Darts, Beers, & Cheers!

Archive for the ‘Pub darts stories’ Category

Darts knockouts for chance to play Wolfie and Jackpot!

I had another great night playing darts in my local Rileys Darts Zone last night – 4th visit in 3 weeks now, it’s my new local    While I was there I had a chat with the boss Tanis, and found out that they have some competitions coming up, to win not only cash prizes, but also a game verses either Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis, or Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams in the upcoming official opening exhibition.

The Peterborough Q Club opening exhibition is on Tues 28th Sept, featuring those two players, and Russ Bray calling (15 other club opening events detailed HERE).

Anyway, during the build-up to next months opening exhibition, Rileys will be hosting 3 darts knockout tournaments, for a guaranteed £50 first prize (£3 entry), with both finalists of each event also winning a game vs. one of the pros in the big night exhibition! The exhibition is invite/ticket only, so this could be your best chance to be there.

So if you fancy a chance to play one of the big names in darts, and also win yourself £50 for a few games of arrows, why not get yourself along to one of the events?  The first is this Saturday – so don’t waste any time sorting it out!

The Peterborough Q Club knockouts are being held on; 21st Aug (this sat, registration 3.30pm I believe), 3rd sept, and 17th sept. All £3 to enter and guaranteed £50 prize money.  For more details call the club on 01733 348939.

Peterborough (Q Club)

15-27 Cowgate
Peterborough
Cambridgeshire
PE1 1LZ

The Rileys Darts Zone

Introducing the Rileys Darts Zone. Rileys are on course to have 50 high tech Darts Zones completed in their clubs by the end of the year. A Rileys Darts Zone is an innovation in the world of Darts, boasting up to six top quality throws and electronic score-boards. Rileys are rapidly earning an envied reputation as the home of Darts in the UK and welcome players of all standards to our friendly clubs.

The King Saves Danger! Danger’s pub darts diary pt 6

It’s been a frustrating season for Danger as captain of a local pub team (Stilton, Yes the cheese rolling place)!  He has also suffered personal darting demons that are still gripping to him like Paul Nicholson gripping to popularity in Bolton!

At the beginning of the summer season I took the captaincy and immediately in true Rafael Benitez Style guaranteed us fourth spot! Whoops… Liverpool failed and got rid of Benitez… I’m screwed then! We are a couple of matches into the second half of the season and we sit in fourth spot in the league but the chasing pack is only 2 points behind!…Squeaky bum time! A new team filled with county players are leading the pack far too good for our level, personally I would feel embarrassed if I was them as it’s like taking candy from babies… but I hope they enjoy their trophies…(green faced as I type this)

I also have the added problem of needing 9 players for the team and have 18 signed on our books all wanting to play regular darts… keeping everyone happy is impossible, and the season has already witnessed training ground/oche busts ups with captain and players… well one player… @*$% is all I have to say, what happened on Stilton Oche remains on it…….

On a personal note I have had a troubled season, only won 1 out of 6 matches and that was done by (excuse the pun) throwing my natural style out the window and hitting the winning double with an unnatural Geoff Capes style shot put throw!! The only difference was he threw further and is a lot bigger than me! (not fatter, I would not call him fat, mainly because he lives near me and his son works with me and his son blocks out the light every time I see him in the college corridors.. he was great Geoff Capes was   I would never insult a former world strongest man, especially when his son cud probably throw me hard enough to score a bull finish!)

So how did The King save Danger I hear you cry (If anybody is still reading this rubbish)…

I obtained some King darts to trial around about the same time James ‘Playboy’ Curtis told me, having watched me throw 30 odd darts to finish on double 1… and yes that’s 30 darts at double 1 not the complete leg;  said the immortal words “Just throw the F@*king thing Danger” Since then i have bonded with The Kings darts and thrown it better and straighter.. Recently hitting 3 180’s in 2 weeks..I know how good is that…(now you can get the sort of level we are at!)

So thanks to Mervyn and Playboy I now just throw the F@*king thing!

Danger is back! (but not yet to his best, and his best is still as good as a blind one armed man with dartitus!)

PS Glad to see the support for Dave Ladley a lovely bloke! Good luck to you Dave! (the ‘Dave Ladley £1 appeal on facebook here – currently auctioning some great darts memorabilia).

by Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin.

Krispy visits a Rileys Darts Zone – a big thumbs up!

I thought I’d make the day of it yesterday evening, by playing some darts before watching Taylor win the WMP (in 3D).

