Darts, Beers, & Cheers!

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My Taylor Signed Shirt n Photo – cheers Bravo

If you follow this website closely, then you’ll know I ‘worked’ for Bravo TV during their European Darts Championship coverage a couple of months ago.  I was their ‘online darts guru’ – which meant I did their twitter coverage for them, keeping people up with the scores, giving stats and head to head info for every game.

As way of thanks, they sent me a few goodies – and I thought I’d get a picture and post them up here, as they are taking pride of place in my small darts collection (along with the Steve Maish original darts of course!).

I’ve now got a Phil Taylor autographed PDC white shirt – very smart it is too – maybe I’ll wear it on a special occasion, and a Bravo branded Phil Taylor signed photo (A4 and very nice quality).

I’m chuffed to bits with the shirt – as Phil has added “3 in Germany” on it, as he was celebrating his 3rd success as the only ever winner of the European Darts Championships!

New Pubfinder Database now live at Darts, Beers & Cheers!

I’m chuffed to be able to announce that my brand new ‘Pubfinder database‘ has now gone live here at DB&C!  I’ve juggled the menu up above a bit to make room for the link, or you can just click here to take a look (it’s all part of this website, just with a new look n feel to make it distinct.

It’s early days obviously – as there’s very little actually to search for at the moment – but that’s where YOU come in!

I need your help!

Yep if you play in a local darts pub or private club (or local snooker hall which has some boards available for play), I would love it if you could enter the details on the ‘add a pub/club’ page.   It should only take a few minutes (if that), and the more info you can give, the easier others will find it.  So if you could look up postcodes and phone numbers etc, that’s excellent.. otherwise I’ll do my best to update it myself.

I hope we can create a huge database of all the places that a darts player can find an oche – which anyone and everyone can use – especially useful when you are visiting a new town and take your darts!

If you know of a landlord of club owner who should get their gaff on the database (after all it could bring in more punters!) please do let them know about this website, so they can do the business.

Please do tell your mates about the Pubfinder Database, so we can make it a success.  I want it to cover the entire UK (and hey, maybe we’ll expand it to cover the world later on!), and be the no. 1 place to go to.

I’ve also written to CAMRA to ask if their membership could help with this effort – as it also obviously promotes the pubs themselves.  I also hope to add all the Riley’s clubs – and have asked them if they can help with all the details!

Cheers and good darts, Krispy.

Darts Review and upcoming preview of the PDC scene

Phew it’s been a busy time for a darts fan, July was packed full of televised darts goodness!  Phil Taylor was his usual regal king of darts, winning both the World Matchplay in Blackpool, and the European Darts Championships in Germany.

Results have meant some movement in the rankings – especially for Wayne Jones, who comes out of the last two weeks very nicely… some £35,000 on his rankings, plus a guranteed place at the Grand Slam of Darts for the next two years.  Once the OOM is updated I’m sure he will be in the top 16, which is a great place to be.

The Euro Champs were extra special for me, as I was invited by Bravo TV to be their ‘online darts guru’… and I took over the official @BRAVO_darts twitter duties.  It was good fun (24 hours worth of twittering mind you), and I was able to entertain and inform the darts fans across Europe.  It was quite an honour, and hopefully a reflection of how people see me now as a semi authority on all things PDC      I’m probably biased, but I think Bravo did a fantastic job of the coverage (after initial teething problems), the pundity was top notch, and it was good to see a knowledgable crowd.  I’ve seen a lot of chat in the forums hoping they will cover more darts in the future! (GALLERY of images from the Euros here).

Looking forwards August is actually a quiet time – probably to allow the darts pros to have a bit of a rest/holiday – unless they are heading to Australia or Canada! (I know Dennis Priestly will be in Canada, as he says in his recent interview he did for us).  September brings the player championships closer to home, with weekends in Crawley and the Netherlands.

AUGUST
22	Revesby Workers Club	Australian Open Players Championship 22
28	Ontario, Canada	Players Championship 23
29	Ontario, Canada	Canadian Masters (PC24)
SEPTEMBER
4	Crawley	Players Championship 25
5	Crawley	Players Championship 26
7, 8, 9	Crondon Park	Championship League Darts 1, 2, 3
18	Nuland, Holland	Players Championship 27
19	Nuland, Holland	Players Championship 28
21, 22, 23	Crondon Park	Championship League Darts 4, 5, 6

I will be attending the Crawley player championship weekend at the start of Sept, as Justin Pipe’s guest (thanks mate!), and it will be great to get back to the floor, and see if Justin can continue his recent great results.  There is a rumour that Raymond van Barneveld may attend the Crawley floor tournament, which I hope he does, as I’ve not seen him in the flesh yet.

