A POOL league has gone back on the baize under new procedures after the reopening of pubs last month.

With things slowly beginning to return to normality as coronavirus lockdown measures were eased, the Earlestown Pool League decided to trial the re-commencement of its competition.

With new procedures in place, which include wiping down the tables, balls, sanitising hands before and after each frame and only one referee handling the balls each frame, the league returned to action.

Chairman Dan Roblin says the league is proud to be what he believes was the first Pool League in the country to get restarted again.

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Dan contacted the pubs and the players to ensure they all felt it was viable, and after the first matches back, all felt that it was a roaring success.

Dan said: "Having not seen the lads for many months, it was lovely to all be together again and get back playing pool.

"Our pool league is a real pool family, each player adhered to the rules and we couldn't have done it without everyone being on board.

"We now hope to finish the season off by the end of September."

The league's runaway leaders Scala of St Helens won confidently, but all other ties were very hard fought.

The race for second is hotting up, with three teams all vying for the runners up spot. The Newmarket took a vital "four-pointer" against rivals Newton Social "A" while the Wellington scraped a deciding frame to take the two points over Newton Social "B".

Results July 16:

GRIFFIN 'B' 6 - 3 STOCKS

NEWMARKET 5 - 4 NEWTON SOCIAL A

NEWTON SOCIAL B 4 - 5 WELLINGTON

SCALA 7 - 2 GRIFFIN A

THE OLD CROW 5 - 4 UNION INN