Rather than play at home as normal, Danger and myself decided that we would visit the Peterborough Rileys (Q Club in the center of town), as I’ve not been there since they refitted it to be a fully fledged darts zone.  It did used to have a board or two, but it was nothing compared to what greeted us.

The entire area around the bar has been renovated, with 6 Winmau Blade III’s set-up for play, each fitted into a very smart ‘booth’.  4 had the old fashioned chalk boards (and plenty of chalk!), and two had fancy new electronic scorers.  Being lazy and on a night out we went for the electronic variety.   Each board also had it’s own table for drinks – and the whole bar area is now decked out in plush leather seats and stools, so if you’re there for a darts competition there’s plenty of space to sit around and relax.  They’d also fitted a HUGE projector screen to one side, with more chairs around it, for watching sports and the like (a ‘fan zone’ as its branded).

It was nice playing with a raised oche too, something I don’t have at home – it really seems to make a difference (there’s no looking down all the time to see if you’re stepping over the line).  It didn’t help me that much though, as Danger beat me 8-3, although it was 7-0 at one stage!  I was trying my new Tony Eccles darts, and they did seem to suit my throw – apart from the moment I threw one at bull without realising the flight had come out!  Doh.

I believe that Rileys are also trying to support darts by encouraging you to bring teams to play at the clubs as your home venue… they are offering support (such as paying league fees, discounts on food/drink to team members, and free food after league games).  I can see new teams springing up to take advantage of the facilities and offer of support.  More details on that HERE.

If you’ve not visited your Rileys club recently, I really recommend you give it a go now – as the new darts zone’s could be the future of darts as pubs with darts boards slowly seem to disappear.  (and no, I’ve not been paid to say any of this )

DEAFinitely darts – Record attempting charity darts night – GET INVOLVED!

You may know that the PDC are supporting SignHealth as their charity for 2010.  SignHealth is the healthcare charity for deaf people, providing health related services for all deaf people.

Well you and your darts team (or your pub/club) can get involved in a fantastic charity darts night, which may get itself into the guiness book of records!  “DEAFinitely Darts” aims to achieve the most people ever playing darts simultaneously in pubs and clubs across the country over a 4 hour period from 19.00 to 23.00 on 21st October 2010 and in so doing raise substantial sponsorship for the charity.

Venues will be provided with one limited edition dart board per team (no limit on number of teams in one venue!), dart flights and a hand held electronic scoring device. 

• DEAFinitely darts are asking for a £100 registration fee per team (that is ONLY £12.50 per player!) Then a suggested £50 sponsorship per player (but see next point)
• Any team raising over £800 in total will be entitled to a refund of their registration fee
• Players will use 1001, double in, double out, for their games
• The event will be staged over 4 hours from 7pm to 11pm on 21st October 2010
• The team (teams of 8 ) which raises the most sponsorship will receive a Grand prize of £4000.

SignHealth were at Bolton last week at the UK Open and we taught the crowd how to sign 180 and bullseye- ably assisted by the lovely Mo Glover our interpreter (if you watched, you probably saw her on stage). They also taught a number of the top players how to sign their nickname (check out the pictures!).

We must not forget that darts is very popular amongst the Deaf community as it is one of the only sports that can be played by hearing and deaf people on a level playing field. It’s another of the things that really makes

Darts the sport of the people.

As a member of the PDC I am delighted to do all I can to help support the work of this vital charity. For those of us  with full hearing we can only imagine how frightening and challenging health-care and treatment can be without clear communication – the support SignHealth provide is essential in ensuring the deaf community receive the best level of care possible. I urge all publicans and club owners to join this fantastic world record attempt and ask every darts player to put a team together in aid of this worthy cause.  I look forward to visiting some of the participating pubs and clubs across the country that take part in this superb event - Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor.

FOR LANDLORDS/CLUB OWNERS:

With teams of 8 registering, and no limit on the number of teams that can enter per venue. The top 15 venues will receive a visit, coaching and exhibition match from one of the Premier Leagues leading players. The landlord or club owner whose venue raises the most sponsorship wins a holiday to the Bahamas. Feeling good about raising money for charity AND getting a nice pat on the back, can’t be bad!

So have a word with your mates, your team, your punters – and get over to www.deafinitelydarts.org.uk and register!!

On the Eve of Battle – Danger’s pub darts diary pt 5

Rik Tonboy Cawood and the Stilton Glamour

Apologies for the length of time since last post.. I have been busy busy busy (student reports, marking yawn yawn yawn…. Wigan floor tournament… was awesome thanks for the invite Krispy… no thanks to the sat nav… big thanks to Mace the Ace, Dave Ladley, Spaceman and Steve ‘Magic Man‘ Maish! I was in heaven all weekend..I love darts…well sort of…you see ‘Danger’ has hit some really bad form on the eve of his debut as captain in the Peterborough Mens Clubs Summer League!

