Last year local darts, Tipton especially, lost one of its greatest ambassadors of the sport of darts when John Jones prematurely passed away. John dedicated his life to promoting darts and was the manager of the hugely successful Tipton Super League team who won the title on numerous occasions. In memory of John the first “Jack Jones Memorial Knockout” was staged at Gilbert’s Bar and attracted many players ranging from local league players to internationals and professionals.
In the quarter-finals two England internationals, Wolverhampton’s Wayne Jones and Tipton man Jamie Hughes squared up to each other with Jones the 5-1 winner. Warwickshire’s Ian McFarlane handed out a straight 5-0 defeat to George Willets while Luke Woodhouse won 5-1 against Ian Jones and Keiran Bridgewater just got the 5-4 edge on Wayne Willis. Both semi-finals went to the wire with Keiran Bridgewater and Wayne Jones in turn accounting for Luke Woodhouse and Ian McFarlane. The final which was extended to the best of eleven legs also went to a decider with Wayne Jones just getting the 6-5 verdict.
Jamie Hughes, Wayne Jones (Winner) and Ian Jones
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Game number seven in the Kings Norton League brought together the league’s top two teams, leaders Copper Fox playing away against second placed Thurlestone. The outcome was a close 4-3 result in favour of Copper Fox to see them hold on to pole position with an unbeaten fourteen points and a lead of two over Northfield who moved up one place in the table after they won their home tie with fifth placed Rubery Social Club 5-2. Thurlestone dropped to fourth in the league on the same ten points as third placed Bournebrook and fifth in the table Bourneville, Bournebrook winning 6-1 at Coppice and Bourneville winning by the same 6-1 margin at home against bottom of the table Kings Norton Ex Serviceman’s Club, Rubery Social Club are a further two points behind on eight points and drop one place to sixth.
Top individual performances this week were supplied by E.Simpson and M.Hamilton (Copper Fox) who both recorded two maximums, C.Airey (Thurlestone), L.Allen (Northfield), V.Walton (Grant Arms) and Joe Fox (Cock Inn) all hit one maximum and Bourneville’s M.James recorded a fifteen darts leg and had top scores of 100,118 and 5×140).
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With all of the division one fixture’s completed a couple of weeks ago in the Four Oaks and District League the second division have been playing off their last few games and the title decider came down to the very last game as Minworth Flights and Oscott Social Club both went into their last fixtures level on thirty-six points with Minworth having the better average. Both teams had final home ties, Minworth Social taking on Funky Bear from the bottom half of the table and winning 6-3 while Oscott Social Club played hosts to fifth in the division St Thomas Arrows and won 8-1 but despite the bigger win Oscott Social Club still finished the season on the same thirty-eight points as Minworth Social but trailing by some ten legs of average and finished as runners-up with Minworth crowned as champions.
Just one fixture remains outstanding between Plough and Arrows and Sutton Sports and Social and although the result will have no bearing on the second division league table it could have a big effect on the Shadow League as Plough and Arrows are level on ten points with current leaders Funky Bear and a win in their remaining fixture would see them finish top of the Shadow League.
Pint Pot Flights player Mick Bagnall ended the season with a 160 break.
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After completing game five in the South West Birmingham Clubs League the positions remains the same for the top three teams with Longbridge United holding on to pole position and taking their undefeated run to five games with a 5-2 result playing away against third in the league Bournbrook. Second in the league West Heath CEM, like Longbridge are also unbeaten in their opening five games the latest of which saw them win their home fixture against Stirchley United 4-3 leaving them just two legs of average short of Longbridge while Bournbrook are now four points behind the leading duo as are fourth and fifth placed Avenue Social and Quarry Club, Avenue winning 6-1 at Perfection and Quarry losing 4-3 at home to Northfield Town who are just three places off the foot of the table.
The same two teams Longbridge United and West Heath CEM lead the Pre Match Doubles League leaders Longbridge have seventy-three points and have a lead of nine on West Heath who in turn are fifteen to the good on third placed Quarry Club.
