Darts on TV

This coming Thursday night at 11pm on Setanta sports you can catch the highlights of the Irish Open from 3 weeks back that was won by Mick McGowan when he demolished Painter in the final 7.0. The coverage is extended into Friday night and will be broadcast at 7.20pm on that night.

I've got a nice few entries for the Free Darts Exhibition and i have to state on this one that it'll be decided on numerous factors and will have nothing to do with whether you know me or not. Myself and the player are looking for a certain venue which makes sense for various reasons and will be selected there after. Anyone who has run a successful packed exhibition in the past 2 years will be in with a genuine shout so keep the entries coming.

In Wales at the weekend and I noticed Barney is now using Taylor flights. The small skinny blue ones. I'm surprised by this to be honest as Barney unlike Taylor stacks from above the 60 downwards and I find those flights carry the dart threw the air at a more of barrel high angle and in actual fact can block your target if you dont like where the first one goes. Thats why Taylor will always go for 19's if his first dart goes above the 60. Cant understand Barney's logic here and I bet come the Citywest when he plays Woz he'll be back to his old ones.

Another big name will be coming to this site soon so keep an eye out for who exactly. Alex will be joining in December and when January comes around we will have a revoked player list as it is now becoming very popular to have a darts exhibition and although this site is targeted for Ireland only its success in the UK/Holland in obtaining exhibitions is booming and going from strenght to strenght. Any newcomer to this site wants a darts exhibition and thats our aim.

PDC announced today about the Denmark wildcard. If you were reading this last week you could have got that information so be sure and have a read. I was going to tell you about a bit of a happening in Wales at the weekend but I honestly cant so i'll just have to leave you with the thought of Harvey up on his buckin bronco. He's getting to old now to be having a go on those machines. You can just picture him on it cant you?

Free Exhibition I Kid You Not.

Good news for a few pubs out there now is that i'm going to be in the position to offer a couple of free exhibitions to your good selves in the coming weeks prior and just after the Grand Prix. The exhibition will involve a player currently in the top 10 and it is a promotional exhibition you are doing so if you have a pub and are interested please let me know and we can put you in the hat.

 

My local in Tramore will be delighted to know also that i have another one of my pro dart player friends coming over to Ireland on a few days break in the coming weeks and we have decided to go to Tramore for a couple of nights. We might even play in the Friday night tournament but we'll play only if we can share the pot..........how about that Ferghal. Dont forget to contact me about the other free exhibition too. Only people who contact me through the site can get this FREE night with one of the top 10 in the World.

 

Some great stories from the weekend just gone in Wales as regards the darts calendar and Jamie paying 20p to see how long he can stay up on a buckin bronco before falling off at 3am in the morning.( hahahahahahah).

I actually had a long blog wrote last night ready to submit it but it deleted and i was left having to do it again so i said today i'd just submit the free exhibition instead so REMEMBER LADS IF YOU OWN A PUB OR CLUB OUT THERE.......IF YOU ARE NOT IN YOU CANNOT WIN.

WOZZA AND BARNEY MEET AGAIN

Not been able to sleep a wink last night mainly due to the Grand Prix draw being lodged inside my head. Never up this early in my lifeForgive me for being a bit cheesed off at the draw we got. Wozza drew Dutchman Ray Barneveld in the opening round with the winner more than likely playing Taylor in round 2 providing Phil gets over Wes Newton in round 1.

The Barney/ Warriner draw is a great draw for Sky Sports to be honest but i personally would have prefered meeting Barney later on in the tournament when we have established ourselves a bit. The first round at the Grand Prix is best of 3 sets best of 3 legs so over a short format anything is possible so we'll be needing Wozza to come flying out of the traps in that one. Draw was made last night at 11.50pm and Wozza was ok with his draw so now we gotta go and prepare for it like in any other match and thats what we will do.

