Last Junes Blog....

See below my blog from the 13th June 2006. My site as you will all remember was re-vamped in August so this is why its unavailable in archives. I hope this indicates that I do not hold personal grudges as oppose to just writing on player performance.

I have simply copied and pasted this to my current blog.

UK done for another year.

Raymond Van Barneveld had his maiden PDC TV win at the Reebok stadium on Sunday last with an emphatic win over Welsh man Barrie Bates. It's my favourite tournament every year and this one was no exception. Alan Tabern, Barrie Bates and Mr Magoo were the limelight stealers all weekend after exceptional performances. Wozza was done by his good mate Colin Lloyd despite troubles with the so-called perfect boards the Eclipse. England fluking a win against Paraguay meant that Saturday didn't kick off until 5pm which made it slightly longer this year but we got through it.

With the exception of Mr.Magoo the Irish lads did not do to good. Only Mick McGowan and Tom Kirby made it through which was surprising since we have a few PDPA players around now that are capable. Dennis Mac only came within 1 game last year of making the Worlds while Big J is also capable. Mick was done 8.7 to Walshie while Tom was done by the same score line to Andy Callaby. Two players I'd like to see here next year are Dublin's number 1 and my own cities number 1. Two Great players with one having joined the nine-dart club I believe in the last year. Dartitis may have to be overcome if he is to gain qualification but as it is only slight I think that will be achieved easy enough (here's hoping). Dartitis is cruel if left get on top of you but I'm hoping he will, as we know he does have the game and I'd love to see someone from my town play at the highest stage. The other one is Dublin's joy at the moment and is making waves and was recently announced as Irelands number one and although he is not in the PDPA as yet with the ability and dedication he has he certainly should be.

With Connecticut over now and the UK open too its withdrawal symptoms time now and although the circuit is still active with the Isle of Wight next week we now have to wait until the Matchplay for TV darts which are the tournaments that will get everyone going. Although Barney won this weekend he know has to go to the qualifiers for the Matchplay, as do Tom and Mick.

We have to do it all over again lads.

Posted by DartsExhibitions at 10:30 PM

Enough Rubbish...Now to the serious stuff

Ok lads that time of the year that everyone loves is here. The season
of good will and all that but also the season of both versions of the
Darts World Championships. Only 5 days to go now until Irelands Mick
McGowan stands on the purfleet stage for the first time and the last
time may I add as the PDC world darts championship will be moved to a
more modern venue next year with Central London and Bournemouth in
pole position to win the right to stage it. The world championship is
where any PDPA player wants to be and with the order of merit
starting in January it is the place you have to be.

I'm glad the venue is changing to be honest as anyone who has been to
Purfleet will tell you that although the atmosphere is second to none
the area around the venue is a total kip with nothing nearby only a
tiny garage and a £10 a night hotel.

It kicks off on Monday lads and I've wrote out the prices that Stan
James are offering currently and feel free to look and post your
comments with your NAP and between us all we can get a few winners.

