Upcoming exhibitions

Exhibitions that have been recently announced are as follows: Five time World Darts Champion the legendary Eric Bristowe has agreed to do two head to head exhibitions with Dublins up and coming Gareth Gray on the 8th and 9th December in Boomers and The Patriots Inn respectively. This will be a head to head between both players after they have played members of the audience. The Friday night one is the usual 9pm but the Saturday in the Patriots is Gareths home bar and will kick off at an unusual 4pm. Good crowds are expected for both as obtaining Eric for an exhibition is very difficult these days and is usually a 6 month waiting list but luck would have it as regards this weekend. Both men play in Birmingham this Saturday and you never know. Both may be at Purfleet. It'd be fantastic to see Eric play in the World Championship again you'll agree and Gareth too obviously.

The following weekend The Iceman will play back to back exhibitions in the Lucan Pitch and Putt club on the 15th and in The Fisherman's club in Bray on the 16th before jetting to London on the Sunday with the beginning of the World Championships on the 18th. The draw has not yet been made and will therfore be held in Birmingham on Saturday night after the final 16 have been decided on.

Darts Quiz

I got an e mail today from this fella looking for the answers to the recent quiz I did. I apoligise as I'm probably a little bit late on the answers already and the winner by the way was Chris Brady who did attend the Part/Warriner exhibition and enjoyed it immensely. The quiz was difficult this time around due to the cheating factor that materialised from the last quiz so as I say this one was alot more difficult and put the real darts trivia experts to the test so here are the answers.

Q.1 Alan Warriner and Peter Evison
Q.2 Beers,Booze and Bullseyes, Colin Lloyd and Niall Edworthy
Q.3 Alan Plant
Q.4 Keith Deller
Q.5 Leighton Rees and Phil Taylor
Q.6 Mark Thomson, Colin Osbourne, Simon Whitlock, Ritchie Buckle, Robbie Green.
Q.7 Alex Roy
Q.8 Rod Harrington and Steve Maish
Q.9 World Matchplay and World Grand Prix, Phil Taylor and John Lowe in 2001.
Q.10Martin Adams and John Burke respectively.

28 points were up for grabs and Chris Brady won it with 19 points which is not great really.
I had 44 entries and to the guy who mailed me earlier your score as you know now is a pathetic 12 so grow up and study harder next time and dont be sending ridiculous e mails.I was going to publish this e mail but decided against it although it was pretty hilarious and it came from the UK. I doubt it even if your embarassing 12 won it he would have come over anyway I apoligise for not posting the answers earlier but people dont like hearing about how bad they did so that was one reason why i obstained. Maybe these questions were a bit hard but I needed to eliminate cheating over the internet as thats what happened the last time when I had nearly 100 entries then. Nobody who entered this one cheated lads so thank you all for entering and better luck next time.

Clarys Plays

Just like the last scene in the legendary "The Karate Kid" when Bobby Brown injures Daniel Laruso's leg in the semi final forcing him to withdraw from the final after all his work work with mentor Mr.Miyagi. The presentation is just amount to be made with John Lawrence getting the All Valley Championship without playing the final when Daniels girlfriend Ali comes running out which is when the famous quote sounds of "Daniel Laruso is gonna fight". Heroic stuff.

Shades of the Karate kid this week with news that Belgiums Eric "the sheriff" Clarys will try to defy the odds in Birmingham this Saturday and try to qualify for the world championships. Clarys a victim of an awful accident in the first week in June when he was ranked 22nd. He fell off a ladder while at home doing some DIY and amazingly injured his right arm and broke it in 6 places. That forced the Belgian out of the Reebok stadium giving Steve Hine a buy. Vegas, Blackpool, the Citywest, the premier league not to mention the weekly circuit all followed for the dejected Sheriff and it looked like the Worlds were sliping too until he was declared fit today to play. That of course makes him a seed too and pushes Ritchie Burnett onto the back foot and in the normal hat for the draw which was also published today. Burnett has now landed a board which includes Steve Hine, Michael Barnard, Chris Allen and Paul Whitworth and the 1995 World Champion will now find it difficult.

