2014-08-01

Riley’s, Castle Vale was the setting for the charity event organized by South Birmingham League secretary Sue Kingdon. The event was in aid of local lad Vinnie Whitehead, who requires sensory lighting as he suffers from Menkes Disease.
Winner of the main event was Barry Stephens, with runner up Martin Partridge, these two plus the other six from the last eight, Neil Parsonage, Luis Barberan, Chris Stokes, Simon Edwards, Dave Clinton and Pete Shipley will now go on to play against professionals Ronny and Kim Huybrechts plus Jelle Klassan at the Castle Vale venue in September.
The youth competition was won by Alex Edwards with Jake Liggins the losing finalist.
The evening raised a fantastic amount of £761.
The second of the charity nights was held at Holy Souls where the South Birmingham League took on the Gulp charity team. The result was a close 11-10 for the South Birmingham League, with a total of £203.85 added to the cause.
The return match between South Birmingham and the Gulp was at Riley’s, Castle Vale, on this occasion the South Birmingham League cruised to an 11-4 victory, but again the biggest winner was the charity which had its funds increased by a further £200 to take the running total to a tremendous £1295.45.
In addition to the main event there was also a youth knockout which was won by Peter Kingdon, with Ben Liggins runner up.
Other fund raising activities are planned plus in September there will be the exhibition game where the professionals take on the last eight from the first knockout.
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Fifteen years old Luis Barberan from Castle Vale teamed up with Billy Holmes from Milton Keynes to play in the EDO England Open Pairs competition at Selsey and the duo progressed to the semi finals from a starting line up of 264 pairs.
In their last four game they were narrowly defeated 3-2 by Nick Kenny and Dean Reynolds, but nevertheless it was a tremendous achievement for the young upcoming stars of the future.
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The South Birmingham League completed their season with the remaining outstanding division two games now played. St John’s had already completed their programme and won the title with a total of 30 points from a possible 32. Runners up Iron Horse ended on a high with a 5-4 victory at home to Toby Jug, who finished in third place just two points behind Iron Horse.
The Kingfisher took the wooden spoon having won just one of their 16 games, their final result a 5-4 home defeat at the hands of the Dog team.
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Another local league to have completed its fixtures is the Stourbridge and District Monday Night League and the title could not have been more fiercely contested as High Acres, with a final 6-3 win at Bird ‘A’ (Stourbridge) finished with 68 points from their 38 games and runners up Brickmakers, who had a similar 6-3 win in their tie at The Cat also ended up with 68 points, but with an inferior average.
Ten Arches took the third spot, a close 5-4 win against Church Tavern giving them a total of 64 points, six ahead of fourth placed Bird ‘A’ (Stourbridge).
Crestwood Beauties finished their season with a 9-0 defeat at the hands of the Plough, leaving them without a single win in their 38 games. However, the Plough’s win saw them overtake Bird ‘B’ (Stourbridge) to clinch the shadow league title with 20 points, Bird ‘B’, who lost their last game 6-3 to the Bird (Wordsley) finished runners up with the same 20 points as the Plough.
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The Stourbridge and District Wednesday Night League played off the finals of their Knockout Cup. In the first semi final The Bell and The Swan (Brettell Lane) game went to 7-7, The Swan winning 2-1 in the play off. The other last four play-off saw Ten Arches ‘A’ beat Rose and Crown 10-4.
In the final league runners up Ten Arches ‘A’ romped to a 6-1 win over The Swan.
Individual performances of the night went to Ten Arches ‘A’ players M.Rollinson and N.Donaldson, who in turn recorded six and seven darts games, Rollinson had a 150 break and checked out with a tremendous 151.
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The Camp Hill League’s League Cup was won by league runners up Gulp Tribe, who beat league champions Cotterills Lane Club 5-2 in the final. The Consolation Cup title went to Scruffy Ringers, a convincing 6-1 win over Westminster Lions in their final.
