surprised, actually,” he said. “You go for shots that you possibly wouldn’t in one frame.”

But he added: “We are going to play teams that we aren’t going to get anywhere near. You’ve got guys that are capable of 70, 80, 90 breaks. You can’t afford to miss.”

Another one talked out of retirement is former Hythe Club player Scott Flood. His kid went to the same nursery as Brian Francis’.

After the pair became good friends, Francis spotted a cue at Flood’s house and asked if he played snooker.

Visitors to Ashlett might like to know that there have been improvements. Yes, the fact that one end of the tables is higher than the other, due to the uneven floor, can be rather disconcerting.

But at least they are now flat. Local folklore says that at one time you could roll a cue-ball from the right-hand black pocket to the yellow pocket – without it troubling the blue on its spot.

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