2002-09-01

This month the West Midlands will be beginning the new BDO Inter Counties Championship season in division four, something of a new experience for the one time high riding county. Nevertheless it goes without question that they have the playing power to put them back where they belong, at the top. Playing in division four is most definitely not a true reflection of the ability of the West Midlands team and promotion at the end of the season to division three will I am sure prove this.
At the county’s recent AGM changes were made regarding officers and officials. The most notable of the changes was that long serving men’s team manager Bill Taylor has stepped down and taking over will be Vic Lloyd, another player who has been associated with the West Midlands for many years. The full line up for the backroom staff is, Chairman Joe Biggs, Secretary Dot Harvey, Treasurer Rod Harvey, Men’s team manager Vic Lloyd, Women’s team manager Jean Tibbetts, M.C. Dean Furnival, Press Officer Alan Jones.
The county have also decided to change their home venue and hopefully their fortunes as playing their home games at Gilberts, Field Street, Willenhall, West Midlands.
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Congratulations on the local front go to the New Inns, who by the narrowest of margins have won the division one league title in the Harborne and District Winter League. Inns completed their sixteen match programme with 30 points, the same as runners up Weoley Castle. The deciding factor was that New Inns had 106 legs for as opposed to Weoley Castle’s 98. In third place was Avenue Social who were a massive ten points adrift of the leading pair.
The final of the league’s Wadsworth Cup was a cracker between the Punchbowl and Bartley Green Social Club. The 6-3 result went in favour of Punchbowl. The George and W.C.WMC contested the Skipp Cup final. With the help of a 160 break from V. Gould George stormed to an emphatic 11-4 victory.
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The Harborne 401 Summer League have already completed the play off’s of their singles and doubles competitions. Taking the singles crown, with a final straight 2-0 win over Hillyfields S. Pasetti was Midland Red representative T.McGlone. McGlone had taken out D.Bourne in the quarter finals with a 2-0 scoreline, hitting in the process 180,145 and 140, also recording an eleven darts game. He then met R.Kinsella in the last four and although taken to a deciding leg won 2-1.
Pasetti had beaten J.Slim 2-0 in the last four and then with a 2-1 verdict beat J.Merrick in the semi’s.
Pasetti may have had to be satisfied with second place in the singles but he made amends in the doubles when he and team mate M.Lyden won the event with a 2-0 success against B.Davenport and J.Good in the final. Pasetti and Lyden had had 2-1 wins in the two previous rounds where they took on P.Brotherton and G.Smith in the semi’s and R.Kinsella and M.Littleford in the quarter finals. Davenport and Good followed their 2-1 win over J.Merrick and B.Poyner to beat T.Parsons and T.Hamilton in the last four, Davenport recording a 156 break in the game.
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Sheldon Flights have suffered something of a setback in their campaign in the Small Heath Summer League. This current season they have enlisted the skills of two up and coming thirteen years old players. Very commendable you may think, giving youngsters a chance to play league darts and putting them on the first rung of the ladder to possible county or even national darts play. Unfortunately, the situation has not been as straight forward as you would think.
Tom Roche, secretary of Sheldon Flights and incidentally chairman of the Small Heath League sent a letter to Ward End Ex-Service Men’s Association Club Ltd explaining that his team would be playing at their club on September 17th and requesting that the two thirteen year’s old players be allowed to play.
The result was a definite NO!!
The secretary of the Ward End Club wrote back explaining that the club rules “do not allow persons under the age of 18 into the darts playing area within the bar and young persons are not allowed to play darts for safety reasons”. The letter went on to say “we would therefore be unable to justify this exception to our own members”.
So unluckily for both the players and the Sheldon Flights team the players will not be able to participate and will have to wait another five years before being allowed to play at Ward End Ex-Service.
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