PDC Championship 1st Rnd Matches (click here to open|close this
coupon) Selection Price Price Selection
18 Dec 13:00 Baxter, Ronnie 1/10 5/1 Gray, Adrian
18 Dec 14:00 Maish, Steve 1/8 9/2 Havenga, Wynand
18 Dec 15:00 Jenkins, Terry 1/10 5/1 Lawrence, Mark
18 Dec 16:00 Clark, Matt 11/4 2/9 Mcgowan, Mick
18 Dec 19:00 Mason, Chris 2/7 9/4 Atwood, Wayne
18 Dec 20:00 Part, John 1/10 5/1 Green, Alan
18 Dec 21:00 Taylor, Phil 1/200 25/1 Pein, Anton
18 Dec 22:00 Manley, Peter 1/7 4/1 Jowett, Dave
19 Dec 13:00 Walsh, Mark 4/6 11/10 Vonck, Rico
19 Dec 14:00 Bates, Barrie 1/12 11/2 Cyr, Brain
19 Dec 15:00 Anderson, Bob 2/5 7/4 Webster, Darren
19 Dec 16:00 Ovens, Denis 4/9 13/8 Smith, Steve
19 Dec 19:00 Warriner-Little, Alan 5/6 5/6 Tabern, Alan
19 Dec 20:00 Lloyd, Colin 1/10 5/1 Seyler, Tomas
19 Dec 21:00 Barneveld, Raymond 1/40 10/1 Clegg, Mitchell
19 Dec 22:00 Lewis, Adrian 1/14 6/1 Fleet, Anthony
20 Dec 13:00 Jones, Wayne 1/8 9/2 Branks, Ian
20 Dec 14:00 Sams, Lionel 4/9 13/8 Ladley, Dave
20 Dec 15:00 Monk, Colin 8/11 EVS Laursen, Per
20 Dec 16:00 Hamilton, Andy 1/5 3/1 Welding, Gary
20 Dec 19:00 Beaton, Steve 4/11 15/8 Convery, Gerry
20 Dec 20:00 Priestley, Dennis 1/7 4/1 Schenk, Josephus
20 Dec 21:00 Mardle, Wayne 1/8 9/2 Caves, Alan
20 Dec 22:00 Wade, James 1/20 7/1 French, Warren
21 Dec 13:00 Askew, Dave 1/2 6/4 Burchell, Martin
21 Dec 14:00 Smith, Andy 1/33 9/1 Yongsheng, Shi
21 Dec 15:00 Newton, Wes 1/40 10/1 Wada, Tetsuya
21 Dec 16:00 Jenkins, Andy 1/10 5/1 Davis, Bill
21 Dec 19:00 Dudbridge, Mark 8/15 11/8 Kuczynski, John
21 Dec 20:00 Scholten, Roland 1/33 9/1 Miller, Ron
21 Dec 21:00 Painter, Kevin 4/7 5/4 Osborne, Colin
21 Dec 22:00 Roy, Alex 4/6 11/10 Burnett, Richie

You know the NAP I have put down but there are one or two others that
stand out for me.
Colin Osbourne at 5/4 is tempting and John Kuczynski too at 11/8. The
American Bill Davis at 5/1 is worth a fiver too and one guy who I
left out as well is Martin Burchell who was outstanding in Birmingham
and he sits on 6/4 awaiting the play the Diamond that is Dave Askew.

Plenty of Abuse

Thanks lads for all the comments from yesterdays blog. They were all so good that My Webmaster took them down as he considered it not good advertising. I was called a dickhead, a wanker and a worm and everyone that knows me know that I am a hungry cunt and would not buy drink for anyone let alone buy it all night.I thought it was great advertisment but he knows more than me. Seriously though not one constructive comment made so that is what happened. I dont mind being hated by about 10 people to be honest and have no problem with it. Usually the more abuse you receive the more sense your point made. Its amazing how all the abuse you receive comes from the South East. Funny alright.
As I said yesterday I'm not debating that Tramore issue anymore and maybe my offer of not debating it enticed all the comments.

So like I said I'm not debating that point and I'm certainly not getting caught up in a slanging match so posts will now have to be approved by the webmaster. You can be as critical as you want no problem. As regards Portlaw. Nothing but respect for those lads up there as I know alot of them and had a great time when we played there. They like their darts and they all supported something in there town when it was on unlike Tramore. Did not mention Portlaw in any blog and I have replied to your post on Upcoming Exhibitions Blog as you requested and you can contact me directly if you wish. I have no problem with that either and we can discuss anything you wish there.

I'll be at home Christmas Eve before I go back over to the Worlds on the 26th so you can all buy me a pint when you see me or pour it over my head if you wish.
I try not to get wound up. I'd rather debate things professionally and logically without threats and abuse and what have you. I have never put down anyones character since I started writing these. ( with exception of one player from the UK but this shouldn't bother any of you). I've had a small go at one or two organisations maybe.hahahaha.

Alan Tabern is a great player and if you go back to my blog called "countdown to the worlds" you will know exactly how good of a player I think he is and he could very easily beat Wozza but obviously hopefully he wont. If someone wants to put their house on a Tabern to win that one feel free.You might even get value for money. We have excluded that post as the next sentence was not related to that post. Thats what I want. Someone who thinks Tabern is a good bet writing in. Thats what we welcome. Lets debate that topic. Whether or not I am a stupid Wanker will have no burden on the result of that match I'm sure. I'm use to people shouting against Wozza anyway.