I am confident I can lead my men into victory after victory and in true Rafa Benitez style I guarantee fourth place!!! (ooops)

Being out of form and struggling with confidence is a bastard! Ask any dart player.. then I have to contend with poor finishing meaning that I am always left on double one!…(oh shit).  What is it about the infamous madhouse? My brain says the double is bigger than the treble.. it sits between double top and double 18, which when on form i have no trouble with, ask Krispy (who incidently after losing to him for the first time in two years, I noticed he failed to mention that on our re-match Danger was back!) But my arm says no way, Danger! I then live up to my darts name as the markers duck for cover at my attempts to finish the game… On one throw I hit below the bull (that really is poor). If anyone has tips to help me overcome this, please, please, please…HELP!!!!

So with madhouse brain ache, bad form and having to pick 9 players from 18 team members each week, Danger is under pressure!

I am starting to gain a reputation of the pressure getting to me at key moments in the match.. as commented by one of my own team mates last week when i lost 2-0 in the deciding game in a friendly! (cheers fellas) things ahead are looking dark!

In all seriousness, the darkness almost fell on my career and i am still struggling to regain the confidence i had, I began not to enjoy the game (That is bad news).  How do the pros do it week in week out and at times make it look easy?!!! I have full admiration for the skill of all the pros!

One day i will return to Wigan with my dartzzzzzzzz..(wake up)!

So Monday we enter battle, then the reports begin.. will Danger return to form, will Stilton ever win a competition, will you ever care….ummm tough one!

Enjoy the game…

Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin

Danger Danger I’m in Charge!

Hi all

Once again sorry for the delay in posts… Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin has been busy again over the last 3 weeks! I have been busy being appointed captain of the Stilton Country Club Darts team for the forthcoming summer league.. I Know me…lol…leading and inspiring a darts team in another season of oche madness! If only my current form was inspiring at the moment i cant hit a barn door with a javelin from 3 feet! My form has dipped so bad that my daughter beat me the other day and she is 11 months old! (I lie obviously, I would never let my 11 month old daughter play with darts, not my new ones anyhow!)

This does mean i can report to you on my weekly leading of my team of misfits through the doors of clubs, embracing the smell of stale odour and dangerous dogs! Yes one of the venues we play at has a dog training session on the same night in the room next door, Rik ‘Ton Boy’ Cawood went for a fag and came back with one leg and a bonio! (It was all the excitement I think)!

Danger has also been away for the week in sunny Scarborough for the National Student Drama Festival, I took my darts but they never left my bag! Has Scarborough got a pub with a darts board! I never found one…In true dramatic style i used the week to reflect and analyse my poor form and came to this conclusion… I’m Shit, somebody help me.. please..(cries uncontrollably)… I mentioned i would chat about madhouse and brain ache and that will come in the next couple of weeks before the summer league starts!

Thought i would post this pic! Has no relevance to darts but i was impressed wih my star hunting! It is my mission for danger to be pictured with as many darts (and speedway) stars as possible.. so look out Danger is about!

On that note i want to finish this week by saying… Get well to my favourite play Peter One Dart Manley, thanks to Chris Mason for sorting out the upcoming Wigan darts adventure, and Hi Mum!

Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin shakes like Elvis!

a diary of a pub darts player, by Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin

Firstly let me say sorry to all my many fans for the delay since the last post!

Well sorry to all the few fans I have.

Well… ok sorry to my mum…(ring, ring), Yes mum, I will tell them… so sorry to who ever is reading this then! At least my dog is looking at me adoringly.. oi!, come back Smiffy!

I would also like to say thanks to Krispy (This site’s creator, if you don’t already know).  He recently bought me John Lowe’s fantastic book ‘The Art of Darts’ …not only that, inside Old Stoneface had personally signed it ‘To Lee Danger Griffin, Stilton Darts Legend’ how cool is that! Thanks John… you are the Legend!

I remember watching John and Eric in epic battles in the 1980s which fuelled my addiction to darts, although I held off for another 15 years before I really got hooked (I discovered Speedway in between)!