Going back to the Irish lads with Gareth and Anto. Gareth will play "The Pieman" Smith in the opener and low and behold Anto was drawn against Mark Walsh. Walshie is a figurehead for darts exhibitions but it a little bit deflated at the moment and if Anto was ever going to catch a top pro off gaurd this would be it. Anto has a temper/concentration problem though and that will be his downfall in whatever round it is he goes out in.

The one match that generated a huge groan when pulled out of the hat last night was the match that I am really looking forward too which is that of Andy Callaby and Kevin Painter. Small bit of needle in this one and i'll be shouting for Super Cally here at the scene of his most fanous hour in 2004. Cally can play and when the order of merit comes out in January we will be seeing at lot more of him on our TV screens. Cally has Kelly as his good luck omen so he should be alright.

Johny Part will be delighted with his draw as he will face Lionel Sams in the opener. Lionel is a good player but his record on camera has not been great since he burst on the scene at the worlds in 2003/04. Mace the Ace against One Dart Manley is another mouth watering encounter we have to wait for.

One disapointment for me was to see my old mate Colin Osbourne lose the final leg of the last qualifying match to Steve Beaton. I Have huge hopes for "the wizard" and have obtained a bet of €100 at 50/1 that Colin will be World Champion in the next ten years. I think he is that good. He is young though and like Cally when the order of merit comes out in January and they do away with all the rubbish you will see alot more of him on our TV.

The four qualifiers nevertheless were Super Cally,Steve Beaton, Barney and Alan Green.
The games i'll be looking out for are obviously enough Wozza/Barney, Mace/Manley, Anto/Walsh and Cally/Painter. I've already looked at a nice accum.

Unbelievable this year that Ireland are not been given any Wildcard to the World Championship. It is shocking really. The Dutch have 3. I wonder why.......????????, The Germans have 2.........I'm not even go into that......and wait for the best bit.......Denmark have one. Germans and Danes have done 100,000 sweet nothings for this game and its total politics why they are getting them and if I was Mick Mcgowan, John MaGowan, Tom Kirby or to a lesser extent Owen Caffrey i'd be bullin. Shocking decision but such is darts.
A total and utter Joke.

Busted.

Sensational story line breaking this morning in World Darts was the ban by the DRA on Robbie "King Kong" Green for failing a drugs test last June. Although i knew for some weeks now about Robbie i couldn't say anything for obvious reasons. Everyone on the circuit knew that the DRA hearing was on Wednesday night. The DRA (Darts Regulation Authority) are independent supervisors between the PDC and the BDO and they are the ones that will determine how hard the iron fist will be slammed on a darts player from either federation. Green got to the last 8 in Bolton before failing an A Sample AND a B Sample before being eliminated. I wonder how all the players he beat along the way in that tournament may feel now....

The duration of the ban has not yet been realised but is expected to be in the region of up to 2 years. This will be a cruel blow to Kong who only recently obtained the sponsorship from Phil "The Power" Taylor to keep himself on the circuit. It goes to show you the potential this guy has/had when you have Taylor backing you. Robbie will appeal this or is certainly entitled to but just to let him know that in the 2 year or so existance of the DRA 100% of appeals have been thrown out without success so we'll have to see where this leads for the Liverpudlian Kong.

Bad week in general for "The Power" as he crashed out of Poker millions the other night when he was defeated by topless model (i kid you not) Leilani and Austin Healy. Maybe a question for my next quiz. Who was the first topless model to beat Phil Taylor? About my quiz if anyone finds it too difficult blame all the people who cheated on the last quiz for the difficulty level increasing for this one.

The final line up for the Grand Prix will be confirmed tonight with the likes of Barneveld, Maish, Mann, Osbourne, Americans Johhny K and Ray Carver amongst the favourites.