I'm delighted to see Eric back though. He is a gentleman of the game and only joined the PDPA in late 2003 after a 7 year stint with the BDO. He worked hard along with fellow Belgian Yves Cottenge and got to be an automatic qualifier for all the tv events by rising to 22nd before disaster struck and forced a 6 month absence. 6 months out of competitive darts is almost fatal. You lose the points you are defending without the chance of defending. Its a strong point I beleive in at ALL levels that darts is all about playing and NOT on the sidelines looking in. Eric was forced into the looking in position and it has effected him no end. But he is back. I dont know how he is playing but hopefully he'll do ok. John Lowe is on Erics board and we all know what he can do.

The most competitive board ic without question board 14. Andy Callaby will have it tough as he'll have Dave Jowett, Andy Hayfield, Steve Evans, Jan Van Der Rassel and Simon Whatley. Eric Bristow will be on Board one with seeded Dennis Smith but I'll be thinking Alan Green all the way to get through that. Osbourne, Welding, McGowan, Tabern and Jimmy Mann should have no problem qualifying the way the draw has come out but as we all know it does not work that way.

Something I'll be monitoring closely is Board 4 which is scheduled to see a Tom Kirby Jamie Harvey showdown for a spot if the draw pans out that way which is easily on the cards. Board 6 is the least competitive which will suit seed Adrian Gray. If any other seed other than Adrian was on this board they would walk it but Adrian always makes things difficult and we may have a serious outsider come through this board. Board 15 see's Irelands favourite son and the man in great form Mick McGowan and Waterfords favourite son Kieran Lennon meet. I have had a laugh to myself after writing that last sentence but hey......

All this makes for an exciting end and I'll be glued to this Saturday morning in Englands self proclaimed capital. Its up for grabs so it depends on who wants it more.

I do admit things when I'm wrong despite what some people think and the other day I commented that Ray Carver will be automatically at Purfleet. Ray off course lost the closing heats and it is in fact Bill Davis playing in that Spot. The Razor will however be in Birmingham on Saturday trying to get a spot. Thanks to Bill for pointing that out. You knew I knew Bill but you had to rub it in didn't ya? Well didn't ya????? hahahaha.

RIP Mr. Jenks.

I'd like to take this opportunity to pass on sincere condolences to Andy Jenkins and family at the recent death of his Dad Chris. A great character and will be missed by players fans and officials at the venues all around the UK in and about the players bar always havin a laugh. A great character and once again deepest sympathy to Chris's family.

Forgot this.

A special thank you to Karen Nunn and all in Birkenhead. We had an Iceman exhibition there last night and it went well. Birkenhead is just outside Liverpool so the Manchester United factor meant Wozza got plenty of good hearted abuse. Wozza only told me that today as I didn't go myself as I put my feet up and will be away every weekend between now and Christmas what with Birmingham next weekend and exhibitions in Holland and Ireland in the weeks after that and then its the Worlds followed by the Noth East Tournamnet on the 7th Jan.
Anyway I'm getting away from the beaten track here. The exhibition went very well and Karen was delighted and we'll be doing something again in the future so thanks again Karen.
Wozza got lost on the way to Birkenhead so it nearly didn't start at all but he got there and a good night was had by all.

Countdown to the Worlds.