My NAP still stands too and now pays less than 9/2.
Even my mate Rush has backed it.

The Worlds

Hello again. Its been over a week now since my last post and thank you to everyone who sent me e mails and what not over the last week from Canada and the USA. A few of my predictions for qualification came in and a few didn't ask I expected. The draw has put together a few interesting games and I'll give you my NAP at the end as I wreckon I have a dead cert for the first round which begins Monday. A week is the longest I've gone without posting but thats because the first 3 weeks in December are quiet on the circuit and only the odd exhibition here and there occurs. This weekend Ronnie Baxter will be in Kinnegad and Wozza will be in Lucan Friday and Bray Saturday before jetting off to London to meet his first round opponent Alan Tabern on Tuesday night. Ronnie has an earlier birth and will kick off the 2007 Championships against Adrian Gray on Monday at 1.10pm.

I was at home at the weekend and before you think I'm going to start slating my locals towns darts again I'm not. It was an interesting 3 days though I must say. After my article a few weeks back I got as I was expecting... a mixed reaction. Most people were Shaking my hand saying "well done". Another group had the opinion that "about time someone upset their baby" which was the way it was put if I remember correctly. Some people didn't say anything to me and others waited until I was gone before mentioning it. Everything I expected.

I dont usually and never have given up on things in life but I'm not going to bring this issue any futher on this occasion and here is why....
At the weekend I noticed numerous things and am going to play percentages here in my assumption of what I think. There was always going to be a follow up on my article from a few weeks ago but as I said already as soon as this article is wrote I'm finished with it as I think fear will stop you going to an alternate format. Old fashioned family value comments of "that wont work" and "thats bullshit".....a well educated opinion. "we tried that before and it didn't work"....not in the last 20 years you didn't.
I have said all along that the game would benefit in Tramore with a proper league format by playing every team twice. This is the case. Having had pints in Bohans, Murphs, O Neills and The Ledger over the weekend I heard varied views from all over and the town is so divided its not even funny. In Londis on Saturday morning I met a league player who mentioned my article to me. I asked him was he playing in this league? He said yes. I asked him how he got on Thursday night? He answered they were hammered with which he followed with "but sure we're in it to make the numbers". As true as God thats what he said. If you ran a home/away season long league with 11 teams it'd be a success. 16 at the moment with 4 or 5 of them self confessed as a "making up the numbers team". A league is not about making up numbers. Fuck those teams out. They are doing more harm than good. Its different if they are crap but want to play. 11 teams to commit to that would be easy.

In alfies last night 2 teams from the pub were having a challenge match amongst themselves. How fantastic is that. In the Ledger Saturday night they were having a throw on the board and there was about 7 or 8 initials on it waiting for their go. How fantastic is that. We had 16 in O Neills last Monday night and 11 in the Sea Horse. Thats 27 playing on a Monday night. Over half of what you would need for a successful league. Alfies packed last night with people enjoying a challenge match while a fund raiser to pay for the Waterford team bus to the west was going ahead elsewhere. One of the biggest events ever in Ireland by the INDO being run in Cork this weekend where all the best players in Ireland were warming up for the Inter Counties while the Waterford team were playing a handicap to raise money for there bus or whatever. Where is the aspiration in this. No wonder the boys played their challenge and were happy too. My point is here is why the hell are they even playing in the Counties when the players have no aspirations to play in the biggest INDO tournament of the year for big money. I feel sorry for the Tramore lads here to be honest as they could make up a decent team if TK,BC,KC,MP,PP AND SO ON were left play together instead of some captain spliting them up thinking he's doing great for the county whereas really all he is doing is looking after his West Waterford lads.

I'm always open here on things and having spoke to Ken at the weekend and others too might I add there are ways and meeans to alter this format. I've never suggested my way or no way all I want is for people to be left play. Ken who I think is the best player in the town agreed with this but put points for and against forward too, and all excellent points and worth dicussing. Saw young Dave Howlett hit his highest checkout EVER the other night in the Waterfront when he hit a magnificent 148. All the benefits from playing the game. He has only recently established himself in a good league team and the benefits are already showing of regular darts.