Had somebody onto me the other night giving out about my remarks about Anto and Gareth the other day looking to know why i wrote what i wrote. My answer is as simple as this. They did very well to get through and i genuinely wish them well but as i said some weeks back it is easy for these players to think they are better than they are when their respective heads are being filled with rubbish about how good they actually are. While i do think Gareth CAN be class,being good in the Dublin surrounding area means nothing. Out of all the Irish players that qualified for the Grand Prix since it began in Ireland in 2000 not one of them has done anything in the game since.That includes both the Irish game and the World game. Total one hit wonders. Matty Murtagh, Martin Murphy, Brendan Dolan, Paul Watton, Joe Collins, Keith Rooney and even Jack Mckenna and Tom Kirby to anextent. The list goes on and on. They are great players, but to make it great play in one round of qualifiers is not good or great enough.

Pride of Dublin

The pride of Dublin and INDO ranked Irish number one Gareth Gray came through the Irish qualifiers for the World Grand Prix on Sunday. Expectations have been high around the Liffey for Gareth in recent times but I myself am not convinced and will look forward to how he’ll handle the TV cameras when they come on him. Gareth is a decent lad and I would however like to congratulate him on his qualification as it is no mean feat to come through any qualifier. Getting through to the citywest with Gareth is another Dubliner in the name of Anto McCracken. Anto has been the nearly man of darts for the last 10 years and although his self proclaimed class I think he will find it tough when the lights come on. Both Gray and McCracken played Wozza in an exhibition match last January in Lucan with both going down. Gray 4.2 and McCracken 4.0. Alan Byrne who is the team captain of the pub where both lads play out of was over the moon on Sunday night and I must say I was over the moon for him. He puts in huge work and like myself doesn’t play and he’ll be beaming from ear to ear on the 23^rd October at Citywest.

 

Geoffrey Matthews and Paul Watton also came through. Both of these were surprises to be honest. Gray and McCracken were not great surprises. Well Gray wasn’t anyway but I must say these 2 guys were. Matthews who is a nephew of Geoff Wylie came off a board with Jack McKenna, Benny Sent from Grace, Mick McGowan and Joe Collins so clearly he played well as he ended Tom Kirby’s quest along the way too. Shock of the day was Irish Open Classic Winner Mick McGowan going out to a complete nobody whose dress code let a lot to be desired. Best of luck to all of you anyway lads and the draw is live on Sky Sports News next week so all we can do now is wait and see. Nice to see Waterford’s number one flop again.

 

A few weeks ago I wrote about 3 lads from Tramore who I thought might make some sort of impact in the Irish game and maybe even more further adrift if they put there mind to it but I’m now changing that to 2 people at best. The reason for this is one of them is actually cocky being one of the best in Tramore and that’s laughable so I’m changing it to 2. If you’re cocky about your game in Tramore without giving the country game ago you are wasting your time. It’s that simple. Everybody is entitled to do what they wish I know but if you love the game so much you should play it.

Bolton Starts Here

The UK Open which takes place in June starts in Newport, Wales this weekend with the Welsh regional qualifier for the Reebok Stadium event. Basically there is 8 regional qualifiers and the top money earners over those 8 qualifiers make the TV stage in June. I'm not going over to the UK this weekend. I am giving myself a break to be honest so i may head home to Tramore tomorrow and maybe play in my local pub's handicap which i always have a good time playing in. I hope they wont be too mad at my moments a few weeks back but to be honest i couldn't really care.

Tomorrow night in Newport will see all the players outside the top 24 battle it out in a Friday night madness type playoff with the last 4 standing making it through to play in the Citywest in October with the top 24 automatic qualifiers and the 4 Irish qualifiers which will be decided in Dundalk this Sunday and lets all hope that this will not be Kirby's last hurrah. Then on Saturday in Newport its the first of the PDPA tournaments. The PDPA stands for the Professional Darts Players Association and is like a union if you will. It stands up for the players with any problem they may have with the PDC or travel agent or anything really. What people dont actually know is that Wozza is a board member of the PDPA and does a lot of work that end defending players etc,etc with whatever problems they may have. I hope to make a stride to be on that board myself in the near future so we'll just have to wait and see what happens there. Sunday then is what i refered to earlier with the UK open qualifier. Every penny counts in the quest to get to Bolton and it all starts here lads...