Only a week to go before the final 16 players to participate at Purfleet are known to us. Next weekend in Villa Park, Birmingham over 300 players all outside the top 32 in the world will be bulling to get into the Championships. This is the first year that 16 players will have a chance to qualify as up to this it has only been 8. Those ranked 33 to 48 will be seeded on their boards but will be far from favourites what with the abilty of the players coming behind them.
The seeds next weekend will be as follows
1. Dennis Smith ( just missed out on automatic qualification by Barney)
2. Colin Osbourne ( a class act and a cert to make it big)
3. Mick McGowan ( Irelands number 1 and in brilliant form heading to Villa Park)
4. Steve Hine ( dangerous player but I think he might find it tough)
5. Gary Welding ( always does well in qualifiers and will go close)
6. Alan Caves ( has dipped in form and may struggle too)
7. Jimmy Mann ( seriously capable of qualifying again this year)
8. Jamie Harvey ( not playing well but never count him out)
9. Keith Deller ( slipping the ranks and will struggle)
10.Andy Callaby ( has to get through this year.Deserves to)
11.Adrian Gray (not consistent enough to be a cert)
12.John MaGowan ( right him off at your pearl)
13.Darren Webster ( could get in and is playing well)
14.Jason Clark ( got in last year and is high scorer)
15.Alan Tabern (another one for the future. Brilliant, fluent left hander)
16.Ritchie Burnett ( only seeded due to Clarys injury and not playing well)

I'm going to make a few tips here now and see how accurate I can get it but as regards the seeded players the ones I think will get through even though the draw is not out yet I know they are playing really well and the draw should not bother them.
Colin Osbourne, Mick McGowan,Gary Welding,Jimmy Mann,Andy Callaby and Alan Tabern are my tips to get in from the seeds and depending obviously on the draws I think one or two to look out for from the lower ranked positions will be Jan Van Der Rassel, Gary Webb ( new to the scene),Darren Latham, Steve Smith is playing well enough too, Irelands Owen Caffrey can do it too,Gary Noonan and Andy Belton.

These are all predictions lads and as there are over 300 involved in this Please dont be on having a go if they all fall flat on their respective faces (hahahahaha).
If anyone wishes to leave their own predictions in the comments please do as thats what its all about.

IRONIC

I'm going to qoute a comment from one of my previous blogs here and this is the first time I have done this.
QUOTE....STRAIGHT FROM THE BLOG

Anonymous said...
Fair enough fergal,i think your skills of negotiating are better than alans though ha,ha.It seems to be a good idea though getting positive feedback all round.

6:51 PM

"Seems to be a good idea though"...Nice to see the latest knockout competition is decided and the same problem still remains. Well done to Philly and the boys. Meeting Pete and Ronnie did ya well. The author of the above saying when they lost the final " a great attendance tonight and its a pity a few certain people are not here to see it" does not not wash with me. As I say I never mentioned final attendances. I only ever ementioned semi final attendances.I can assure you that ten league participants attending a final is not a success and believe me I would have love to attended to see that.
I and like any sane darts organisation would expect a MINIMUM of 40% of the players that played would attend the final. Considering the "audience" for the semis were shocking I can see why getting 30 to attend the final is a bonus to the organisers but once again the winners and runners up care about themselves and forget about the sponsors.

Allow me to say one thing. All I have said over the last 2 weeks has never been personal. At least not until someone stood up in public having lost and said" I wish some people were here to see this" ( 30 people at a darts game.....see what). If they wanna make this personal we will.I have made this clear as from day one. If anyone wants to stand toe to toe with me in front of the world and debate this I will. All I have ever done is try and benefit Tramore darts but the nasty blocker will always be there. As I say I was willing to drop it until you started boasting about a 30 man attendance. In 2004 there was standing room only in Murphs. Get a grip. How can it have dropped that far.

I'm delighted O Sheas won it............Delighted and you are right.... its a pity certain people are not there to see it.

International Touch

Great to see dartsexhibitions.com becoming international the last couple of days with hits on the site from USA, Italy, Uk, Holland, Australia and Mayo.
Its just a small indication of where this game is going and the quick progressing its making. With the World Championships up and coming before and over the Christmas period everyone will be glued to their screens. PDC starts 18th December and comes to conclusion days before the BDO version kicks off.