I will also be at the Bad Boys III exhibition on the 25th September – I think tickets might still be available.  Looking for to it, and meeting our competition winners (DarrenH and Nikkiboy) there too.

I’ve also had some crackings news personally from my friends at Red Dragon Darts (Winmau) – they have offered me a day at their factory, to have a custom darts fitting!  They usually reserve this for the pro’s.. so it’s another honour!  Red Dragon have sponsored many of the competitions on this site – including the current one to win a set of Alex Roy darts.  I’ve a set or two of their darts already myself, they really are cracking quality darts!

So all in all 2010 has been a great darting year so far, with a new broadcaster (Bravo TV) coming onto the scene.. and there’s PLENY more darts to come!  Good darting!

Cheers, Krispy.

Bravo TV European Darts Championships – press event

I am back in one piece from a fantastic press event organised by Bravo TV for their upcoming coverage of the European Darts Championships.

For a couple of hours in a secret location in London (upstairs in a darts pub), I rubbed shoulders with some of darts royalty;  Barry Hearn, Phil Taylor, Dave Allen (PDC Media officer), Róisín O’Shea of Unicorn (looks after their stars), Dave Gorman (funny man, TV presenter, and darts fanatic), and a room full of darts journalists and the lasses and lads of Bravo TV (thanks to Nicki for looking after me!).  Maybe that makes me darts aristocracy by association.. ish.

Barry Hearn welcomed us all, and went on to say how pleased he was that Bravo was showing the darts at the end of the month (July 29th it all starts).  I did get to talk to Barry, and as the footballers cliche goes, “I was over the moon” when he said that he reads my website sometimes.  Mr Hearn (to you) said that he does keep up with all the forums, as “70% of the stuff is pure rubbish, 25% is interesting, and 5% is pure gold”.  He went on to say that “if you read the minutes of the PDC board, you’ll find that nearly everything is stolen from ideas I read in darts forums” – which I’m sure was said in jest, but it does go to show that Mr Hearn knows his audience, and knows that you need to please them 1st if you want a successful product.

I was pretty much in darts heaven (the free drinkies and food helped of course), especially when I introduced myself to Dave Gorman (another hero), and he pointed to my DB&C t-shirt and said, ahh yes Krispy from that darts website.  Get in there! I decided it was time to get my darts out, and I joined Dave Gorman on one of the Unicorn dartmates that was set-up to throw a few arrows.  We chatted about his current darts form – after a rush of 180′s he said they’d dried up.. to be honest his 13 is 10 more than mine.. so I have to bow to his darts as well as his comedy!

At one point in the evening Russ Bray called everyone to attention – as there was to be a darts competition.. luckily for the teams involved, no-one had me as a handicap!  Dave Gorman played for team Bravo – and they were in the running for a while, but in the end it was the journo’s from the Sun and another called IDS (? bah I didn’t get proper details) who won through to the final. While the teams fought it out I got more time with Barry Hearn and Dave Gorman – and thought I’d dare a joke, as I warned Dave that he could become known as “the poor mans Stephen Fry” once he’s done his stint as Darts Presenter.  Dave is really looking forwards to it, it’s talking about something he’s really interested in.

If you read the minutes of the PDC board, you’ll find that nearly everything is stolen from ideas I read in darts forums - Barry Hearn, joking with me at the Bravo press event.

The highlight of the night (in fact of the year to be honest for me), was when Russ Bray announced that Phil Taylor would play a few of us…  and would you believe it, darts in hand I stroke to the oche to take on the big man.  OK so I was semi pushed forwards by my Bravo minders (cheers ladies!), and had a few “go on Krispy” coming from Dave Allen.

To say I didn’t quite hit my mediocre top level of darts is an understatement!  I can’t think why.. I mean it was just me Krispy playing the greatest darts player of all time, in the form of his life… with Barry Hearn, “Mr Darts” himself watching and laughing… and assorted sports journalists heckling as I threw my 26′s.   It didn’t help, as with me back on 200 or so, and Phil on a double, I stepped forwards, Russ Bray said (over the microphone to the entire room), “OK Krispy, you need…. f*cking loads!“  Yeah cheers mate

I’m sure Phil was relieved when he came through the ordeal and beat me – probably one of the hardest tests he’s ever faced (haha!).    I don’t care that I was rubbish to be honest, I got to play The Power, and shook his hand afterwards.. and there’s not many people who can say they’ve done that.

So all in all a top night – I’ve made a few more contacts, met some of my heroes, thrown some bad darts, and talked darts with Barry Hearn.

