By Elliott West
Introduction
The Yorkshire Bank Professional took place in 1985 at the Excelsior SC, Leeds. This was a billiards tournament where Ray Edmonds was victorious in the final, defeating India’s Michael Ferreira 7-3. Edmonds from Grimsby and 51 years old at the time, received a cheque for £1,500 for his efforts. This was his best performance since turning professional the previous year.
The Tournament
The semi-finals had seen Ray Edmonds beat Mike Russell 4-0 and Michael Ferreira gain a 4-2 victory over future, 1987 world champion, Norman Dagley. Breaks of 66, 86, 86 and 78 unfinished helped Edmonds to win four successive games with Russell who in the first round and quarter-final had recorded eight centuries, wasting his chances.
Dagley’s dreams of reaching the final were not helped when he was docked the first frame for arriving at the venue late. This was due to the player being caught in a traffic jam which had been caused by a traffic accident.
Ferreira, who had seven centuries throughout the tournament, led 3-0 before Dagley with breaks of 102 and 133 – both unfinished – pulled up to 3-2. The Indian then compiled a 52 break which helped him win the sixth and final frame 151-149.
In the quarter-finals, Norman Dagley had a break of 152 unfinished against Bob Close and Edmonds had three centuries in his match with Geoff Thompson. Ferreira moved into the semi-finals with breaks of 129 (unfinished), 110 and 145 (unfinished), while Mike Russell, so impressive until reaching the last four, had runs of 141, 120, 138 (unfinished) and 101 (unfinished) ad he defeated Eddie Charlton 4-3.
UK Champion Ian Williamson was a first round casualty, losing 4-3 to Scotland’s Hugh Nimmo, a former ship’s steward who went out in the quarters to Ferreira. Robby Foldvari, runner-up in the UK, lost 4-2 to Russell whose centuries included a 151 (unfinished), 119 (unfinished), 108 and 103.
One of the best matches of the event involved Bob Close and Fred Davis. Close won 4-3, taking the decider by only 22 points in a match which produced seven centuries. Of those, Close had four, 139(unfinished), 134 (unfinished), 111 and 101 (unfinished) and Davis the others, a 128, 113 and 115 which came in the decider but was not quite enough for him to win it.
In the final, a 4-1 interval lead by Ray Edmonds, proved decisive, who won the first four games of 150-up with breaks of 95, 86, 69 and 79 (unfinished) in three of them. Ferreira, three times world amateur champion, opened his account in the fifth game after breaks of 62, 53 and 79 were not enough for him to do have done so in the previous three.
The second session began with the first century of the final, a 121 from Edmonds which was his seventh in the tournament. He knocked in a 101 in the seventh game but Ferreira who had a 74, won it by seven points. He also won the eighth in which he made a break of 97 but Edmonds took the next two to complete victory.
Results
Round 1 (Losers £93)
Norman Dagley v Eugene Hughes 4-1
Bob Close v Fred Davis 4-3
Hugh Nimmo v Ian Williamson 4-3
Michael Ferreira v Mark Wildman 4-3
Ray Edmonds v Howard Griffiths 4-1
Geoff Thompson v Jack Karnehm 4-0
Eddie Charlton v Clive Everton 4-0
Mike Russell v Robby Foldvari 4-2
Quarter- Finals (Losers £373)
Dagley v Close 4-1
Ferreira v Nimmo 4-0
Edmonds v Thompson 4-2
Russell v Charlton 4-3
Semi – Finals (Losers £750)
Ferreira v Dagley 4-2
Edmonds v Russell 4-0
Final
Edmonds v Ferreira 7-3
Summary
Ray Edmonds was a fine break billiards player and not too shabby at snooker. His win in this billiards tournament, showed how good he could be but he never cut the crust as a professional snooker player, failing to get past the first round of the World Championship on four occasions in 1980, 1981, 1985 and 1986. He won this tournament and two amateur snooker titles. Perhaps that is why he was lured to the microphone to input his dulcet tones as a snooker commentator on the other side of the fence.