Barneveld has made a slight error in my book gaining as many pionts as possible. He received the wild card but amazingly reached 32nd in the World in ranking points. His wild card now goes to another dutch man with Barneveld entering as 32nd seed which means he will be due to meet No.1 seed Colin Lloyd in round 2 which was something he would have had a 90% chance of avoiding if he had monitored his ranking situation and stayed away from the top 32. It would not have mattered as they go order of merit in 2007 and he is already at the helm or thereabouts and that would not have changes had he stayed in 33rd. The man missing out on automatic qualification is Dennis Smith and he will now join 300 others in a bid to be one of 16 players to go through the PDPA qualifiers in Villa Park, Birmingham on December 2nd. No mean feat I can tell you and qualification for the TV events is now almost as hard as winning it as it involves playing alot more capable players as you might not be aware that alot of these players outside the top 32 are going to go straight into the top 32 when the order of merit comes out in Jan 2007 and as I have pionted out to you numerous times before you are going to see some so called big names struggle and disappear from the top of the hill and replaced by some lesser known names very very soon. I can guarantee that this will happen in the coming months as it is already starting to take shape.

Good results for the Celts last night as the Manks almost cheated their way to a draw but thank god they didn't. Well done to the Gunners too and Chelsea of course. All gauranteed to go into the next round so lets hope Benfica stuff United in 2 weeks time and dump Fergie out in the opening phase for a second year on the bounce.

Priestley and Manley

Howdy all,
What an exhibition we had the other night in Hourigans, Newmarket in Co.Cork.
A huge attendance enjoyed some brilliant darts from Peter Manley and Dennis Priestley with Phil Jones providing the scores and the jokes between legs. As I say the attendance was huge and the capacity crowd didn't stop shouting all night and I think even the players were taken a back by the atmosphere. Thanks to Dennis and Peter and also Phil for providing a great night. Thanks to large Con who chalked all night. Thanks to Scanlons pub who provided us with plenty of beer all day Saturday. A big thank you to Colin who had the venue in tip top shape and mostly thanks to Pat O Loughlin who was the man backing the whole night and only rang me last night looking for a Barney/Taylor showdown in 2007 so watch this space for that one.

Fair play to Ferghal and Tara for making the journey on Saturday from Waterford which meant of course leaving their recently born baby daughter Rhian. It was their first night out since their new arrival so Tara's sister came to the rescue and babysitted Rhian and little Luke so their Mam and Dad could catch some world class darts. Think they both enjoyed the Miller and the blue wkd as a good night was had by all. Think Ferghall was surprised by the attendance too but that's the was it is.

Mick McGowan amazingly got another win under his belt at the 128 Vauxhall classic. Mick is playing out of his skin of late and his rise to fame in the UK will certainly have venues chomping at the bit to have him play in their establishment before long. Well done again Mick. Starting to repeat myself with Mick the last few weeks as it seems he is in the latter stages of all tournaments now unlike my players but that is the way.

Thanks all for the amazing reactions I received last week with my Will it ever change blog. The answer to that will be most certainly no. That is my NAP for the new year as regards Tramore. No change. Will not get any odds on that though.
Anyway thinks for the support and the miniscule bit of critism. I welcomed it all.

Will it ever change.....?

How is everyone doing since my last blog? The chase for the Worlds has taken a strange twist now with Colin Monk making the last 4 in Holland at the weekend and although its still all to play for he has now gone into pole position for that last automatic spot. Mick McGowan once again doing brilliantly in getting to the final defeating Phil "the power" Taylor in the last 8 before going out to Lloyd in the final. Bad weekend by Taylors standards as Welsh man Barrie Bates did him in the final yesterday. Taylor is gracious in defeat though and when I was talking to Mick on Saturday Taylor popped on the phone and told me in person of Micks performance in a 110 average showing against the Power. Fair play to Taylor for doing that as I was at a friends Wedding in Wicklow this weekend and could not attend. Well done again Mick and of course Barrie Bates who still is in great form of late.

