Aylesbury Invitation Pool League
The AIPL started in 1978 as the R.T. Major Pool League with Mr Len Disbury as the league chairman and 14 teams competing in a Premier and the Knock Out Cup, both which were both won by the Aylesbury Ex-Service-men's 'A'. The player Singles and Doubles competitions were also held.
The first season was successful and the AIPL grew in size over the years with teams entered not just from Aylesbury but from the surrounding villages too. At the peak of its popularity the AIPL ran 4 league divisions, 2 cup competitions and 4 player competitions.
The Premier has at times been dominated by one or two teams. John Kennedy A won the title for 4 consecutive seasons between 1999 and 2002, a feat matched by Shoot Vetz who won it between 2013 and 2016.
Recently, the Premier has been dominated by two teams; SP Blacks and The New Roth'mans' (formerly The Vic and New Zealand "B"), who have won the last seven Premier titles between them since 2017, with The New Roth'mans' winning four and SP Blacks winning three
The 2024 - 2025 season is underway featuring three divisions (Premier, Division 1 and Division 2) alongside the usual two team cup knockout competitions - Knock Out Cup and Plate Cup - and three player competitions - the Singles, the Doubles and the Anytime Singles Knockout, the latter being sponsored by Rothschild Arms
News
New Roth'mans' New Prem Leaders As Blacks Beaten
Review of Week 3 in AIPL Premier.
Posted: 08 October 2024 01:30
Top 3 Separated By 2 Points in Div 2
Review of Week 3 in AIPL Division 2.
Posted: 04 October 2024 08:15
AIPL Knock Out Cup 2024-25 Begins!
Review of Round 1 in AIPL Knock Out Cup.
Posted: 27 September 2024 16:15
Blacks Stay 100% as Shoot 'A' Pick Up Big Win
Review of Week 2 in AIPL Premier.
Posted: 22 September 2024 14:30
The Vic Club Stay 100% To Top Div 1
Review of Week 2 in AIPL Division 1.
Posted: 22 September 2024 13:15
Leaders Shoot 'Emselves Up To Top Spot
Review of Week 2 in AIPL Division 2.
Posted: 22 September 2024 12:30
Premier Season Ends With 7-5's Galore
Final Review of Week 18 and Premier Season.
Posted: 29 March 2024 21:00
Standings
Scores
Fixtures
Upcoming Schedule
Current Seasons
Competitions
Knockout Cup
The Knockout Cup competition has been an ever-present competition since the AIPL began in 1978, with Aylesbury Ex-Service-men's 'A' defeating Stoke Mandeville Hosptial 'A' in the first final.
Each season features all teams from all leagues entered into an unseeded Qualifying Round draw.
John Kennedy A dominated this competition at the end of the 1990's, early 2000's, winning the competition four times in a row, with the last three of those triumphs paired with the Premier Division trophy for the double.
More recently, The Vic won it for three consecutive seasons in 2013 - 2014, 2014 - 2015 and 2015 - 2016 as part of an 18 match unbeaten run in the competition that spanned just over 4 years and 3 months - or 1560 days.
Plate Cup
The Plate Cup competition is made up of teams that lose in the Qualifying Round of the Knockout Cup.
This competition has run from at least the 2001-2002 season.
As the identities of the teams change year on year, depending on who loses in the opening round(s) of the Knockout Cup, there has not been a successful defence of the trophy since Victoria Club 'A' won it for three consecutive years between 2002-2003 and 2004-2005.
Player Competitions
Although the AIPL is team-based with the leagues, it has run player competitions since it begun in 1978.
The Singles competition has been an ever-present competition and the entire history of all previous champions can be viewed on this site here. Keith Jones has won the trophy 9 times, including this past 2017-2018 season.
The Doubles competition is likely to also have been an ever-present competition throughout the history of the AIPL.
Except for a 3 year gap between 2008 and 2010, the Ladies Singles has run as a single day competition since 1995.
The Mixed Doubles tournament has run uninterrupted since 1995-1996.
Presentation Evenings & Photo Albums
Each year, the Aylesbury Invitation Pool League hosts an end of season Presentation Evening to thank the players, teams and venues that participated. It is also an evening of celebration as the winners are rewarded with trophies for their success throughout the latest season.
Here you can have a look back on the photo albums and reminisce about years gone by, or put faces to names of players in the league, both past and present.
Player Rankings
The AIPL has been running for 41 seasons, with around 15 years of information on this website, and you can compare yourself against other players in the rankings or just see which players have won the most games.
Association
Premier
Division 1
Division 2
Division 3
Committee
The AIPL has a committee that is voted in at the AGM each year and the members are tasked with running the season, organising cup draws, handling complaints and organising the end of season presentation night amongst a lot of other tasks.
Blackball / World Rules
The World Rules ruleset is part of the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) founded in 1992 by England, Australia and New Zealand. It is an international pool governing body overseeing international (principally Commonwealth) tournaments and rankings. It was already 20 years old by the time the AIPL adopted World Rules.
WEPF competes for authority and membership with the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) which produces its own tournaments and slightly different rules under the game name Blackball which were intended would unify the various existing British-style rulesets (presumably also including the WEPF rules) although this has not yet happened. Blackball rules (ruleset) were first released on 29th September 2005 onto the WPA's web site with the new rules coming into force on 1st January 2006.
For many years different versions of rules caused unnecessary confusion amongst players and antagonism between self-appointed 'governing bodies' which had sprung up to administer 8ball pool. When the Blackball rules were first discussed and compiled, there were approximately 19 different sets of rules played in Great Britain alone, and the anticipated outcome of the new Blackball ruleset was that, given the recognition and support of the World Pool Association, national pool organisations would for the first time be able to unite under a single World structure and everyone could play the game to exactly the same rules.
World rules are no longer played at the professional level, since the International Professional Pool Association (IPA) swapped to WPA blackball rules in 2012 (again note this was before the AIPL adopted World Rules for their league), and around the world, World Rules are used less and less with more countries and leagues playing Blackball. However, the UK is one of the countries with the strongest remaining support for World Rules.
For the 2017 AIPL AGM, Amber Carter was asked to give a presentation on the differences between Blackball and World Rules, with a view on taking a vote at a future AGM about moving the AIPL onto Blackball rules. This presentation can be viewed or downloaded here.
It was also decided at the 2017 AGM that the league would organise some Blackball tournaments to help those who wanted to learn Blackball rules or learn the differences between Blackball and World Rules. Contact James Connor for more information (contact details on the committee page).
Update 18th July 2018: Blackball rules were voted to be introduced for the 2019-2020 season at the 2018 AGM.