Well Done to my mate Ian St John who played in the Irish Professional golf championships today. He shot 79 but scoring was not great and if he can believe in himself i think he can make the cut and be around for the weekend.

As i say i'm going to go home tomorrow as i've been on the go solid now for the last 2 months and am sick of Dublin airport. UK,UK,ITALY,GERMANY,UK and Castlebar so its to Tramore tomorrow and maybe i'll have a pint of guinness. You know what???????It is good I like Guinness.

Nothing.

What a day today was.Most of the people I spoke to and EVERYONE I text or e-mailed bored or annoyed the ever leaving shit out of me. Bored me mainly.Thank you all for Nothing.

Interesting Weekend.

Been a few days now since my last update. Headed to Ballina last Thursday night for Iceman exhibition which went very well and we were finished and all before 12 o clock which is always a bonus and then it was off to Castlebar for the Irish open. How fitting it was that Irelands Mick McGowan was to take the crown in incredible fashion. Along the way he defeated Steve Beaton, Terry Jenkins, Lionel Sams, James Wade and demolished "The Artist" Kevin Painter 7.0 in the final. Well done Mick you are a credit to yourself,Debbie your county and your country. Keep up the good work.

Bob Anderson's gamble not to play paid off as he took the last automatical qualification spot for the World Grand Prix next month without even playing. The hunt for free tickets to the Citywest has already begun as i was asked by about 50 people at the weekend could i get them "passes". Hungry cunts, pay for them like everyone else does. Wozza was knocked out by Lionel Sams in the last 32 which was disapointing from our point of view as he has been playing well of late but we need to bring that form into tournament play in order to make significent headway. A special thanks to Steve Beaton, Roland Scholten Dave Askew and Alex Roy who all gave a few minutes to talk to Gary Elliott on the phone over the weekend. Gary is a big fan of Steve Beaton and was delighted to say a few words to him. I'd like to thank Ash Elliott for ringing me at 5am on Monday morning to tell me that he was in fact Dennis Priestley and he was in town for a few days. Didn't wash with me lads as i was only having a drink with him a few hours earlier and i know he doesn't have a Waterford accent. Speaking of Waterford though its nice to know that Waterford's supposingly number 1 has a serious dose of Dartitis. Dartitis is similar to the golfing yips when a player cant realease his darts fluently and ends up snatching. I made a point about a year ago that this guy'e style will make him prone to it occuring and it was certainly evident at the Irish open last week as he floped to 3 straight defeats and an early exit from the tournament.

Remember early last week i was saying how i met nice people in Germany last week in Thorsten and Yvonne Kindermann???? Well i seem to have irratated Yvonne but if you are reading this Yvonne i didn't mean to and i'll buy you a drink when you come to Dublin. I'll leave it in your court after that.

Before i go too i must say this to anyone with aspirations to do what i do as regards darts management as again during the weekend you get the drunken smart arses asking what it is you do? ANSWER: flights, entries, entry fee's, accomadation, travel arrangements with trains,planes and automobiles all over the world, exhibitions and tax returns. Not to mention try and lift a darts player after losing is the hardest part. If that tit from Mayo wants to try it go ahead otherwise stick to you're smelly GAA and leave the hard work to me.

Interesting Weekend.

Been a few days now since my last update. Headed to Ballina last Thursday night for Iceman exhibition which went very well and we were finished and all before 12 o clock which is always a bonus and then it was off to Castlebar for the Irish open. How fitting it was that Irelands Mick McGowan was to take the crown in incredible fashion. Along the way he defeated Steve Beaton, Terry Jenkins, Lionel Sams, James Wade and demolished "The Artist" Kevin Painter 7.0 in the final. Well done Mick you are a credit to yourself,Debbie your county and your country. Keep up the good work.

