This coming weekend local teams will be taking part in the inaugural fixtures of the United Kingdom Darts Association’s National League which has replaced the former BDO Inter County League.
Warwickshire open their account with a tough away game against Yorkshire which historically has proved to be a hard fought and closely contested game.
Lining up for Warwickshire at the Glasshoughton WMC, 152 Leeds Road, Castleford, WF10 4PD, will be Men’s ‘A’:- Tommy Aldridge, Jamie Atkins, Kevin Dowling, Noel Grant, Steve Giddings, Nigel Heydon, Steve Hine, Jamie Hughes, Prakash Jiwa, Ian McFarlane, Ian Shaw, Dean Stewart, Men’s ‘B’:- Gareth Braham, Mark Carter, Simon Fairbrother, Carl Green, Dave Hill, Dave Honey, Tom Martin, Wayne Mynard, Karl Reynolds, Mark Strong, Jack Wareing, Matty Washbrooke, Reserves:- Luke Kennedy, Tm McGlone, Martin Tonks, Women’s ‘A’:- Nina Bolt, Natalie Gilbert, Sue Gulliver Angela Jones, Tammy Montgomery, Donna Pinch, Women’s ‘B’:- Wendy Adams, Marian Conway, Melanie Jones, Denise Keyte, Rosie O’Connor, Caroline Pike, Reserves:- Lucy Keyte, Chloe McKivett.
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For the very first time the Black Country has entered a team in the National League and in their opening fixture in League Three, a home game against Gloucestershire their selected teams are, Men’s A:- Scott Baker, Jamie Barrowman, Robert ‘Becks’ Smith, Reece Colley, Shane Price, Owen Maiden, Steve Gilliam, Gareth Johnston, Dan Nicholls, Trevor Brennan, Paul Wells, Mathew Tedstone, Men’s B:- Matt Coleman, Liam Kelly, Adam Edgar, James Avfc Hykin, Jamie Rollinson, Mark Rollinson, Tommy J. Bissell, Chris Hickman, Richard Bowen, Shane Sheridan, Lewis Law, Steve Jones, Reserves:- Martyn Harper, Lee Shaw, Dan Haden, Mike Hampson, Matt Moore, Women’s ‘A’:- Chez Allcock, Steph Konya, Doreen Hunt, Grace Angell, Debbie Williams, Kerry Wilkinson, Women’s ‘B’:- Stella Sims, Sophie Pinches, Shannon Hall, Heather Wright, Sarah Tromans, Angie Carroll, Reserves:- Chelsea Millward, Marie Millward, Natalie Mansell.
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Another local league, the Sedgley and Gornal Tuesday Night League has wiped away the cobwebs of COVID and got their new season underway. Gornal Labour Club began the campaign with a bang handing out a 9-0 whitewash to their visitors Pensnett Liberal Club to put them top of the table with a two legs advantage over Jolly Crispin, New Inn and Old Bulls Head who in turn won 7-2 against Meadow Lark, Lamp Tavern and Griffin.
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Week three of the Hilltop Friendly Tuesday Night League sees three teams Vine, Dewdrop and Waggon and Horses continue their unbeaten run. Vine with a 7-0 win at Tamebridge lead the trio on average with Dewdrop some four legs behind after their close 4-3 home win over Horseley Tavern, this being Horseley’s first defeat. Waggon and Horses are a further two legs adrift following a 5-2 home win against Albion.
Miners Arms chalked up their first points of the season with a 4-3 home win over Hayes Social.
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Sheldon Marlborough continue to impress in the Camp Hill League handing a first defeat of the season to Meadway Social, who despite their 4-3 home loss hold on to second place in the table but are now with a game in hand, four points behind their victors who head the table with a perfect ten points from five games.
Aston Inn Nomads had their fixture with Tyseley WMC postponed due to players work commitments, they are the only other team in the league besides Sheldon Marlborough with a 100% win record but they have only played three games so far.
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The Warwickshire Men’s Super League is up to week two. Tamworth and Rugby are the only two teams from a starting line-up of eleven to have won both games. Tamworth after beating Warwick 6-2 and Birmingham Red Lion 5-3 head the table with 15 points closely followed by Rugby who began their season with a 5-3 win at Birmingham Red Lion and followed that with a similar 5-3 result away to Coventry Lime Tree to leave them just one point short of Tamworth.
