Pool mania gets blackballed

Tanzania's authorities launch a crackdown, claiming young criminals plot robberies during the games.

Midday at the Tiptop Bar. Plastic tables are heavy with alcohol; brown beer bottles bearing labels such as Safari, Tusker and Kilimanjaro and clear ones filled with vodka, Konyagi and cane spirit. Four well-fed men sit around a platter of goat ribs, picking at them greedily. Hawkers flit in and out selling textbooks, boiled eggs, CDs and plastic sandals. A breeze ruffles the palm fronds of the roof high above.

But something is missing. The 'clack', the Bushman tongue-click of cue striking ball. The thud as the ball slips into the corner pocket and slides through the innards of the pool table. The cheers and groans as the eight ball is sunk.

'If we opened up the pool table, people might play,' said Fidelis Hieronimo, the bar manager, gesturing towards a table hidden under a sheet of canvas. 'But it would be with fear. They would be breaking the law.'

Last month, in a decision as harsh as it was curious, Tanzanian police began to close down pool and snooker halls during working hours. The game had become a distraction for young people who were being diverted from 'productive activities', police said. They claimed that thugs were plotting robberies while shooting stick during the day.

In most other African countries the clampdown would scarcely have mattered. But in Tanzania pool has become an obsession. As a pastime, only football is more popular, locals say. From morning to night, in bars, in discos and on the dusty roadside, pool tables are constantly occupied. Or were.