Bob Anderson's gamble not to play paid off as he took the last automatical qualification spot for the World Grand Prix next month without even playing. The hunt for free tickets to the Citywest has already begun as i was asked by about 50 people at the weekend could i get them "passes". Hungry cunts, pay for them like everyone else does. Wozza was knocked out by Lionel Sams in the last 32 which was disapointing from our point of view as he has been playing well of late but we need to bring that form into tournament play in order to make significent headway. A special thanks to Steve Beaton, Roland Scholten Dave Askew and Alex Roy who all gave a few minutes to talk to Gary Elliott on the phone over the weekend. Gary is a big fan of Steve Beaton and was delighted to say a few words to him. I'd like to thank Ash Elliott for ringing me at 5am on Monday morning to tell me that he was in fact Dennis Priestley and he was in town for a few days. Didn't wash with me lads as i was only having a drink with him a few hours earlier and i know he doesn't have a Waterford accent. Speaking of Waterford though its nice to know that Waterford's supposingly number 1 has a serious dose of Dartitis. Dartitis is similar to the golfing yips when a player cant realease his darts fluently and ends up snatching. I made a point about a year ago that this guy'e style will make him prone to it occuring and it was certainly evident at the Irish open last week as he floped to 3 straight defeats and an early exit from the tournament.

Remember early last week i was saying how i met nice people in Germany last week in Thorsten and Yvonne Kindermann???? Well i seem to have irratated Yvonne but if you are reading this Yvonne i didn't mean to and i'll buy you a drink when you come to Dublin. I'll leave it in your court after that.

Before i go too i must say this to anyone with aspirations to do what i do as regards darts management as again during the weekend you get the drunken smart arses asking what it is you do? ANSWER: flights, entries, entry fee's, accomadation, travel arrangements with trains,planes and automobiles all over the world, exhibitions and tax returns. Not to mention try and lift a darts player after losing is the hardest part. If that tit from Mayo wants to try it go ahead otherwise stick to you're smelly GAA and leave the hard work to me.

Setanta Sports

Phone call received today from Paul Ryan who is producing a sports program in the coming months in connection with Setanta Sports and for TV3. He was basically looking for info on the Castlebar situation this weekend. First he was asking about the Iceman's exhibition in Ballina but that doesn't suit them as they are only travelling down Saturday. They are going to be recording an on the floor darts event for their program and have chosen the Irish Open. As the tournament is sponsored by Elverys they might get in on the action. He was very keen on asking questions about Taylor though. Phil cannot make The Irish Open this year as he is contracted by Bavaria to stay in Holland for the week and compete in the WDF. Win ,lose or draw he is contracted to stay the duration. Barney will be around however and he was excited by that. He collared me about the possibilty of getting the Iceman to speak on it due to his Manager being Irish/tournament in Ireland/Exhibition in Ireland etc,etc so Ice is all for that and we'll see how it goes with Setanta and the rest from here.

Warriner is still has one of the biggest presence in the game and is one of the most sought after and at a televised tournament for instance autograph hunters will always go straight for the following. Bristowe, Lowe, Taylor, Barneveld, Warriner, Priestley, Part, Mardle and Roddy and on the BDO side of things George, Fordham, Adams and to a lesser extent King. Usually they dont get any off of King though without a grunt. The angle i'm going with this one is Ronnie Boyle who is the tournament director this weekend was on Booking Wozza for an appearance at Elverys on Friday along with Rod and Lloydie providing Lloyd loses to Taylor tomorrow night in Holland and flys over here for the presentation to Elverys and then onto the tournament on Saturday. No such thing as bad publicity and a visit to Elverys and probably the wearing of the Elverys badge for the weekend is good publicity both ways and thats the way it works.

