NIEUWEGEIN - In Dutch billiard cafes and clubs, team billiards is becoming more popular every year. The new impetus, initiated a few years ago, has taken the number of four-player teams in the leagues for the coming season to 245 and for the cup competition to 156. That has seen growth of 13 and 12 teams across the divisions. Paul Brekelmans, section chairman three-cushion: ’’We are very happy with that growth and have actually been the biggest billiards competition in the world for years in that area.'' The premier league will get Kozoom's attention again in the coming season with live broadcasts of all rounds of play. The Masters and the World Cup in Veghel will be broadcast extensively on Ziggo Sport.
Stability and growth are partly due to the arrival of new billiard centers in the south and east of the country. The Biljartacademie in Sittard is a good example of that with some ten teams in competition. De Snelpost in Arnhem is another new center following in the footsteps of well-known billiard centers like De Eekhoorn, SIS centre, De Veemarkt, De Hazelaar, Capelle aan den IJssel and De Kuul. ''We have seen billiard cafes disappear because of COVID, but billiard centers have taken their place.'' The Section Board and its competition leader Hans de Bruin are busy with the layouts and playing schedule. Paul Brekelmans: ’’The competition has been made somewhat more compact: we start later than other years and have scheduled fewer free weekends. That was an explicit request from the teams and players.'' The league starts on Monday 18 September for the lower divisions and on Sunday 24 September for the premier league. Before the end of the year, there are three rounds of the Dutch cup and the premier league is halted for the World Cups in Veghel and South Korea. The premier league ends with the regular competition on May 12, the lower divisions two weeks earlier.
The format is a premier league with 12 teams, two first divisions with 12 teams each, four second divisions with 12 and for the third and fourth divisions, seven classes of 12 teams each. Paul Brekelmans: ’’We have lost six teams in the leagues and 20 new teams have signed up. The new plans are well received everywhere. We see a lot of enthusiasm about the new approach. People would rather play through the winter and be done with competitions when summer is coming up. We have listened carefully to that, also keeping international calendars in mind.''
The cup final will move to another venue, as the tournament has been brought forward slightly and the Beneluxtheatre in Berlicum will not be available then. The format will not change: lower-ranked teams can reach the final with a favorable draw. The premier league has become stronger again due to input from top foreign players. Paul Brekelmans: ’’We see more and more Turkish and German players in the lower divisions, which is a nice development for the quality of our leagues.''
The fixtures for the leagues will be announced around 15 August. This will be followed by the cup draw.