Cancer survivor turns back clock to pocket Fife pool title

Throughout the eighties and nineties George was a Scottish international for over 15 years and won numerous local and national singles and team titles.

His greatest success was becoming the Scottish Singles champion in 1987, while locally he played for the legendary CISWO, Country Inn and Cueball sides during those two decades.

He quit playing pool in 1998 but returned to competitive action in 2016, stating at the time: “I’ll still give today’s top players a run for their money.”

George didn’t keep in the best of health during his time away from pool.

Ten years ago he had a cardiac arrest followed by bowel cancer the next year. He didn’t lie down to those illnesses and being the winner that he is, he beat them both.

Despite rule changes during his absence he has adapted brilliantly and Saturday’s victory has definitely proved that he can more than hold his own.

The Fife Singles took place at Styx in Kirkcaldy.

Defending champion Alan Dickson was an early casualty going down to Glenrothes player Jamie Simpson 6-3.

Other highly fancied players such as Kevin MacLeod, Stephen Corcoran, Stephen Rafferty, Scott Spencer and Jimmy Gibson were all eliminated before the latter stages.

George made his way to the semi-finals by beating Gary Bremner 6-2, Kyle Leighton 6-3 and Lindsay Urquhart 6-2.

The four semi-finalists all hailed from Kirkcaldy with Mark Wishart beating Chris Corcoran 6-2.

George led 4-2 against Dean Hutchison but was pegged back to 4-4.

However, George used all of his experience to win the next two frames and progress into the final.

Geroge took a 5-2 lead in the final and although Mark threatened a comeback, potting a staggering six balls from the break en route to winning the eighth frame, George capitalised on a missed black in the ninth to pot his seven yellows and black to be crowned the Styx Fife Champion 2020.

Regarding his success at the weekend George says he’s “still delighted at being able to compete at the top table with the amount of quality in Fife pool at the moment” and likes to remind them all from time to time that “you can’t beat experience!”