Darts End of Season Report

For those faithful followers of the Cómpeta Darts League, we have finally come to the end of the season. The second half of the season didn’t change much as far as the top of the table positions were concerned but there was much incident and drama with the big battles being fought mid-table.

After the mid-season singles tournament at La Roca, which was won by Phil Stockton, it was back to the nitty gritty of the team matches. Leading the table Albaida A put down an early second half marker with a 11-1 victory against Alberdini, which kept them at the top. Their nearest rivals, Cortijo Paco tried to keep the pressure on with a 10-2 win against Bar Fernan. Las Gemelas were clearly still suffering from too much turkey and Christmas Pud as they suffered their worst defeat of the whole season losing 9-3 to Pavo Real at home. It was “game on” as we got underway.

As hinted at, nothing much changed at the top of the table, as can be seen by the final positions. The top 4 remained unchanged but the real battles were fought for positions 5 through 10. Most teams moved only one place up or down but the biggest movers were Cataollas from 6th to 8th whilst Vendimia managed 8th up to 5th. No doubt Dave “Statto” Dawson, Vendimia’s captain could give you the breakdown on that one.

There were no real shocks in the second half of the season, although Roca Athletic deserve a mention for a good performance against their fellow bar team, Roca A, losing only 7-5 and their excellent win against Alberdini, 11-1 away from home. However, they were on the receiving end of a defeat by the ladies of Albaida B, losing 8-4, the only victory the ladies managed in the second half of the season. Sorry to mention that one, girls!

The second half wasn’t without its controversy. For the Albaida A v Roca A match, which was due to be played on February 9th , Albaida A decided to introduce a wooden oche for the match. For those not familiar with the finer points (no pun intended) of darts, an oche is the line at which the thrower stands and can be a simple line, typically on a darts mat, or can be a raised oche. Much debate went on on the night regarding the legality and purpose of this resulting in Roca A walking away from the match! The Albaida Oche became infamous during the rest of the season, including whether it was actually legal as it should have been 38mm high and 610mm long according to the Darts Regulation Authority Rule Book. It became so famous it now has its own Facebook group, including various poses and incarnations of the said oche. And you thought darts was just a load of beered up blokes and wined up women (or should that be whining women?) throwing pointed objects at a numbered board. The postponed match caused an interesting distraction for the rest of the season such as to which team points should be awarded for either breach of oche regulations or simply refusing to play. The match was finally played on 30th March (minus the oche, which was seen propping up the bar) after the season officially ended with Albaida A victorious 7-5. That victory sealed their league win. The table ended as follows:-

As well as team performances we need to give mention to players who topped the individual performance tables.
First place in the men’s table of games finished (that’s those who checked out with a double to win the match, for the uninitiated!) was Phil Stockton with an impressive total of 58. Second was his Cortijo Paco team mate, Colin Jeffrey on 46 with Steve “Skip” Napier (Las Gemelas) and Campana (Albaida A) tied on 40.

For the ladies, congratulations goes to Liz McDonald of Albaida B who managed 22 finishes followed by Jenny and Alison of Pavo Real on 21 and 20 respectively.

Phil Stockton also topped the men’s table for most scores of 100 or more in their individual matches with 38 from Steve “Skip” Napier on 29 and Colin Jeffrey 24. Phil’s total included five maximum 180s, Steve one and Colin three. If you want “3-in-a-Bed”, these are the boys to hunt down. I’ve heard they do “3-in-a-Bed” in a number of combinations!
The top of the lady’s 100 or more is Jenny “Vino Blanco” Napier with 14 followed by Jenny (Pavo Real) and Penny Sparks (Albaida B) both on 4.

So as the season closes we already have a potential new team for next season and the transfer market is buoyant. The close season sees an individual tournament at La Roca over a number of weeks. Now I know what a professional footballer must feel like after a hard season followed by a World Cup in the summer. Sometimes as a top sportsman the demands can be tough on the body; there’s no rest for my left throwing arm, my right beer drinking arm and as for my liver, it can barely recover. Can we all be fit again for 2010/11 season?

Alick Howard