What else is funny too is how judgemental people are in different areas. O Neills people wont play outside of O Neills, Alfies wont play outside Alfies, Bohans have their designated players. Sea Horse are trying to establish themselves. The GAA are the GAA and I know nothing about them. Fenor will only play in Fenor and Dunhill have great handicaps on Saturday nights. But people with the exception of a few are not willing to travel anywhere else to play UNLESS a league fixture means they are due to. Its amazing. Everything I wrote about in my previous article a few weeks back goes around in a circle as if it were a politicians constituency and your sole objective is not to support the opposition....I.E someone who plays in O Neills saying that he is not going all the way down to the Sea Horse to support the handicap as its too far down but if they draw them in the league they'll have to go. What I'm saying here is that even though nobody are supporting the local handicaps like they should the game is still alive down there.

Anyway like one fella said the other night when I was gone home even though I'd been there 7 hours. Who am I to go on about Tramore Darts as I dont live there anymore. I dont live there anymore because I'm in places like Holland, UK, Belgium and USA along with Japan in 2007 with the game I love which is darts. I've decided that no more thought is going into darts in that town from my point of view and I'm now prepared to let in rot. Maybe reverse psychology will work but I'm quiting putting it down. You are down so far in my book you cant get any lower. The game will die.

Anyone wish to leave a comment after this post feel free but I will not be debating anything or replying to anything. I know 75% want change but I'm now going to continue with my job on the professional side of the game and stop trying to help my own town. Do whnt you want lads. Its not personal. The game will die.

Anyway people my NAP of the first round in the Worlds is a 9/2 treble with Mick McGowan to win 2/7......Rico Vonck to win 1/1......Ritchie Burnett to win 6/5.
Put the house on it men.

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)

All Over Now

What a 10 days it was for myself and a few others during the Sky Bet Grand Prix in the Citywest. The 3 Part exhibitions went great so they did. Party hit a 150 with 3 bulls on the Wednesday and the Friday either side of his 6.5 victory over Wozza in Edenderry on the Thursday. I have to say the Venue in Edenderry was absolute class and I would like to think we'll be back there soon. Slight bit of hassle directed at myself and John at the Friday night exhibition but nothing i had not seen before so it is hardly worth mentioning.

The PDPA tournament went well on the Saturday with Taylor claiming victory before Barney turned up on Sunday to claim the Budweiser UK open qualifier. Put the 2 big guns in good shape for their week ahead that did.

The Free exhibition was fantastic also. Picked up in style, fed drink and food for the night before being returned to our hotel at a very reasonable hour. Manley and Phil Jones bounced off each other well and a great night was had by all and we managed to raise a couple of hundred euro for 11 year old Lewis Edmundson who has a terminal disease. Lewis has had alot of help from the dart players of late as a fund raising exhibition was held in the Belroy hotel, Blackpool last July on the eve of the Bobby Bourn tournament. I have met Lewis and his story is a heart breaking one so I'll save that for another time.

Ya know it was amazing before the first dart was thrown in the Grand Prix it had already being hectic and things were not about to ease off. People always looking for the free passes. The radio interview for Newstalk etc etc and to be honest i was looking forward to not drinking for once but that is very hard to do at these events. In the players bar on Monday were Vinny Jones, Jimmy Magee and "finchy" from the office who i must say was a tremedous laugh. Part going out when he did was a shock. Walshie going out was not too much a shock as he is currently plagued with Dartitis and he may get worse before he gets better. He doesn't deserve to have got that so i hope he comes through that and starts to threaten again. If anyone read my NAP of the week they would have seen that 3 weeks ago i said Callaby would beat Painter 2.0 at 7/1. That came in with ease in fact and i must say i had a very profoitable week beginning with Super Cally.

Anyway everyone saw the tournament on the box so i'm going into a night by night review. Wozza unlucky versus Barney i thought and we almost had an icident with Wozza and the Power in the players bar that night but it was prevented if you will. All in all Taylor was not overly impressive throughout the week and will have to up his game for the Worlds. I'm delighted to see Terry Jenkins get into the league. He deserves it and will do well in it when it kicks off in Feb.