I'm going to mention this again now as this particular matter is close to my heart. I know I go on about World darts in my blog and world darts is mainly the topic of every conversation I have in any given day but my home towns local running of darts is still something I monitor and keep an eye on and to say the least lads it is a TOTAL AND UTTER JOKE. The way it is being run has to change. Its as simple as that and as plain as the nose on anyones face. I popped down the other night to see the semi final of the league and ended up going to see the semi final of the losers group. It is the first year of the losers group and it had more of an attendance than the "winners" group. Another JOKE. The game is dying on its feet down there. I remember only 3 years ago you would have got a full house for a semi final but not now. Probably to do with the boredom factor as people are sick to death of seeing the same teams in the semi final stages in all 4 "knockoutleagues" that are run throughout the year. Its the only place in Ireland that run 4 leagues "its not a league when if you lose you are out" in a 7 month spell. Tramore is a seasonal town and 7 months is a perfect lenght of time to run a 16 team league.

If you cannot see lads that this league is not working I dont think you are the people needed to promote the game and get the interest back as we all know at least it was there in the past. Why not try it on a league basis. Afterall thats what you call it. Pro's and con's to everything of course. Pubs in Tramore that have put their hat into the ring in the past are as follows. O Neills, Alfies, Sea Horse (of late), Cape, Bohans, Sands ( although they might not give you the free drink and the taxi and I dont blame them for that when you way everything up) Murphs, Murphys, Fenor, Dunhill, Tramore GAA, O Sheas. I'm sure I've forgotten one or two but it doesn't matter. 16 teams in this "knockout league". Bohans with 2 teams, Sands 3, O Neills 2, Dunhill 2. €25 to enter a team each go so with 4 of your "knockout leagues" in a 7 month spell these pubs I've just mentioned pay ( Bohans,O Neills and Dunhill 2 teams each by 4 leagues = €200 each on entry fee) (Sands 3 teams by 4 leagues = €300 entry fee...no wonder they wont pay for taxis)

Most of these teams get darts in their pubs for 1 night per "knockout league" for this and its not worth it. As like nearly 90% of leagues in Ireland every team should be given a chance. Play ALL the teams twice home and away with the away team handing in their team first so the home team can be tactically aware and pair their team off against the away team as best they can....hence give them home advantage. As it stands their is no home advantage as its just another Oche and both captains submit their teams at the same time which that too defeats the home and away purpose.Another joke when you think about it. As it stands at the moment also is that the only reason they play home and away is to give the publican a few arses on his seat for one night in the league before their team gets knocked out. Or four nights to the eventual winners.

16 teams entered at €25 a team. €400 per "knockout league" which is €1600 on entry fees over the 4 "knockout league". I guarantee you that if publicans had a league game in their pub every week the price money would increase. The problem you look for then is that it may not suit each team to play every Thursday. Thats simple. Arrange the league game between the 2 captains and play it whenever you want under whatever format the committee decides they run it under as its easy to decide on that. It wont be long before those who want to play darts and those who dont are found out. The home and away advantage I spoke about earlier will give lesser teams a genuine advantage and as I say give these lesser teams a genuine chance of winning or even come close to winning. Legs won and lost should come into a league too and this would mean nobody should walk away with it as at the moment their are 3 classes of teams. 1. Those expected to win it..... 2. Those not expected to win it but whom the so called big boys want to avoid and 3. Those who are poor teams but play coz they want to. Imagine giving those teams in category 3 and chance to play darts 30 nights every 7 months instead of 8 times(15 other teams by 2)they would jump on it and it gives the committee a chance to INCREASE their entry fees as the publican would easily pay more to have darts in their pub once a week for 30 weeks. Arrange for the game to be played whatever night they want with the publican reporting the result to the committe secretary once a week.

If of course ya get teams not turning up throw them out. Its up to the pub to field the team and if a pub enters a team and they dont turn up they are letting the pubs down and the opposition given the points. Teams at the moment dont turn up coz they are 6.1 down and have no hope.As I said earlier if someone has the option of competitve darts for 30 weeks in a year it will not be long before they'll tell you if they think it is good or bad idea to them. The more they play the better they'll get and the knock on effect to that is the more they'll want to play.