Heard today my two friends from London Julie and Viv will be coming over here next month for the Warriner/Part exhibitions. I'm doing the MC for the one in Edenderry so they probably want to come over and laugh at me. Ladies if you are in early on the Thursday i'll come and get you otherwise you can get lost as we'll have to be leaving early.

Back From Stuttgart.

Back from Stuttgart now but still have not had my negative back lash from my Tramore comments yet. Although some of my comments were positive the Tramore darting public will focus on the negative and I'll get the stick. Not a bad showing from Ireland in Germany. Can’t create any chances though and that'll be the reason why we probably drift in to fourth spot at the end of the group but we'll still battle away and see how we do. The crack we had over there was great. Some photos attached in the photo gallery suggest that too. The Germans were very friendly. A big hello from me to our new friends ,husband and wife Thorsten and Jenny Kindermann and Thorsten's Sister Yvonne who were a great laugh and who we had a drink or two with. Yvonne ,when we meet again I promise I won't repeat myself 50 times.I'll make sure I keep it to 100.Still think you look like Kylie Minogue though. Seriously though lads, a great laugh was had by all and even though I don't remember half of it we had a ball. I Love you Stuttgart.
To my good mates Greg,Canny,Quinn,Osama,Tripe,Conky,Bugley,Chris Coleman,Nigel,Mick,Brendan,Gary,Ballack,Mick,Willy and Tommy, you're all a bunch of mad bastards and as Greg would say you're a all a bunch of ******* **** ***** **** and go and **** ** ** you're ****. Ok USA, the greatest "planet" in the World today.....Me Arse. Guy i need some red forensic tape, how ya fixed? If anyone has a butter knive i'd love to borrow it. Go on home Irish Canny ,go on home, Mick has dud's, Nigel has a twin, Tripe you should be on the hill and Willy you can take the "ele-wator". Conky that hat suits you. Bugley, you are no longer in the Prawn Sandwich brigade but i'm afraid Chris Coleman is the new leader of it.
Darts news though.Since i've been involved in World darts i've thought that Wozza's life dictated or limited his practice hours. Spoke to Iceman a few weeks ago about him playing Super league again after nearly an 8 year break. Super league is huge in the UK, most of the Pro's still play in it as it is great practice and the last stepping stone they made on there way to professionalism. Only recently he turned full time pro and returned to Super league last Sunday for Lancaster in a whitewash victory. We need to focus more on Super League for the practice side of things but obviously when it makes good sense and doesn't collide with A PDC ranked event. Super League is class in its own right really. All the players involved a striding for the highest honour. A crack at the big time. They are no mugs though and to have your averages worthy of super league you need to be touching on 80-82. Averages are what win you games and range dramatically between the ridiculous pub player to the Champion of the World. A rough guide to how you know what level a person should be playing at is simple. A pub player not worthy of probably scratching himself will have a 3 dart average of approx between 26 and 43 if he is playing well,a county player will need a 3 dart average of somewhere between 47 and 64 whereas a superleague player will need a 3 dart average of between 65 and 80.
Super league doesn't exist in Ireland and that reflects in the fact that we only have 4 or 5 members of the PDPA. Everyone who reads this will know what bracket they come into and where they need to be. Those 3 lads I spoke about in Tramore the other day should take a long hard look at that and judge for themselves if they have it or not. Some of the olders lads could do with reading it too.
My second sad note in as many weeks now is the low point. Good friend of mine Phil Da'Casto passed away in the UK last week aged just 51. Phil was great for darts and was the iron behind Eric Bristow for years and until up to his sickness some months back was Eric's driver ,MC and even had a spot as a spotter for Sky TV. (A spotter is the guy who talks into the camera mans ear piece in order for him to know where to zoom in for the viewers at home,you have to be a great darts counter to do this and Phil was certainly that). Phil was a larger than life character and will be sadly missed by all the darts lead by Brissy himself.