SUNDAY LEAGUE DARTS SUPER SUNDAY GRAND FINAL PLAYOFFS

Third Title for the Titan of Tungsten

A remarkable occasion on the 4th of March in The Office Pub and Country Club witnessed Tim ‘The Rock’ Johnson capture his third Sunday League Darts title in succession. A truly outstanding feat in a season packed with Tayloresque levels of excellence set by The Rock.

Going into the play-offs, Johnson was always the hot favourite. A tremendous winning streak,  remaining unbeaten all season and a strike rate of at least one ton in every game was sure to make his opposition feel like a piece of prime meat thrown to a pack of hungry wolves. The Rock is as solid as his name suggests.

A LITTLE BIT OF BUSINESS TO CLEAR UP FIRST

The seasons last remaining league fixture between Elke Graf-Johnson and Jason Nunn was played prior to the final and had two separate issues of importance to finalise. The result was a victory for the Elkenator and gave the blonde beauty a fourth place finish and pushed her quarter-final opponent Steve Weiss of the USA back to fifth. Was this an important mental edge to take to the play-offs? The second of the two issues decided by the result had without doubt a greater prize at stake. Actually it would be better described an escape. If Jason had beaten Elke and notched a ton he would have avoided a pairing with Tim Johnson in the quarter finals. It wasn’t to be and Emlyn Bates retained 7th place ahead of the Australian, ‘Sekondtoo’ Nunn.

ONLY SEVEN AND A SERIOUS SMOKER!

Those coming down to The Office Pub and Country Club started to arrive for the kick -off shortly after seven o’clock in expectation of a glorious night of darting entertainment at the George Best Memorial Oche. Before the competition got underway the traditional opening ceremony took place at seven in the evening and Dominic ‘The Chav’ Welsh, who has all season provided the most exhilarating performances on the microphone as master of ceremonies, didn’t let the droves down as he emerged from a dense cloud of smoke and into the spotlight to whip the crowd into a frenzy belting out the SLD anthem ‘I Could Be So Good For You’ heard along with the sound of the many crackers set off to mark the occasion.

The first tie of the night was the meeting of The Rock from and Jason Nunn. The darts were less than spectacular when Johnson claimed victory with a rather below par performance in the first leg of the match and the first of the pair he required to advance. Nunn could have been forgiven if he crumbled in the next bout. He was up against the league’s most powerful puncher. With the crowd behind him it seemed as if equality could be restored and he raced to a double 16 check-out only to have his flame of hope doused by the Englishman who checked out in fine style and marched on to a semi-final assignment.

Next at the magic line was the MC himself and Canadian contender Emlyn ‘King Blee’ Bates. This encounter was hyped as the match up of the quarter finals. It was the one game billed to match the quality of the chips and gravy on offer to celebrate the SLDSSGFP. Both players have skill in abundance. The Chavly challenged Dom enjoyed a stunning season, his best to date and Emlyn who on the other hand would have been a little disappointed with his 7th place finish knew coming into the finals that he is a match for any player on his day.  

TOUGH TO CALL

Bates stormed out of the traps and deservingly pinned the first winning dart of the battle fighting off a ton landed by Dominic. An important dart it was indeed as in their previous league encounters it Welsh who prevailed with two victories leaving the King without a crown. The second leg was a dour affair only highlighted by a decent 105 lodged by The Chav and an 85 in response from his opponent. Closest to the bull would decide the winner of the leg. By the narrowest of margins Dominic stole the leg and it was 1-1. Sudden death followed. Both players were obviously nervous and expectedly so. The better darts came from the long haired Bates but sport can be so cruel. Welsh stole the victory and strode on towards the next round while Bates was left bemused in defeat, “I threw the better darts in that last leg but it just didn’t happen” said a disappointed King Blee.

Austrian Stefan Lackner accounted for Jo Rasmussen from Australia next at the oche. He threw with confidence and looked like a player on a mission resolute to prove his point in front of the truly remarkable crowd. 2-0 was the end result and Jo was a little despondent after but showed optimism whilst remarking on the defeat “very disappointing to go out at the quarter final stage two years running...maybe next time”
The Candyman now faced Dominic Welsh in the semi finals where he fell last year to Tim Johnson.

There was one remaining semi final spot up for grabs leaving Elke to toss the tungsten against Steve Weiss deciding who was to face the tournament’s red hot favourite Tim in the penultimate round.  Both players ended the season on 16 pts but the Elkenator pipped Dr Fish to fourth spot as she had a far superior number of tons thrown through out the course to the league schedule. Steve however, seemed to take heart from the fact that he had beaten the Austrian lass in both of their previous meetings this season and looked as though he might just repeat this feat again by winning the first leg with some solid slinging. Elke was not there for the taking tonight. She upped the tempo and stormed home with some fantastic darts to set up the ‘Battle of the Spouses’ in the semi final against her more illustrious husband Tim. Steve can be very proud of his first season in SLD and will only improve and challenge for top spot next year.