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Old Hill Cricket Club have replaced Townsend Social in the number two spot in the Netherton Thursday Night League after winning 7-2 away to next to bottom of the table Netherton Sports and Social, Townsend somewhat surprisingly losing 5-4 at home to Bulls Head who lost their opening game of the season 5-4 at Spring Meadow.
Old Hill C.C. are just three legs of average off the top behind Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club who added a 7-2 win against Spring Meadow to their opening 9-0 at Netherton Conservative Club. The top two are the only undefeated teams in the league after only two games.
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After the opening four fixtures have been played in the Black Country Men’s Super League one point is the only difference between the top two teams. A 4-1 win for Allens Bar ‘C’ over local rivals Allens Bar ‘B’ keeps the former top of the table with 25 points with second placed Yeltz Bar ‘A’ on 24 points after beating their local side Yeltz Bar ‘B’ 3-2.
After the top two there is a gap of four points to third in the table Railway Tavern who took their points tally to 20 with a massive 5-0 home win over Old Hill Cricket Club.
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The top four teams in the Netherton Tuesday Night League are all on six points, leaders Bulls Head lost for the first time in three when they went down 5-4 at home to joint second in the table Netherton Sports and Social ‘A’ but hold on to pole on average. Sharing the second place with Netherton is Quarry Bank Liberal Club whose 6-3 win over Plough puts them level on points and average with the Sports and Social Club, both teams having a game in hand on Bulls Head.
Making up the top four is Wheatsheaf ‘A’ who beat their ‘B’ side 6-3. Like Bulls Head Wheatsheaf ‘A’ have played three and lost one.
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Two huge wins, 7-1 against Eddie Gripton and 8-0 against Joe Bartolo has taken Steve Jones from third to the number one spot in the Gilbert’s Bar Monday Night League with a total of 154 points from 19 games. Former leader Martin Price suffered a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Luke Wildman and as a result he drop to third in the table with 145 points from the same 19 games as Jones, Wildman moves up two places to sixth.
A 5-3 win over Billy Robbins sees Alex Howells hold on to second place, he is now on 149 points but has played 20 games.
Paul Vaughan doubled his number of wins when he won 6-2 against both Sarah Parker and Arthur Lubkowski, he now has four wins from 21 games.
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Gilbert’s Bar staged a knockout on Saturday 11th September which attracted 36 players including international, county and super league players with the top prize of £220 going to Wednesfield’s Wayne Jones. Jones took out Scott Hope in the quarter finals and then booked his place in the final with a 5-0 win over Chris Hill. From the other side of the draw Rob Thompson (Walsall) beat Kevin Taylor in the last eight and then after a close 5-4 verdict against Mick Baker in the semis reached the final.
The final saw Wayne Jones beat Rob Thompson 6-2 to win the knockout, Thompson received £100 as runner-up, there was £40 for losing semi-finalists Mick Baker (Wolverhampton) and Chris Hill (Willenhall), with £10 for Jason Meek, Kevin Taylor, Scott Hope, Phil Clarke who all made their exit in the quarter finals.
Rob Thompson (Runner-Up) and Wayne Jones (Winner)
In the first round losers competition Andy Jervis (Wednesfield) beat Ben Johnson (Willenhall) 4-3 to collect £40. Johnson received £20.
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After a long wait the Henley and District League completed their season with their finals and presentation night. The stats for the season were, League Winners:- Studley Cricket Club, Mixed Doubles Winners:- Dave Amour and Pam Jones, Captain and Secretaries Winners:- Dave Amour and Paul Dawson, Ladies Singles Winner:- Mandy Morgan, Men’s Doubles Winner:- Eric Wadlow and Dave Tabberner, Men’s Singles Winner:- Paul Bright.
Sadly it was announced that this was the end of the league as there was not enough interested teams to form another season
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The Wolverhampton Tuesday Night Darts League 2021-22 AGM will be held on Tuesday 5th October at the Emerald Club, Cross St North, Wolverhampton.
Teams old and new are cordially invited to attend the meeting with a view to forming a new season for a league that has incredibly been going for more than 60 Years.
There will be an 8.00pm start and all teams must bring a list of all their player names plus £50 towards league fees.
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