All about us



	All about us: Metro East Billiard League (MEBL) has been running pool leagues since 1982. Each team consists of a roster with a maximum of 10 players with 5 players shooting each night. The majority of our teams consist of good friends and family getting out for a night having a good time while shooting competively. MEBL is considered to be a league of family and friends not any "pool sharks" on the way to Vegas! We have some good shooters but aren't interested in having any at a pro level. COST TO PLAY: It's only a $5 cost to the player each week to play. NO membership dues, no hidden fees anywhere. *SPONSORSHIP:* MEBL has a very cheap sponsor fee to enter a team, (only $30), from whichever bar/tavern they choose to shoot out of that is geographically reasonable for traveling by other teams. TROPHIES & PAYOUTS: MEBL pays out 80% of all money paid in by the players in the form of prize money and very nice trophies and plaques. Trophies include: 1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd place teams from each division along with a nice plaque for their sponsor; there also are trophies for the league MVP's with the highest average, one for men and one for women, along with trophies for most runs from the break, and most 8 balls made on the break. A lot of players have said that MEBL gives out the best trophies of all the leagues. BOARD MEMBERS: MEBL's president is Steve Kidd, who handles all financial aspects, sign ups, statistics, and the overall running of the league. MEBL also has 4 board members (two in Coed, and two in Metro) that offer opinions on situations that might come up during the year, along with the placement of teams into divisions at the beginning of the year, and possible rule changes that the players have shown an interest in voting on for the next year. In the political aspect: you have the president who runs the league and has to make the final decisions and live with it, but he has 4 cabinet members he seeks advice from. VOTING: This is a player's league. Each year players bring up suggestions they would like to see different than it currently is. These suggestions are talked over with the board members and a ballot/survey is formed towards the end of each winter league season to be voted upon by the players. Each team has one equal vote. WINTER LEAGUE: Usually starts on the first Mon/Tue/Wed of October and runs for 26 weeks. It actually may be 29 or 30 weeks depending on how dates fall on the calendar; we don't shoot Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve or Day, or New Year's Eve or Day. Sign up fliers are put out the first week of August for this, with actual signing up done the first week of September, and you're playing the first week of October. SUMMER LEAGUE: Everyone always asks about a short summer league for 15 to 18 weeks but it depends on demand each year. A lot of players put their sticks up for the summer and wait for winter. MEBL will offer summer league if there are at least enough for 2 divisions. DIVISIONS: There are four branches of MEBL: MEN'S, WOMEN'S, COED and METRO. Coed teams must have exactly a 2-3 or 3-2 ratio of men and women shooting on their team each night and is only for the Granite/Madison area. Metro can be any 5 players, man or woman shooting each night and is more of a traveling league from Alton to Granite City. Men's is on Monday nights and Women's league is on Tuesday nights with I270 being the north limit and I64 being the southern limit. A maximum of 14 teams can be placed in a division which is perfect, each team shoots all the other teams twice, once at home, and once away at their bar. Teams are placed in divisions by last year's statistics of their player's averages or their team's final place they were in. CONTACT US: If you have questions about when or how to sign up a team! Call (618)210-7324 (Steve Kidd) (618)946-7324 (Tammy Shafer) Write to Metro East Billiard League P.O. Box 127 East Alton, IL 62024 president@meblpool.com.