22/10/2023
Team Scotland are ICC Snooker Champions
Derek Kiely
SCOTLAND ended a six year wait to win the ‘Unite the Union’ Five Nations International Challenge Cup last night at the Locarno Snooker Club in Edinburgh.
The event that had been dominated by Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for the past eleven years will now have a new name on the trophy as Craig MacGillivary and his fellow eight team members played exceptional Snooker over the three day Internation Championship.
Up against Malta, France, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Scotland looked very confident and comfortable from the very first frame where the young Scottish star Jack Borwick started his opening match with a lovely 109 clearance and just then you could sense that this could be the host Nation’s year.
Play started on Thursday afternoon the 19th of October and in this nine person team event anything can happen and over the course of the three days other Nations threatened, but nobody got close to the Scottish team who in the end won the Championship with frames to spare.
Scottish Captain Craig MacGillivary said “This is a fantastic event, it just brings out the best in everyone. We don’t have any team events like this, normally Snooker is a very individual sport so the pressure of playing for each other some times can be very tough but it brings out the very best you too, so I am so proud that we are champions and next year when we travel to Malta we will have so much confidence to try and retain the Cup”.
The event was sponsored by Unite the Union and Paul Marinello the owner of the Locarno Snooker Club and Snooker Scotland. And there were plenty of people behind the scenes that made the fantastic event work.
Unique to all other Snooker Championships, the Unite the Union Five Nations International Challenge Cup is more that just about snooker, the event has a very solid base and foundation inspired by the friendships made between all the people who attend.
MacGillivary concluded by saying “There are so many people to thank and so many great new friends made as Malta under their captain Ivan Attar made Edinburgh their home for the past week. We will enjoy this for some time and look forward to Malta next year”. .