RIJSBERGEN - The story has taken on a life of its own. Sixty year-old Arie Weijenburg from Berghem near Oss, who after a succesful career announced his retirement from the game during the Cup final in Rijsbergen, is still associated with that one practice match, in which he supposedly made a run of 37! Many of his fellow billiard players don't buy it, but Weijenburg himself has always maintained that the story is true. For what it's worth now: ,,I was playing a practice match with a friend, and there was one supporter in the room watching. I had made 29 points in 20 innings, then ran a 21 to finish. Our supporter said: play on, man. I did that, and made 16 more points, I swear it's true.''
What IS true however, is that Arie Weijenburg won the first two Masters tournaments held in the Netherlands: the first in a final against Frans de Vries, the second after a semifinal win over Dick Jaspers and a final against Ben Velthuis. There were also many highlights in team play, most notably in the years with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Semih Sayginer and later Dani Sánchez. With them, Arie won the Europa Cup and became Dutch champion. Individually, he's won six ranking tournaments and played for five seasons as a semi-pro in the BWA. Over the years, he's won matches against the likes of Ceulemans, Sang Lee, Jaspers, Blomdahl, Forthomme, Merckx and Leppens.
More memorable results: he won the national cup (then in twosomes) with Henk Habraken. "And we ended second at the EC.'' There were national titles with the team of Palais des Sports and Van Wanrooij, and there was that Cup final where Van Wanrooij won after an 8-0 win over Crystal Kelly in the final.
,,I was always a player who relied more on discipline than on talent'', he says, looking back on the golden years. ,,This was a time I can be proud of. Billiards has given me much joy, it was a major part of my life and it hurts a little to say goodbye to it.''
The reason for him to call it quits: he no longer has the "drive" to put in the practice hours. ,,That's what it's all about, if you want to compete with the big guns. Quite often these days, I am not myself at the table. I don't put up the fight, which is what I always used to do. My stroke suffers, and it causes me to miss. I do stay fit, I exercise, I jog, but I am no longer good enough to compete at the highest level.''
The onset of a good career came when his parents opened a hotel / restaurant / cafe when he was thirteen. Little Arie quickly showed his talents and evolved as a player. At 24, he reached the "ereklasse", the class of honor in 3-cushion and could soon after go head to head with the best in Holland. ,,I won my first Masters in Rotterdam and the second in Amsterdam, with a first prize of 15.000 guilders. A few years later, I won an international Grand Prix in Spa, which gave me a pro contract with the BWA of Dr. Bayer, as one of the elite sixteen. I was on that tour for five seasons. It was a great time, and I was in a quarterfinal of a World Cup five times.''
,,When I began to win, my dad said: you can play billiards, but you need to make money in a different way too. I got involved a the slotmachine business, in those years. Later, when I started to play for Willy Minkels and then for Van Wanrooij, I had plenty of shirt sponsors and made good money. I was a semi-pro who did some work on the side. I did some 3-C teaching, and these days I work as a courier in the pharma industry.''
With his current tean VDO, Weijenburg won the promotion to the league of honor twice. This year, they will be relegated again, but they did make it to the Cup final. Arie managed to win his very last match against Davy van Havere: 15-14 in the deciding set.
And now he hangs up his cue. In closing, Arie does want to thank everybody: ,,The sponsors, the supporters, all the people who stood behind me. I will show up at tournaments from time to time, I could not completely stay away from it.''