SHOOTING FOR SHOTS

With the quarter finals out of the way some half time entertainment was called for and the legendary Shooting For Shots took place with special SLDSSGFP prizes on offer for those who don’t play in SLD. Third place would collect a six pack of Puntigamer, second spot the usual bottle of Russia’s finest syrup, vodka and the winner was to be the proud owner of a set of brand new, SLD standard arrows. The top prize went to the Office Pub and Country Club’s very own Alcohol Dispensing Technician Keith from Ireland.

For those SLD players who did not manage to qualify for the play-offs they had their own shot for glory on the night in a special edition of SLD Shooting for shots, throwing six darts in an attempt to collect a bottle of Chivas Regal. The one and only Franz ‘The Frenzy’ Nickl who was the runner up in this season’s SLD Cup went one better and scooped the bottle much to the crowd’s delight. A stunning 135 just about fought off Stefan ‘Checkmate’ Hatzl who fired home an amazing 134.

The semis were a mixed bag.  The second match proved uneventful in terms of a shock. The Rock was tough and couldn’t be broken although Elke did her best to chip away at Tim landing some credible scores but could not halt her husband’s march to the final eventually going down 3-0. Elke did manage to go one step further than last year’s quarter final defeat against Peter ‘The Pikey’ Clancy and can now aim to improve further and book a final date next time round. It was the first semi that was a cracker. Candyman Stefan Lackner was in top form storming into a two leg lead landing a 105 on his way against Dominic Welsh who seemed to be a little over awed by the occasion. The second leg saw Welsh break his glasses and lose the 20:20 vision he depended on so badly. The next leg was fantastic. The Chav showed resilience and strength of character to smash home a fine 123 and finish the leg with a 9, 1, double 4 check-out.

Poised at 2-1 in favour of the man formerly know as The Viking, it was anybody’s call. The pure ability to keep a cool head under such immense pressure would prove vital. Could this game enter the hall of fame as a classic along with last year’s epic 3-2 victory for The Pikey against Bates on his way to the final? In the end there was to be no fifth leg. Stefan secured victory with a pair of threes and had to conjure a plan to derail Johnson. It was deemed as a surprise victory on paper for Lackner as he had lost both his league games against Chav but on the night there was no doubting who the stronger player was and the game enters the hall of fame with pride. A top contest.

A FITTING FINAL TO AN OUTSTANDING SEASON

The Carlos Lopez Memorial Trophy sparked under lights as Dom gave a huge crowd a fantastic introduction to the final. The result seemed to have a one way ticket to Johnsonville. The SLD number one made no mistake proving his worth and hurried into a 3-0 lead and needed just one more leg to retain the trophy he had made his own since the formation of Sunday League Darts.  Lackner had bought a ticket of his own and he took it out and stunned The Rock in the fourth leg pulling the score back to 3-1. The crowd went wild and you could hardly hear yourself thinking with the chorus of singing that followed the dent in Johnson’s advantage.

The fairytale was to end soon after but not without a titanic effort from Stefan pushing Tim to his limits right through until the end. A 4-1 triumph for Tim and a fantastic performance in the final from his opponent. ‘I am delighted to be the only person to take a leg from The Rock all season’ said the joyful Candyman who was not disheartened in defeat. He had his own triumph to cheer about by making the final and to take a leg against Tim in such a scenario is a fine achievement in itself. The champion spoke later of what his motivation was coming into the showdown against Lackner, “When the crowd is against me it only serves to make me throw better darts. I thrive on the negative atmosphere”.

An amazing night came to an end with another outstanding recital of the SLD anthem and another eventful and entertaining season came to a climax ending in rapturous singing from a packed house.

Long may it last and I was glad that I ‘could be there’ to see the event taking SLD to a new level. Who would have thought that at the start of the first ever SLD match that we would move forward and broadcast the finals live on the internet.  It was fantastic for me to see and hear from all of you again and during that closing ceremony I would not be honest if I said I wasn’t close to tears. I was really touched and moved by the occasion.

Well done to every player who took part this season. Those who didn’t qualify for tonight’s festivities and of course all of tonight’s players. You guys and gals are a living example of friendships which have bonded and become closer through SLD.

Congratulations to Tim, you are a true legend.

Thanks to The Office Pub for hosting SLD every Sunday. Without such a fine venue none of this could happen.
 
Only a couple of things left to say. Firstly, lets look forward to a bigger, better, more exciting season next time round and finally ’I love it me....fucking legendary’.