So now really looking forward to the European Darts Championships on Bravo TV (more info here, and the draw here) – and hopefully helping the team anyway I can

European Championship Schedule of Play

Thursday July 29
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
8.00pm Paul Nicholson v Andy Smith
8.30pm Mark Walsh v Antonio Alcinas
9.00pm Terry Jenkins v Andree Welge
9.30pm Simon Whitlock v Dennis Priestley
10.00pm Gary Anderson v Jamie Caven
10.30pm Phil Taylor v Co Stompe
11.00pm Jelle Klaasen v Vincent van der Voort
11.30pm Mervyn King v Barrie Bates

Friday July 30
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
8.00pm Bernd Roith v Denis Ovens
8.30pm Mark Dudbridge v Robert Thornton
9.00pm Adrian Lewis v Wayne Jones
9.30pm Tomas Seyler v Michael van Gerwen
10.00pm James Wade v Colin Lloyd
10.30pm Raymond van Barneveld v Andy Hamilton
11.00pm Colin Osborne v Wes Newton
11.30pm Ronnie Baxter v Alan Tabern

Saturday July 31
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Play commences 2pm German time (1pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
2.00pm Walsh/Alcinas v Klaasen/van der Voort
3.00pm Jenkins/Welge v Whitlock/Priestley
4.00pm Baxter/Tabern v Osborne/Newton
5.00pm Roith/Ovens v Lewis/Jones

Evening Session
Play Commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
8.00pm King/Bates v Anderson/Caven
9.00pm van Barneveld/Hamilton v Roith/Ovens
10.00pm Taylor/Stompe v Nicholson/Smith
11.00pm Wade/Lloyd v Seyler/van Gerwen

Sunday August 1
Afternoon Session
Quarter-Finals
Play commences 2pm German time (1pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
2.00pm Jenkins/Welge/Whitlock/Priestley v King/Bates/Anderson/Caven
3.00pm Wade/Lloyd/Seyler/van Gerwen v Baxter/Tabern/Osborne/Newton
4.00pm Taylor/Stompe/Nicholson/Smith v Walsh/Alcinas/Klaasen/van der Voort
5.00pm van Barneveld/Hamilton/Roith/Ovens v Lewis/Jones/Dudbridge/Thornton

Evening Session
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
Semi-Finals
8.00pm
9.15pm

Final
11.00pm

Format

First Round – Best of 11 legs
Second Round – Best of 19 legs
Quarter-Finals – Best of 19 legs
Semi-Finals – Best of 21 legs
Final – Best of 21 legs

European Darts Championship 2010 – coming soon on Bravo

I’ve got some great news… this website will be working closely with the team at Bravo to bring you all the news, views, and results of the upcoming European Darts championships.  The guys n Girls at Bravo have recognised this website’s contribution and standing in the PDC darts world, and have invited me to join them at the launch press event coming up next week, where I’ll get to meet PHIL TAYLOR and the presenters, Dave Gorman (yep the intellectual funny guy), and PDC Head honcho, Barry Hearn.  Hopefully I can bring back some info and pictures – I’m looking forward to it!

Here’s some more info if you’d not heard about the newest Darts tournament to be televised;

BRAVO is bringing you the European Dart Championship, LIVE from Dinslaken, Germany, following  the top 32 players in Europe as they compete for the £200,000 prize in this very continental of competitions.  Bravo proudly welcomes on board famed stand up comedian and legendary darts fanatic Dave Gorman who will be using his own unique wit to give us a passionate fans’s eye view of the tournament. Joining him is former Football Italia presenter and sports journalist James Richardson. Both are set to bring a huge amount of energy and a fresh approach.

Four nail biting days, tense live action and plenty of suspense as the competitors go head to head: darts at it best!  The tournament runs from July 29th – 1st August.

The Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) top 16 players at the start of July will qualify automatically for the European Championship, headed up by the current champion Phil “The Power” Taylor, who has won the title in both 2008 and 2009 since the tournament’s launch.

Emotions will be running high as they will be joined by eight European-based players from the PDC’s European Order of Merit, comprised from events held in Gibraltar, Germany, Holland and Austria, which is likely to include former Lakeside Champion Jelle Klaasen, Dutch stars Vincent van der Voort, Michael Van Gerwen and Co Stompe and German pair Tomas Seyler and Andree Welge.

The final eight players will come from the Players Championship Order of Merit, which could include former World Championship runner-up Mark Dudbridge, Scottish star Gary Anderson and the 2009 European Championship finalist, Steve Beaton.