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Being as there were no scheduled league fixtures the Rowley Monday Night League staged a Bank Holiday Monday Knockout at Rowley labour Club and collecting the winners £50 prize was Richie Lenton who in the final defeated Tommy Johnson 3-1, Johnson received £25 as runner-up. Losing semi-finalists were Jason Bland and Lee Eaves.
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The Netherton Thursday Night League had a couple of postponed fixtures this week those of Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘B’ v Netherton Sports and Social Club ‘B and Spring Meadow v Netherton Sports and Social Club ‘A’. League leaders Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘A’ handed out a 9-0 whitewash to their visiting team Townsend Social Club to take their points tally to forty and although second placed Netherton Sports and Social Club ‘A’ didn’t play their fixture they have now played the same twenty-four games as Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘A’ and trail them by four points with only four more games to play. Third placed Bulls Head after winning 7-2 at home against fourth in the league Hill and Cakemore are also four points off the top but they have played twenty-five games, their G.Jackson hit a maximum.
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From a starting line-up of sixteen teams in the Stourbridge and District Wednesday Night League only three remain undefeated after the opening five games. Bird in Hand ‘E’ and Old Liberal Club ‘A’ share the number one spot, level on points and average after Bird in Hand added their 5-2 win at Dudley Sports and Old Liberal won 7-0 at Wheatsheaf. Third in the table Shovel also won 7-0 playing at home against Black Horse, they trail the top two by just three legs of average. Three teams are still seeking their first points of the season Netherton Conservative Club, Black Horse and Fox Inn (Lye).
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It was presentation and finals night in the Sedgley and Gornal Tuesday Night League and in the doubles knockout Carl Sparrow and Tom Bissell beat Daz Sears and Stu Hillman to claim the title, then Carl Sparrow made it a fabulous double when he beat Luke Cross to win the singles title.
The league are now looking for entries into the league for next season, any teams both old or new interested in joining the league for the forthcoming season or requiring any further details should e-mail Robin Carey at [email protected]
Format of the league is six single games of 301 double start and finish plus three doubles games of 701 start and finish on a double.
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A 4-1 win against Soccer Zone was not enough for Railway Tavern to hold on to pole position in the Black Country Men’s Super League as Allen’s Bar ‘C’ won their home tie with White Swan 5-0 to put them on fourteen points one more than Railway who slip into second place. Coseley Tavern lost their third place suffering a 3-2 defeat away to Allen’s Bar ‘B’ who previously had lost their first two games, this being their first win of the campaign. Taking over in third place is Whiteheath Tavern who won 5-0 at home against The Vine, Blackheath to put them on twelve points just two off the top and only one short of Railway Tavern but at the same time two to the good on both fourth and fifth Townsend Social ‘A’ and Quarry Bank Liberal Club, Townsend ‘A’ winning 4-1 against Allen’s Bar ‘A’ and the Liberal Club having the same result over Ashwood.
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Nick Fullwell has taken over the top spot in the Black Country Thursday Night Singles League when in his latest fixtures he kicked off with a 7-1 win over Danny Bridgwood and then followed that with two 8-0 wins beating Sarah Jane Parker and then James Davies to give him a total points of 223 from twenty-seven games. Former leader Rich Bowen also began the night with a 7-1 win when he accounted for Alex Howells, he then, again like Fullwell won 8-0 when he took on Nick Whitehouse and rounded off his evening with another 7-1 success in his game with Grace Angell to put him on the same 223 points as leader Fullwell but from one game extra. Third in the league Shane Price didn’t play this week and now has two games in hand on Bowen and one on Fullwell but he is twenty-seven points behind Fullwell.
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Biggest winners of the week in the West Midlands Men’s Super League were the two Kings Head teams, the ‘A’ side won 5-0 against Gilbert’s Bar ‘D’ and the ‘B’ side accounted for Three Crowns by the same margin. Not far behind the Kings Head teams was Gilbert’s Bar ‘A’ who with a 4-1 scoreline beat Corpus Christi.
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