Collegiate billiards league set to debut in November

MANILA, Philippines - Long after the likes of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante brought the game of billiards out of smoke-filled halls and into mainstream acceptance, a billiards league featuring leading schools and universities is set to debut in November, intended to breed new cue stars.

Formed by leading billiards enthusiasts in the country and dubbed the National Collegiate Billiards League, or simply B-League, it’s set to start on Nov. 20 and will run up to March next year, having attracted at least 19 learning institutions and the support of various firms and individuals.

Leading the way for the NCBL are Reli de Leon, one of the pioneer PBA player agents and event organizer, and Perry Mariano, founder of the Billiards Managers and Players Association, who are the league’s president and vice president, respectively.

“We’ve invited schools to participate. We want to bring kids who are good in billiards but are out of school back to the classroom as athletic scholars. We want to keep the sport alive beyond the stars of today and we want to develop new billiards heroes,” said De Leon, whose expertise includes landing contracts for world boxing champions Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales.

Mariano said in the absence of government support, the B-League has taken the cudgels for the sport to ensure a new generation of billiards stars takes over when the likes of Reyes and Bustamante finally call it quits.

“The rising stars of other countries are in their teens. In two or three years, new generation of stars will eventually take over from the veterans. We need to develop a new breed of stars to keep our dominance in the sport. If not, we’ll lose our competitive edge,” said Mariano, owner of Bugsy Promotions that manages former world champion Ronnie Alcano, Dennis Orcullo and Roberto Gomez.