Krispy’s year of darts so far, a short review with pictures

I thought I’d take this short break between darts tournaments to write up a few thoughts about how 2010 has gone for me and this website so far in 2010 – don’t worry, there will be shiny pictures for those who get bored easily

Jan 16th 2010 – a day which will go down in darting folklore… as the day that “Darts, Beers & Cheers!” opened its doors (or whatever websites have) to the darting public.  I’d wanted to do a website to talk about darts for a few months – something where I and others could share news, articles, and hopefully interviews with the players.  So I put my time (and bugger all money) where my mouth was, and so this website was born.

I’m a naturally outgoing and chatty person, and live by a rule of ‘a favour for a favour’ – which often works well when you are doing stuff on the web.  So I e-mailed a few professionals (out of the blue, after scouring for their e-mail addresses).. and Wayne Mardle was the first to answer and agree to do an interview (here).  I think that gave this site a bit of credence, as not long after Peter Manley did that same.  Since then I’ve managed to keep em coming, with hopefully more on their way!

Hopefully you think this site is doing a good job and looks the part – I’ve had a lot of great comments (including from Amanda @ We Love Darts magazine, and some of the players on the pdc pro tour), and we’ve had some good posts from guest contributors (register and you can do the same!).

Since the site opened, I’ve been to the Circus Tavern for the player championships (write-up here), the Premier League in Nottingham (thanks to Whyte & Mackay free tickets!), and a pro tour floor event in Wigan (write-up here).  I’ll be off to the pro tour in Barnsley in a few weeks (thanks to Maishy), and  am slowly getting to meet and chat with players on the tour – and I can tell you I’ve not been disappointed yet, they have all been great guys so far.   I’ve also got plans to be in Derby in November for another floor event (and possibly at the MDA ‘Face off’ exhibition that Friday – cheers guys).

Unfortunately I won’t be in Bolton next week – I’ve decided to choose the floor tournament over it due to financial restrictions (i.e. the Mrs would kill me if I did both, and Bolton would have been £300 or more).  Still undecided about the worlds at the end of the year, after going to the last 3… depends if my friends at the PDC care to treat me with VIP access (suble enough hint Dave? ).

I’d also like to say thanks to Red Dragon Darts – who are now partnering this site somewhat, so I can bring you some prizes and competitions, and hopefully interviews and news about their stable of sponsored players (I’m waiting on a Mervyn King interview at the moment!).  We ran a competition last week for some new Merv King darts, and next week I will be announcing another, this time to win a set of Simon Whitlock darts!

So hopefully this site will continue to grow (in content and in recognition) – continuing to bring a fans view of the sport of Darts, and more inside info from the players (thanks to Dave Ladley for his tournament write ups!).  I hope to add a exhibition database/diary, so if you run exhibitions get in touch with the details!  Also if you’re a pro player reading this, and fancy being ‘interviewed’ over e-mail (or hell, fancy a beer and a game with me and ‘Danger’) please do contact me.    Most importantly, if you’re a fan, and have a story you’d like to share, or maybe a write-up and pictures of your day at the darts, register and do a write up, or if you prefer, contact me and you can e-mail me and I’ll do the layout

Cheers and here’s hoping for a GREAT UK Open next week, Kristian ‘Krispy’ Brown.

Darts Memorabilia – Steve Maish darts starts my collection

I was pleased and excited to have my name drawn out as a winner of an opening prize of The Stars Of Darts Forum – and it was ironic that I won a set of darts from pro Steve ‘Mr Magic’ Maish.  Ironic because I’d spent the weekend before chatting with him several times at the Wigan floor tournament event – how bizzare is that!?

Well today a padded envelope arrived on my doorstep, and it was either my prize or a collection of abusive letters…  I hoped for the former!  I did open it fairly carefully, as I’d heard rumours that these could be the very darts that were retreived from a bin after a bad day on the tour… I did check for the tell-tale whiff of booze and burger.. but nothing

As you can see my prize was amazing for any darts fan – darts, custom ‘Mr Magic’ flights (several sets).. and signed photocards..  THANK YOU STEVE MAISH!

He’s generosity doesn’t stop there – as Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin and myself are going to Barnsley for a weekend at the pro tour again as Steve’s guests – and we’re dead excited once again.  I’m sure that we’ll get the Darts, Beers & Cheers t-shirts out again, and we might even wash em!

Coming soon…. a competition that you can win… for some lovely new darts    (and no, not these ones.. these are MINE!)

News and upcoming competitions at Darts, Beers & Cheers!