Board assignments out for this weeks PDPA and UK's in Scotland and interesting participants for the UK's are BDO's Gary Anderson ( no.1 in the "world" apparently) and Dutch men Michael Van Gerwin and Vincent Van der Voort. Of course it doesn't mean anything but maybe you can read things into that yourself or of course maybe you cant.

Thanks to all who made the week great. You always have a laugh with the same heads you always see on the circuit. Keith, Sue ,Kelly and Cally along with Ritchie and Diane. Vic and Sal. The tarts with the darts, Viv and Julie of course. All the boys from Tramore had a good laugh too. Great time to. Thanks to 3 out of 4 of the exhibition venues leading up to it. We'll do it all again some time.

It all Starts Here

The busy part of the year for me will begin Wednesday for me with the lead up to The World Grand Prix starting for me with a trip to the airport to collect Johny Part. It was initially going to be a flight from Canada but he was called up by the BBC to commentate at Bridlington to commentate on the BDO Winmau world masters this weekend which was won by 17 year old Michael Van Gerwin who beat Wolfie in the final. Almost felt sorry for Wolfie but couldn't be arsed. Van Gerwin will surely be PDC bound and what a great player he is. While this was going on his idol Raymond Van Barneveld was being beaten in the final by world number 10 Terry Jenkins in the final of the PDPA players event in Holland. Part didn't go to this after his offer from BBC. I'm getting away from the beaten track here so I'll begin again.

Wednesday he'll be in at 10.20am but instead it will br a flight from the UK and we'll head to the SPA hotel Lucan from there. Game of golf and a few pints maybe before we'll get ready for his exhibition which is on at the County Bar Lucan which promises to be huge. Thursday morning I have to collect Wozza and then we go to Newstalk 106 studio for our chat with the "off the ball" crew which will be aired on Monday night. Go back to get Partie and its off to Edenderry for the big one. Up Friday and its back to the Citywest as thats where we stay from here in. Friday night exhib is near enough to taxi it so that will be the final exhibition before the PDPA tournament starts Saturday at 12 noon. That'll finish about 6pm. Few drinks Saturday night. Sunday 12noon its the UK open qualifiers which will finish again about 6pm. Myself, Phil Jones, Pete Manley my girlfriend Fiona and our friends Keith and Sue will then Limosine it down to Timolin Co.Carlow for our free exhibition coming back to the Citywest that night. Monday is the start of the TV event so depending on results I wont know my intenary for the week ahead but unlike last year we I need a good showing in particular from one or two people so my fingers are crossed. All preparation will be done over the Saturday and Sunday and this is when the real business and the big money is up for grabs.

My bet of the first round is going to be Andy Callaby to beat Painter 2 sets to 0 in the. This is priced at 7/1 and I'll be all over this bet as I think circumstances will mean that Super Cally will be certainly up for this one and over a short format at the scene of his finest hour in 2004 and all this will drive him on for victory. To win the match ouright he is at 5/4 which is a great bet too.

Great news today that my mate Niall Bohan has been awarded the King of Poland position. Niall is a tower of strenght in his native Poland and his policy will be to drive Poland into the EU sooner rather than later and to decrease to immagration issue. An optimistic character and he see's Poland as the land of opportunity and his drive shall be welcomed in his new role as King. Well Done from all at darts exhibitions. Especially Jamie. Jamie thinks you'll do a great job as do I.

Peter Manley

Peter " One Dart" Manley is the player that will play in the free darts exhibition which is now fully booked for Sunday 22nd October at O Briens lounge, Timolin, Co.Kildare/Carlow. I told the venue they were succesful in obtaining the exhibition yesterday but only notified them of the player today. I was going to leave them wait and find out who it was on the day but i suppose that would not be very fair. Although i mentioned the reason for chosing this venue was the limosine they have offered there are one or two other reasons too. I have ran exhibs here before with Wozza twice and Jamie once and the lads here have ran a bus to the Wozza V Part exhib in Edenderry next Thursday. Also i know for a fact that the back bone of the people who work in O Briens and the vast majority of people who drink there have tried to keep Carlow darts head above water it has not gone all that well for them and hopefully this will help.

