This suggests that the clubrooms were completed sometime in the winter of 1951. My thanks to Patricia McCalliog for locating this information from her father's records. Sadly, no other records have been found, either in the parish records or the diocesan archive. A proposal to build a snooker venue was put to the local clergy at the time and after protracted discussions, the parish (administered since 1937 by Canon McMullin) agreed to construct it on the grounds made available with the demolition of the cottages at the bottom of Water St. and Church St. Patsy Meehan remembers playing and attending fairs on the site of the new club. Victoria Maccabi Snooker Club is now one of the most successful clubs of the Australian Maccabi movement and was the recipient of the first Maccabi Incorporated 'Club of the Year' award in 2003. The club had again outgrown its home at Princes Entertainment Centre due to a refusal by the owners to allow the club any more tables on a Thursday night, but what could be done. At the headquarters of Victoria Maccabi on the 21st Feb. 1991 a meeting was held with a view to forming a Snooker and Eightball club within the Maccabi family of sporting clubs.
It was decided very quickly by the committee, after seeing the talent available, to enter a team in the Victorian Billiards & Snooker Association Willis Snooker Pennant Competition, to test the newly formed Victoria Maccabi Snooker Club against the other snooker clubs playing in and around Melbourne. 15 years, 7 premiership flags and 7 finalist flags, What is a billiards club beating the record of many Melbourne clubs with histories counted in several decades. It has provided the club with its only written record from the fifties and solves the puzzle as to when the club was built. Ten of those original members were still with the club which then boasted over 100 after its third move in 2005. From little acorns mighty oaks do grow. Players came and went over the years but very few because of dissatisfaction with the club, some left for personal reasons and others sadly passed away. Adam has presided over a turbulent period in the club's history but has never given up on preserving and maintaining its viability and the moves from the defunct Kings to Bentleigh and Eddies Pool Room, then later to Bentleigh and Cue 8 Bar and so to Hampton and Freccia Azzura Club in 2020 after Covid had wreaked its havoc upon the world and the Maccabi Snooker Club, were just a few of his many trials.
It seems probable that Holy originally drew up some notes for the use of the pupils to whom he gave lessons in Whist, as his original edition speaks of "purchasers of the Treatise in Manuscript disposed of the last winter," and also that there was "a Treatise on the Game at Whist lately dispersed among a few Hands at a Guinea Price," and further, that the author of it "has fram’d an Artificial Memory which takes not off your Attention from your Game; and, if required, he is ready to communicate it upon Payment of one Guinea. Even Mr. Pickwick is depicted playing Whist there with Miss Bolo, Mr. Bantam, M. C., and the Dowager Lady Snuffanuff, in a passage too well known to require quotation, though Mr. Pickwick’s visit was at a date when the chief glories of Bath had departed. Mickey arranged for a team from Ballyshannon to play in Donegal and the visitors won well. Canon McMullin's idea was that the boys of the town would play snooker while table tennis (which had a separate committee) would be available to both girls & boys. Remember, the more you play and practice, the better you'll become.
Since engaging with more experienced players can offer valuable learning opportunities. While you can start with a basic cue stick, investing in a good-quality cue stick tailored to your preferences can significantly enhance your performance. An expert pool player, on the other hand -- well, he can just look at the billiards table and imagine lines drawn out, marking the trajectory the cue ball must take to make the shot. Facilities, as mentioned, were second to none in the early days of Kings but were sadly allowed to deteriorate in its latter years after the Victorian smoking ban came into force which decimated the patronage by the general public and forced the owners to cut many corners in an effort to keep the venue running and also make it worthwhile as a business at the same time. In fact, the first five places in the inaugural club championship were filled by Stan Karpel as Champion, Tony Fridman in second place, Aaron Kalinski in third, with Larry Eforgan and Lionel Singer placed fourth and fifth. The premises were commandeered during the Second World War and made available to the public. Only in recent times, the game is getting propagated into the interiors of the country, thanks to the successful performances by Indian players at the world stage.