AROUND THE CIRCUIT : January 2012

08-01-2012 | Liz Fletcher

Well now that Festive Holiday has come and gone and most off you have gone back to work, we can now concentrate on what is happening around the country in the darting scene.
We have had the PDC World Championships and well done to Adrian Lewis on retaining his title he played some superb darts and to be honest was lucky to have got through the first round, but his winning doubles saw him right through to gain that lovely trophy once again Congratulations Adrian Lewis.
At the time of writing this column we have the BDO World Professional Darts going on at Lakeside, what a great field off ladies this year we have to contest this championship and once again it is a shame that we do not have 16 ladies in this tournament as I am sure it would make it a much better tournament. All I can say is good luck to everyone who has participated in the ladies.
We watch the darts on BBC and then on ESPN and yet they still cannot show us the ladies games once again the ladies are treated as second class citizens, I know the ladies would probably put on a better performance than some of the men’s games we have been watching so why don’t they get the same TV viewing as the men after all they have to tour the circuit the same as the men to gain those ranking points to get to Lakeside it’s the same old story so they say that the BBC ESPN do not want to see ladies darts on TV that is utter rubbish give those ladies credit where credit is due and start treating them properly, they are good enough to get to lakeside then they are good enough to be shown on TV. Come on ladies start fighting back and show them you mean business the more support for this the better let’s just show these people we ladies will be around as long as the men are and we deserve that TV coverage. Now ladies get that petition signed and start getting TV coverage and more ladies at Lakeside.
I would also to send my condolences to two very popular ladies on the darting circuit Tricia Wright who lost her dad on the 19th December R.I.P Harry and also to the Golden Girl Trina Gulliver whose mother Muriel passed away in the early hours off Thursday morning after a long illness R.I.P. Muriel out thoughts are with both you and your family’s at this sad time.
Good luck to everyone this month that will be travelling to county to gain those wins best of luck London who travel away to Bedfordshire, may I also say it will be a sad loss that London are losing two good county players for the rest of the season Richie Buckell cannot commit for the rest of the season due to work commitments and Tammy Mackenzie who after eleven years has decided to give county a miss and concentrate on touring the circuit to do more competitions, you will both be missed by London County.
Onto the competition front in the local areas, we start off with the big xmas knockout which was held at St Peters where we had 94 players play in the open singles, it was a great turnout and a very long old day, however I would like to mention a few people John Millett Marie Barthrop Ashley Holgate Richard Biggs who did quite a lot of chalking, because when players lost they just did not chalk the games, yes I am disappointed in certain players if you lose then you should chalk if you don’t want to chalk then nominate a player or someone to chalk for you or don’t play at all, however because of this it held up so many games and made the day a much longer day than normal, I am sure we would have finished a lo earlier than we did if it wasn’t for those players not chalking and the other players who had to chalk even though they won their games, Graham Hollis you have been round a long time and you lost and you were rude to the organisers about it to stand there and blatantly refuse to chalk is so out of order I am just letting you know don’t bother to turn up again as you will not be allowed to play in our competitions again and the same goes for the others that just walked out and did not chalk we know who you are.
We had 18 ladies in the singles and congratulations to Sharon Cullip who beat Apylee Jones in the final well done Sharon. Onto the Open pairs where the winners were Paul Gibbs and Paul Hogan who beat Steve West and Alan Nateghi ( I hope your ankle is okay now ), Furthest lady was shared by Tara Deamer and Tania Blake both picked up £25 going onto the Open singles, quarter finalists were Sam Fuller Steve West Gary Miles Paul Gibbs who all collected £50 semi-finalists were Steve Lovett and Frankie Pedlow who both picked up £125 and the runner up was Clive Clive Barden who picked up £250.00 and the winner was Phil Watham who played superb all day long and picked up £500 well done to everyone who made this competition a great day and hope to see most of you at our next one which will be on the 15th January however by the time darts world will be out and therefore our next one will be on February 19th ,
Well it is that time again and we are holding our 3rd Grant (Blueboy) Firmager memorial Trophy for Grant and time is upon us again to remember our dear friend and enjoy the darts and meet up with friends and family we have not seen for a while and play in the game that he loved it is on Sunday 19th February 2012.
The day shall commence with the open pairs competition. Entry will be £8 per pair and registration will be by midday to ensure a 12.45pm start. Money in Money out. Then an Open singles competition which shall begin at 2.45pm so ensure you register before 2.30pm. The entry fee for the singles is £7. 501 Best of 7 Pay-outs down to Quarter-Finalists plus Furthest Lady Separate Ladies Competition if there are enough entrants Ladies can also enter the Open. St Peters Social Club off Bishopsford Road Carshalton Surrey, I am sure by now everyone knows where it is so come on let’s see this have a great turnout for our very dear friend and his family.
Well that’s all for now folks so catch up next month. No silly thoughts for this month but watch this space.

Yours in the sport of Darts

Liz Fletcher-Wright