Its time to cop on to whats happening lads and let the dictators see sense. We all know Tramore darts has the odd dictator or 2 but they have to either shown sense or the door. One or the other. The game is dying and will die totally like it did in the 80's in Tramore if its not sorted now. People have told me that "we have more teams in the league now than we ever had". That means nothing lads unless its utilised and the only way you can utilise it is to let them play. Darts being played in pubs regularly means more entry fees which is good for the committee. More price money for competitors, more darts for darts players and at the end when the top 4 teams in the league play off in 2 semi finals i guarantee after a long hard fought out season you'll see more attendances at the semis and not a half dozen like we did the other night. A TOTAL AND UTTER JOKE.

You can still take breaks here and there and run your Memorial trophies such as Billy Kennedy and Noel Browne as they are great tournaments and run in memory of 2 great gentlemen I believe and I would never impose on those and of course fund raiser doubles and singles to raise money for the committee from time to time but lads we'll have nothing in the next few years unless someone has the liathroids to make a stance now. Let people play. Change before its too late.

To be honest I have a lot more genuine points on this topic so if anyone has any issues with what I said I can easily be contacted. Positive or negative issues lads I dont mind.

Things Hotting Up

Things are certainly getting interesting now in the race for the final automatic spot for the 2007 Ladbrokes World Championship which start in December and run into January 2007. Although the field is made up of 64 competitors only the top 32 PDC ranked players automatically qualify with 3 ranking events to go. What is interesting though is the fact that Barneveld has already been given a wild card into the tournament(maybe as part of his deal in coming over from the amateurs) but the way the points have gone Barneveld may well gain enough points to qualify automatically.Prior to yesterday Colin Monk currently holds the 32nd spot on 234pts, 33rd is Clarys who is injured and out of the equation then in 34th you have Colin Osbourne on 214 and next comes Barneveld on 209 but after yesterdays win and Saturdays high place Barney will certainly jump into probably 30th spot ahead of Alex Roy who is 31st on 241 so what do ya do with his Wild Card??????????????
This is a situation the PDC surely did not expect so soon after Barney coming over. I'd like peoples comments on this as to what they should do as clearly there are going to be issues. To be honest if Barney didn't get into the top 32 and kept his wild card things would be easy. But now he has to be counted as an automatic qualifier. That kicks either Roy, Monk or Osbourne out of the equation. Personally I think Colin Osbourne would have made the 32 and Monk eliminated but now it looks like Barney in 31 and Roy in 32 Osbourne in 33 and Monk in 34 so who gets Barneys wild card that will now surely have to become vacant again?
Do you give in to whoever finishes in 33rd spot? Do you give it to the next Dutchman in the rankings as the reason Barney got it in the first place was because he was the Dutch Wildcard which I think was a position that was "created" so Barney would definitely get in. (keep in mind the next Dutch man in the rankings is Josephus Schenk who is in 69th spot on 80points). Do you give the Irish a wild card as this year the excuse for not giving an Irish wildcard was that Denmark were getting in. For God sake lads Denmark. Per Laursen who played in the BDO competition last year took that. Basically someone here is going to be hard done by. Personally I think whoever finishes in 33rd spot should get it but as i say thats only my opinion and I'd like to hear all your opinions on this one as its a hot ticket to have but only one can get it with only 3 outings left for automatic qualification?

Nice to see a few players from the rival organisation play in the UK Open qualifiers at the weekend without any success. Forgive me for mentioning the ignorance of one of them with his big mouth in the bar on the Saturday when he claimed he "was going to show these PDC ******** how to play". He like I and 200 others presumed did nothing afterall and had a short trek home with his tail and no money between his legs. Its all about the money or show me the money rather. Maybe he can get a job in Jerry MaGuire 2.