Lights out.

Peter ‘The Pikey’ Clancy

Summer 2006

Champion Tim holds aloft the Carlos Lopez Memorial SLD Trophy, a beer and a cigarette.

The first of our Summer Sunday Darts Leagues was played over several months. After several drop-outs, most notably from the legendary player and scorer, Marianne Rice, we ended with a hardcore elite of eleven. Although not all games were finished, it was decided to hold a Grand Final to decide the Champion, an exciting change from the purely league format of the Winter season. The Grand Final was held on Sunday September 24th with the top eight finishers in the league table (shown below) competing. Local Chav Dominic Welsh reports on what was the sporting event of the calendar year…

After weeks, no months of trepidation and pre-tournament hype, it all came to an end at The Office Pub and Country Club. It was all there to see: glamour, nerves and cheesy shirts, as Sunday League Darts reached an unprecedented climax – The Grand Final. A large crowd turned up to watch the opening ceremony as Master of Ceremonies, Yours Truly, introduced the players in the midst of a stunning sparkly dance from a variably enthused Elke and Jo.

The opening Quarter Final games were best-of-three leg affairs with title favourite and winner of the Winter Championship, Tim ‘The Rock’ Johnson, taking on Aussie Boy Jason ‘Sekondtoo’ Nunn – the only person to have ever beaten Tim in the league. However, Tim made short shrift of his opponent to win 2-0 in an unspectacular affair. It proved to be the pattern for the following games as Peter ‘The Pikey’ Clancy, Emlyn ‘King Blee’ Bates and Stefan ‘The Viking’ Lackner all proceeded to the Semis with consummate ease against Elke ‘The Elkenator’ Graf-Johnson, Jo ‘Bundy’ Rasmussen and Dom ‘The Chav’ Welsh respectively – the latter encounter proving a particularly turgid affair.

The best-of-five Semi-Finals made for better viewing with a higher level of darts thrown all round. The first of the two pairings provided the punters with a classic, which included high-octane drama and controversy. Looking good to take a 2-1 lead, Peter ‘The Pikey’ Clancy was forced to replay the third leg of his semi against Canadian Emlyn. Our scorer, Jo, generously admitted she had made a mistake and could no longer verify a correct and fair game. After conferring with the match referee, it was decided to declare the leg void and to replay it. Peter was clearly upset but did himself justice in winning the replayed leg. However, Emlyn was not to be put down easily and squared 2-2 to take the match into the final leg. In the end, The Pikey prevailed to take up the first spot in the final.

The second Semi was a less contentious but equally exciting affair, with top favourite Tim taking on Stefan, who had beaten a surprisingly off-colour Dom in the first round. In a great match, Stefan reverted to his favourite 19s and managed to improve his game, taking a leg off the reigning Champ to square at 1-1, but could do nothing against Tim’s stealth in the zone as The Rock went through 3-1.

Both finalists were now on top form – we had just seen the game of the night and Peter in particular was on an increasingly belligerent mission to stop the Maestro of the Three Shot Trick. Sadly for him though, all his bravado went up in smoke, Tim playing some champagne arrows as Peter gradually lost the plot. In a best-of-seven Final, Tim made his barman look like a bar towel and thundered to a 4-0 straight victory, the last dart thrown a carbon copy of the first of the night, with Tim saying Sayonara with double-19. However, Peter wasn’t in the mood to accept defeat as he challenged the newly crowned Champ for another leg worth a tenner each. Any guesses for the takings?

Finally, after 21 legs of darts, we had found and crowned a new, albeit old and worthy winner, Tim. Not content with victory, Tim conceded just one leg, got a massive 7 ton+ scores and achieved the nights highest score of 125.

Winter 2005/6

The first ever Sunday league comprised an eclectic hardcore of 14 players - 8 lads, 6 girls, 4 natives and 2 antipodeans. Games were played at a generally good standard, with a total of 41 ton+ scores. Tim took the title with Elke securing second spot and Peter beating Emlyn to third on goal difference (number of ton+ scores per game). Jo was the second highest placed girl with 7 points, beating Marianne on goal difference - sadly the girl who hit 180 in practice couldn't manage a ton+ score in the competition. A consistent and generally shite display from Dom secured him last place with just 2 wins. Harry unfortunately could not complete his alloted matches and had to forfeit 3 games to Elke, Martina and Stefan.

Thanks to everybody involved for making the inaugural Sunday Darts League such an incredible laugh. Particular thanks to Jo, who organises the fixtures while working in place of Tim, to Dom, Peter and Jason for shouting, and to Mark, Marianne, Stefan and Franz for scoring. Sorry if I forgot someone.