The Captains Knockout Cup was won by Wagonners Peter Freeman and the Secretaries Knockout Cup by Dave Carter (Great Western).
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Fox and Dogs ended their season in the Tamworth League with a resounding 7-0 victory over Longwood. Their win gave them a total point’s of 194 and saw them complete the fixture card with 22 wins in the 22 games played. Dolphin ‘A’ ended their season with 176 points and finish as runners up. Third placed Sports Bar ‘180’ had 139 points.
Fourth placed Old Liberal House were unable to finish on a high as they lost 6-3 at home to eighth in the table Mile Oak Rovers.
The players league was won by Fox and Dogs representative Martin Edwards. Martin with a final success against Longwood’s Simon Smith finished on 57 points, 9 ahead of runner up Kevin Clubley (Dolphin ‘A’).
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The Long Eaton Singles League have got their new season underway and have attracted a fantastic 29 players forming three divisions.
After the opening four games Mark Cowley leads the way in division one with 24 points, two more than second placed Tony Glover, who is the only player in the division to have won all four of his games, he trails Cowley on the basis that the points are made up of the number of winning legs and not as the norm points for each win and Cowley had won 24 legs to Glover’s 22.
After the leading duo comes a gap of six points to third and fourth places, which are in turn held by Malc Tucker and Malc Marks.
In division two Jason Holmes has a much more comfortable lead, heading the table with 23 points, five more than his nearest rival Steve Butler, who is a further two points ahead of third in the table Richard Turgoose.
It’s neck and neck in division three with Colin Dunston and Mike Booth both on the same 27 points. Jason Morley is another five points adrift from the leaders in third place and has played one game more than the top two, while fourth placed John Brierley, on 21 points, has only played three games.
However, with the majority of players having played four games there is a long way to go to the end of the campaign and as is usual there will be many twists and turns before the season comes to an end.
On the individual front the highest finish so far goes to division two player Steve Butler, who recorded a 154 checkout, the highest for division one is 127 supplied by Kez Barfield and for division three 108 from Mike Booth.
Thirteen is the least darts for both division one and two, Dean Andrews the division one player, Richard Turgoose and Alan Jackson for division two. John Brierley and Colin Dunston’s sixteen darts legs lead the way for division three.
Winners from the first round of the League Cup are, as at the time of going to print, Mike Booth, James Atkin, Glyn Williams, Mark Cowley, Brian Spence, Alan Jackson, Malc Tucker, John Brierley, George Singh, Gary Pearson, Kez Barfield and Paul Iliffe.
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The Ripley Elite Darts Singles League summer season is well underway and as the halfway point fast approaches the race for the title in both divisions is still well up for grabs.
In the Premier Division Daz Brown leads the way on 53 points from 13 games, but hot on his heels are Paul Baker and Ty Ward snr, who are both just two points behind him, although Ward has played one game more than Brown and Baker.
Steve Pashley is at the time of going to print in fourth place with 50 points and Ash Spencer fifth with 49. Reece Spurr may be way down the table in thirteenth place, however he has only played nine games and with wins in his four outstanding fixtures he would be well up there with the leaders.
The highest finish so far goes to Wayne Howe (154), while Daz Brown has hit the most 180’s (10). Paul Baker and Daz Brown hold the least darts, which is eleven and the best average 33.40, provided by Paul Baker.
In the newly sponsored Sleeping Beauty Beds division one Andy Houghton is in pole position with 75 points from 15 games and is the only player in the two divisions to have won all of his fifteen games. Rob Coggins is five points adrift of Houghton in second place and has played one game fewer than Houghton. Then there is another gap of five points to third in the table Andy Gillott, who in turn is five points ahead of Chris Hill, who is fourth.
On the individual front 147 is the highest finish, which was achieved by Chris Hill. Duncan Rhodes has the least darts, which is twelve and also the highest average 27.42. Rob Coggins has recorded the most 180’s, a total of six.
Should be a very interesting and exciting run in to the end of the season, with everyone seemingly capable of beating anyone
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