Anyway I have another funny story or 2 about my towns Darts League again but I'll write that tomorrow as I am tired now so keep well and be sure and post your comments about that World Championship qualifier as I welcome all opinions on this one.....Up Yours

Some Crack

I had a right buzz this week when I heard and read that TG4 were televising the finals of the INDO version of the players trophy that is held throughout Ireland over a couple of months period starting today and leading into 2007. The INDO is the Irish sister organisation of the BDO and have got the idea of running a players tournament from the PDPA ( professional dart players association) which I mention nearly everyday.
I spoke to an INDO member last week at the World Grand Prix and this was pretty much our converstation.
Alan K: "Well **** How ya doing? Any News?" I was expecting not too bad Alan, How are you Alan, How is the missus Alan, How is work Alan since I saw you last or are ya having a pint Alan? But instead I got

"TG4 are televising the final of the players trophy"... I couldn't belive it and straight away knew like all other INDO/BDO members he was looking for brownie points or a crack off the PDC as I knew the only reason he was there was McCracken was INDO ranked number 3 and he was supporting him so I replied by saying

" So the INDO are now fluent in Irish as well are they?"
After this our conversation was non dart related which I respected.
I'd like to make one thing straight. Being involved in the PDC/PDPA I dont need to or dont want to get involved in slanging matches. If anyone from the INDO wants to stand toe to toe with me in front of thousands of people and debate the situation with me I'll glady and willingly do it so anything other than straight up honest facts I have no time for. You don't need to be simple to understand that. Although simple and Irish darts are getting married next week.
I was serious when I mentioned the fluent Irish comment too. I can picture it. Come home on probably a Tuesday afternoon, turn on TG4 and listen to some fella talk Irish. I unlike the INDO members can speak Irish so I can here the commentator going ...........
" Se deag dubailte dan bua....O Bhi se sin in aice laithreach! Ar an sreang mhistail! Ta na h-imreoiri seo ufasach ar fad" ( left the fadas out as e mail does not allow me to put them in)
TRANSLATION IN SHORT and may I add in short
Someone missed double 16 and are rubbish........Somes up an awful lot in my book.

All joking and sarcasm aside it is great to get TV exposure for any sport and I as I always say wanna promote this game so I say well done to the INDO for landing the TV coverage but here is the bit I like. A little birdy told me that the reason TG4 came on board to show these amateur darts is because Setanta got involved in the September Irish Open in Castlebar which is a PDC cat. 1 event. Once again I was was contacted directly on this one and KNOW this is the case.TV crews are so naive half of them don't know the conflict between PDC/BDO and rang me after going into google to dig out info on darts in Ireland. Lads if its INDO info you are after stay away from me as I think its cack. Unless Its SKY who know what they are at TV crews will always come sniffing before they broadcast anything and that applies especially in Ireland.

Anyway I'd like to thank himself at the Grand Prix for all that info. Great fun.
Just so you know while I write this I'm sitting in my hotel room in after the PDPA tournament in Scotland. I'm dying of flu and have been here since I arrived last night. Popped over for a few minutes and seen "The Magnet" Mick McGowan go to the final again only to lose to a guy who is a bit of a nemissis to him and new to darts exhibitions in January Adrian Lewis. I have no doubt in my mind Mick will rattle a few cages in the coming weeks and months and may I say here noe WILL be a top 32 players in the next 6 months.

Anyway lads good night and while you are having a night out I'll be tucked up in my Leaba or bed to those who don't understand Irish so Oiche Amaith

Get Well Soon

A quick blog today wishing a get well soon to my mate Niall who is in Cork hospital. Niall who works in the Waterfront is a big darts fan was involved in a strange accident Monday night is recovering well at the moment and should be giving out as normal any day soon now. Get well big man.

A few photos here from that Wedding I attended a few weeks ago and from last weeks Grand Prix. Big darts fans Vinny Jones and Jimmy Magee and actor of the "office" Chris Finch is as mad as a hatter and a good laugh in the players bar was had by all. Photo of Party and Pete Manley at recent exhibitions too along with Irish Legend Tom Kirby and Dave Carr who designs The Iceman's website.















I do however realise that I may have the same tie on me in some of the photos but they were different days so I can only apoligise for that(hahahahaha)