To be honest i had a lot of pubs in lots of different counties interested and i have never denied trying to promote this game in counties that are fading and to be even more honest i've given up trying to promote in my own county Waterford so that ruled them out. They dont support things for spite and through bitterness and for that reason i feel sorry for the genuine fans in my own county as naturally i would have chosen them had it been logical and feasible. Cork had a few entries but Cork will have other opportunities. It is a big county and it is easy to irratate one venue if you choose another. Laois/Offaly/Westmeath will have a lot in 2007 and have the Part V Wozza one in Offaly only 4 days before the Manley one so they'll be content with that. Limerick did have a good case but travelling 4 hours on Sunday after the PDPA tournament would have made us push for time. Mayo can fuck off as it is a hole and always come out of the wood wotk when there is something to be had for nothing. Remember that idiot i wrote about a few weeks ago. Thay never cease to amaze me up there. If it was a GAA exhibition they could have it alright.....arseholes.
So that is why i chose Carlow. They are honest, hard working, interested, honoured to have it for free so that is where the Limo idea has come from and above all i know the county needs it and will appreciate it and thats all that matters.

For some venues i am genuinely sorry for not chosing you but you know its not personal so dont take it to heart. For others i genuinely never gave you a moments thought as you have probably ran crap exhibitions before and were afraid to pay for something or were chancing your arm or even taking money off people to play the pros. The worst exhibition i had was with Jamie in Middleton last May. Totally crap. Calling it crap was being kind to it and this fella wanted this one. Make you laugh wouln't it.

Wedding Bells

Just back from London after my mad couple of days at that wedding i was telling you about. I'll have a few photos up on the site in the next couple of days so you can see them. A great one of Gary Mason. Jesus he is a big bastard. 24 stone to be exact and I would not like to get a dig off him. In the 2 days their we had people tripping up people flashing people dancing cheering and generally talking bollox. I even made a speech after about 10 pints but nobody could understand my accent at that time of the night. We had a crazy booky who gave Ritchie and Harvey 10/1 on Scotland and 9/1 on Sir OJ who bought won by the way.

Speaking of crazy bookies. I was amazed to see the other day that on Odds Checker Bristowe is 2000/1 for the next World Championships whereas Harvey is 4000/1. We got some good laughs off that one. Bristowe cant play any more and he is ahead of Harvey.Maybe that bookie read about the bucking Bronco a few weeks ago but if you go into odds checker you will see exactly that.

Checked there today and saw that there was 6 comments on my last write up. My webmaster Conny text me about an hour ago and said there are 2 more to go on it too that he'll publish tomorrow. I cant use the daily blogs to get into debates about darts the whole time. I had my factual opinion and anonymous had his. I do honestly welcome that though as it does generate interest and as we know all sport is made up with matters of opinion and sometimes they can be a bit off the rails like in this case but i do sincerely welcome them. Read the comments and am only scratching my head with one of them but thats the way it so so thats that. Maybe anonymous will come to purfleet this year and might change his mind. He might even come to the exhibition with Wozza and Part next week. He can come over and buy me a pint if he wants.

Speaking of Exhibitions the decision to award the FREE exhibition that i spoke about last week has been decided. It will be held in O Briens lounge in Timolin, Co.Kildare and they were informed of that today as promised and the fact that we will be picked us up in a limosine had nothing to do with our decision though. It is provisonally booked for Sunday night 22nd October. The night before the Grand Prix starts. The top 10 player who the exhibition is with will play on the opening night in the Citywest so that might give O Briens an idea of who it is. The MC on the evening will be Mr Phil Jones who will return from the PDC at the finals night of the Worlds so it'll be good to have him over for the night too.

Newstalk 106

During the Grand Prix in Dublin it is hopeful that Wozza will be wearing the sponsor logo of National radio station Newstalk 106. I was spedking to a producer of the show "off the ball" over the past couple of days trying to sort something out and Myself and Alan are now provisionally booked into the studio before the Grand Prix kicks off for a chat about the game, tournaments and darts past and present and what have ya. All is set up up with Newstalk at the moment so we will hopefully finalise that in the next day or so. Newstalk have had a great proposal with regards promotion of the the game too so we look forward to the dealings we'll have with them over the last week in October and in the future.