Some interesting news (and some great news for me personally!) today – so I thought I’d share it with you…

Premier League in Nottingham tomorrow night:- I’ll be there myself, thanks to the sponsors Whyte & Mackay!  Yep that’s right, staff writer Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin and myself (Krispy) will be watching the darts up close and personal, as guests of Whyte & Mackay (well OK I won their Facebook competition, hehe).  Hopefully as long as we don’t get lost we will be there at doors open )6pm I believe), to soak up some (beer) atmosphere, and maybe wave at some of the fans who recognise my Darts, Beers & Cheers! t-shirt – it’s hard to miss people    So there won’t be a results update until Friday, when I hope to have a proper fans view write up with photos.

Competitions:- Thanks to the great guys at Red Dragon Darts (part of the Winmau group), I will be able to start bringing you regular competitions, for sets of their fantastic darts.  First up VERY SOON will be a competition to win the brand new Merv King darts – in gold with red aluminum shafts, and Merv King fights, and very nice they are too (I have them right here in front of me!).

Cross promotion:- again Red Dragon Darts will probably be working with me and this site to make it even better, and to spread the word to all darts fans.  This site may get some branding/advertising, and they will send people this way too – helping both sites.  So that’s good news if you’ve got articles up here, more people reading them!  If you fancy writing an article or story yourself, just register and you’ll get instructions about how to do so.

More interviews:- I’ve got questions out with Steve ‘Mr Magic’ Maish (he’s a really friendly bloke, and great darter with the Elvis walk-on), and others.. and will also hopefully be interviewing Justin Pipe, a real upcoming ‘one to watch’.  And who knows who else might agree to talk to me.

More reports from the pro tour:- Lee and myself are booked up to spend another two days with the pro tour, next time in Barnsley in June, and we’re even more excited as we know how amazing it is.  Maybe this time I can get a few pictures of the pro’s – possibly in the evening with a beer in their hands

So loads to keep me busy – and this site brimming full of darts news and info.  If you fancy writing something, I’m very happy to help you – even if you just want to write about how you got into darts, or something about your local darts team, or your favourite darts pro.

400+ Facebook fans for Darts, Beers & Cheers – next target, 1,000!

I thought I’d make a very quick post of self congratulations – the facebook group to go along with this darting mecca has already gone through the 400 ‘fans’ mark, which isn’t bad at all considering it was only created a month or two ago.  If you’ve not visited it, you can find it here; Darts, Beers & Cheers on facebook - I often post up there links back to the new articles here – helping people keep up to date.  It’s also a great place for you to make your own comments and posts – where hundreds of other darts fans will see!

There are also some darts pro’s signed up as fans – including Jamie Caven, Dave Ladley, and Tony Martin – so they may just pop by and reply to your posts.

If you are on facebook, please click the ‘become fan’ button – the more people who sign up mean the more people who might see the posts and find their way to us.  We’re already becoming one the places to visit when you want to find out about the darts – don’t be shy contacting me or signing up and posting your own content.

Other site news

If you’ve not noticed, I’m adding the abiliy to find and buy tickets for darts events right here – to save you time and effort.  Get your darts tickets here and help support this site.

Hopefully I will be able to run another competition sometime soon – I’m chatting with a well known darts manufacturer and shop at the moment about a few things, and it might be the case we can team up for a few prizes.. who knows.

Hopefully I should be bringing you more write-ups from the tournaments (and please submit your own to me if you’d like to contribute!), from Dave Ladley and maybe other players too.

Thanks for visiting – and keep your news, darts web links, and ‘hellos’ coming – just use the contact page to send me anything.

Cheers, Krispy

Stars of Darts forum opens – phoenix from the ashes of SSoD

Well when one door starts to shut, another opens as they say.  I’ve only just reported today that the well respected “Superstars of Darts” forum is closing down this week – which is a real shame.

The good news?  In it’s wake comes the “Stars of Darts forum” – which has been created by some of the regulars from the old SSoD forum.  It ensures that both the pro tour volunteer markers scheme can continue (which is a great opportunity if you fancy marking top pro’s on the tour), and also the ‘Player sponsorship’ scheme run by Spaceman (Dave Ahmet) – which is a fantastic way to buy a £25 share and help sponsor a darts pro (like a park share in a racehorse!).

I’ve signed up already – and hopefully a lot of the old SSoD forum members will too – and anyone else who fancies talking about darts (pub, BDO, and PDC).  Hopefully the new forum will once again attract the pro’s to come and post, another thing about SSoD that made it feel quite special (you could chat with the players and their wives/family,  reading live updates from those lucky enough to be at the floor tournaments).  UPDATE: Members are already piling in, including Steve Maish, and Jamie Caven – so the pro’s are back

Good luck to the new forum, you can find it here; http://thestarsofdarts.co.uk