Cannot go without replying to the comment posted in yesterdays blog about me apparently putting down the BDO. What I said is not my opinion. It is pure fact. I complimented them by saying they'll always be a base for people starting to play and competing at county level but the simple fact they lack professionalism is there for everybody to see. In late 1992 16 players who were then BDO formed the WDC which was set up to gain more TV tournaments other than just 1 which is the Worlds. The BDO not being used to being argued with proceeded to ban those 16 from all BDO events thereafter. A ban that risked the livlihood of all those 16 players who by now were unable to play tournaments,at county, superleague or even exhibition level because of the ban put on their heads by the boys with the red blazers. I must emphasise Barry Hearn did not get involved with the 16 who broke away until a later date. A lot of these pro's who left were now being hit in the pockets so the panic button was pushed by Chris Johns and Mike Gregory who like babies went running back after they were promised Christmas everyday and forever regreted that thereafter. It got to a stage when some of the now 14 went down to their pub for a beer were ignored by their former friends and colleagues. How childish was that. When the lads realised that the only defence was attack they brought the BDO to court and won when the Tomlin Order was set up preventing "restraint of trade". This meant the 14 were now free to play again.County, Super league, exhibitions and basically everything. Sky came in when the boys were the WDC and covered the 94 and 95 championships before Mr.Hearn got involved and the new name of Professional Darts Corporation was set up and rightly so. The BDO gave these lads no choice. They didn't want to leave. You must understand that but the game of darts was dying and the BDO were willing to leave that happen. Bare in mind it was the top 16 in the world who walked out when they did.
Of course everyone in the PDC has played BDO. It started with just 14 players. If you wanted to play at all you had to play with them. In 93 there had only been 9 world champions to date. Ree's had packed it in. All 8 had had enough. Does that not tell you what they were and believe or not still are dealing with.
PDC players do not get appearance money either. Thats a crazy statement. The reason the players leave is money yes. The simple opportunity to win more as we now have more tournaments. It costs more to play more so dont forget that and the chance is there for some regular TV exposure. Even BDO players want for that but most of them have said so much in the past they are too stubburn to come across now. Spoke to one of them who is coming over in 2007 and he told me that. Straight from the horses mouth that one. I know for a fact 5 will jump ship in Feb 2007. Footballers wanna play foorball, golfers wanna golf and dart players wanna play darts. Its as simple as that.
If some and may I emphasise some wanna have a drink off stage surely its their decision. Drink and darts will sadly always go hand in hand but what i was having a go at is the players name attached to the Showbiz darts the other night. Both have gone on celebity fat club in the previous 2 years and admitted to what they drink and one couldn't finish a head to head with a PDC player live on TV in November 2004. What a way to promote your organisation. Only for that lad is such a decent skin I'd go on. As regard Mr. George I'll say nothing. You know the BDO were once going to change their name to the BGO. Booby George Organisation. Or Bobby even.
And as for the jealousy. PDC and jealousy have not gone in the same sentece since 1995 and never ever will.
Hope that says it for you but the comment board is there for comments so I welcome them all.

Last Break before Showdown

PDC players enjoy a well earned weekend off this weekend as most of them well be locked away practicing hard with the run up to the Skybet World Grand Prix starting with the PDPA tournament in Holland Saturday week. A few have a wedding to attend this Saturday but the rest will be praticing hard.

The 2007 premier league will be extended to 8 players this year with the top 6 in the ranks going through automatically and 2 wild cards. I'm going to predict that the automatic spots go to Lloyd, Taylor, Baxter, Priestley, Manley, Mardle with the 2 wild cards going to Barneveld and Ade Lewis. If so it'll be a competitive league and with that field I cant see Taylor maintaining his unbeaten league showing stretching to a 3rd year.

The ranking system can be cruel sometimes. Wozza is defending 44 points in the Grand Prix in 2 weeks time. He is defending this many due to him getting to the final in 2004 so in order for Wozza to go up the rankings before the end of October nothing other than a win will do him. As Lloyd won it in 2004 he will defend 50 and cannot gain any ground what so ever and can only maintain his points score by winning the tournament again. That also means that because Taylor was beaten in the first round in 2004 he will defend no points and will sit on top as official number one at the end of the Grand Prix.

If you check the planet darts website today you will see the 2007 calendar already out with over £2 million up for grabs on TV tournaments so the game is really expanding now going from strenght to strenght. It also outlines how the ranking system will change in January and go to a golf style order of merit which will really sort out the men from the boys and as I said a few weeks ago you'll see some different faces appearing on TV from there on in.

In my blog the other day I never actually said the perpetual trophy that Tom Kirby won was the Shay O Brien trophy. I meant to include that in as Tom was in fact a great friend to Shay and how fitting it was that Big Tom won it and what was even more fitting was the fact he beat Wade in the final. Both Tom and Anto would probably miss Shay on the darts scene more than anybody else and I for one was delighted to see them both face off as Shay who died suddenly early on in the year would have loved that dearly. A gentleman of the game and Dublin Darts is a lesser place without him.

Has anyone seen the Showbiz Darts that has been on challenge TV all this week and for the next coming weeks. The BDO never cease to amaze me and I cant believe they put their players names to that. Its unprofessional with bad language( one former World Champion cursing and swearing), drinking on stage and in front of cameras and amazingly bad darts. Basically every the BDO has stood for since 1993. Its not great and although the BDO will always be the base of the game in getting people playing at county level and so on its not the PDC as the P as everyone knows stands for professional and thats a shame. Showbiz darts is played at the Lakeside which is shocking when you think about it. The seen of some of the greatest ever matches like Bristowe V Deller, Taylor V Gregory, Lowe V Warriner, Burnett V Beaton all at World Final level ruined when you see the likes of Johnny Vegas up against Kevin Webster from Coronation street. Ironically the base of the split in 1993 was TV coverage and the lack of it provided by the BDO and then you see this sort of rot on your tele. Have a think about it.......... There will never be a united World Championship again and I dont think we want one.

Kirby Stays On.......

The injury that might have put Irelands Tom Kirby into retirement didn't stopping the Maynooth man capturing another victory in the White House yesterday (Saturday). Big Tom played brilliantly throughout the day in this perpetual open held in the Ashbourne venue. Tom beat Mick Mcgowan ,Anto McCracken and Anto Wade along the way to seal victory and has now agreed to give qualification for the next years reebok stadium ago beginning his quest in the 22nd October.

Good news regarding my revoked players list for darts exhibitions. In January next I will have the additional profiles of Alex Roy and after a few chats last weekend Adrian "jackpot" Lewis amongst one other. One or two will be departing the site too so the number is kept realistic so I'm looking forward to working with some new faces in 2007 so lets bring it on.

I'm honoured to be attending a wedding in London next Saturday of Richie Lawrie and his good ladie Diane. Its a small enough wedding with about 30 couples invited. I know Richie about 3 years now and am really looking forward to it. Why I am honoured is that attending the wedding also will be Bristowe, Baxter, Dudbridge, Jamie, Grahame Stoddart(remember him)and Wes Newton along with Jason Statham (use to go out with Kelly Brook and star of lock stock and two smokin barrels) and former British heavyweight Boxer Gary Mason so I should have a few nice photos for the photo gallery next week. Richie Lawrie manages and sponsors a few players on the circuit for a few years now and is the maddest Bastard you'll meet so the wedding should be fun. I'm useless at travelling around London so that is the bit I'm least looking forward too.

Dont forget the big exhibition in 2 weeks time Wozza V Part in Edenderry. It's the one to go to with both players getting warmed up for their respective matches against Barneveld and Sams respectively.

I've backed this Hurrican run today. He is running in Paris so he had better take his finger out and do it. Did you see the state of Liverpool again yesterday. Shocking. Points dropped now to Sheffield United, Bolton, Everton, Chelsea and I forget who else but how pathetic is that.

Did anyone see Setanta sports the other night with their coverage of The Irish Open. The commentator was an absolute joke. Calling wrong shots , giving wrong info on outshots and refering to Steve Maish as Steve Hynde. Who the fuck is Steve Hynde? Their is a pro player called Steve Hine so maybe he got it arse ways for that reason.......Idiot. Easy know he was from Mayo.

The decision on the free exhibition will be made by Monday week lads so I'll keep you posted. Do however have a hot favourite at the moment to get it so I'll keep you posted.

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.