So last week you met the team, and this week I am going to briefly discuss my shakes. I remember my first game against a team called ‘Phone Inn’ away at their place,  I stood on the oche, my heart pumping!… Now, I am a Drama Teacher at my local College and have been an actor, performing live many times (well i would not perform dead would I?), but I had never felt that nervous before.. weird. I remember who I played but could not tell you how well I played or any dart I threw but I was victorios winning 2-0! So with my heart pumping and the adrenalin rushing I pulled back my arm to throw my first dart, and noticed how much it was shaking! This continued for the next couple of games, so I started to try to combat it, but was banned from bringing in the washing machine (I sat on it to try and bring my arm to order), I then tried them fat busting vibrating belt machine thingies but that just made me loose weight! If I lost weight how could I ever live up to a dart player’s image!

The problem is, unbelievably I dont drink much so I cant rely on alcohol to steady my nerves, so I have to divert to other methods to control the shakes.

In all seriousness it was a worry but the more I played the less nervous I became… unfortunately thats when I started loosing!… Any tips from the stars of Darts? I am reading Mr Lowe’s book but I am open to other tips as well…. (who shouted give up darts you’re rubbish)… Thanks Mum…. Happy Mothers Day!

Danger Invites you to meet the Stilton Darts Team

My first season with Stilton Darts Team flew by…

(winter 08/09) I remember winning my first match 2-0! But that first season opened up loads of points for my blog… so in the coming weeks I, the infamous Danger Griffin, will discuss subjects such as ‘the shakes’… ‘funny stories’… ‘Madhouse’…’brain ache’…’the characters in the local pub scene’… ‘chalking’…’those little brown squeaky things that go eek eek’ and ‘the local venues’…plus so much more….

So lets meet the team to help you visualise those sad sorry characters i play darts with and discuss, while keeping you informed of my darting adventure.

So Clive ‘Blakey’ Ambler the captain. Clive was a local playing legend until the cruel Dartitus  attacked and he is still battling through… It happens to the best Clive!

Spike Perry:…Spike recently scored his first 180 after 25 years of playing… nobody saw it…….how did Spike get his name?  I hear it was an incident with a local hedgehog!!

Clive ‘The Sheriff’ Nottingham.. firstly Clive has the most un original nickname ever..and don’t play the bastard at pool especially for money! No picture unfortunately, as he was out fighting Robin or something like that.

Dave ‘Trigger’ McKallip.. Dave is one of the originals and has a story for every season he has been playing…

Dave has a fascination for throwing styles… saddo!.. He is my coach.. yes Dave you are responsible for Lee Danger Griffin.. no wonder I’m so shit!

Steve ‘The Bull’ Thorpe .. Steady as a bull and heavy… on scoring. Biker Steve recently disclosed on a drunken stagger back up the village his son was supposed to be a girl..

… which leads me on to the next member of the team..

Connor ‘Bella’ Thorpe! The baby of the team Bella, recently named, has been practicing hard due to purchasing a board.

He now only throws  2 out of the 3 darts out the board.. well done Bella!

Mick ‘NHS’ Collins… I have no idea why Mick is nicknamed NHS but it must be something to do with doctors and nurses.. I mean at his age!

Rik ‘Ton Boy’ Cawood…Ex-county player Rik is the best player in the team…but that doesn’t distract from the gay following he will get from posting his pic!

Ian ‘The Caretaker’ Croll… Ian is the smallest member of the team and gained local fame for his appearances in the dream sequences of Happy Gilmore.

James ‘Playboy’ Curtis … Also one of the originals, James is the strong, tall good looking one… fucking hell, who writes this shite!

Steve ‘The Ventriloquist’ Ambler:Our captains dad, must tell him though that if he takes his dummy (Dwaine the Dribbler) off his throwing arm his game may improve..

Phil ‘The Barman’ …steady but fantastic… at pulling the pints

Gav ‘Out the Board’ Brown… his style and superb ability to throw darts above the 20 is legendary, one day he may keep all 3 darts in the board and inside the wires. He is the onlyplayer I have seen throw 7 out of 9 darts onto the floor during a singles tournament! (Legend)

Mark ‘The Mouth’ Roberts…The team darts sledger, but we keep telling him if he sledged the opposition rather than his team mates it may be more beneficial and we will stop calling him a @£*!

So thats most of the team and will feature in the up-coming adventures of Lee Danger Griffin.

Next week Danger discusses ‘The Shakes’…. not to be missed!!!!

Welcome to the adventures of Lee ‘Danger’ Griffin!

It was christmas morning 2007 and at 37 yrs old I ran down stairs like an excited child.. tripped over the discarded beer cans, empty wine bottles (wifes obviously) and empty tubs of twiglets and cheesies! I was searching for the present I had badgered my wife for 12 months to get me! After opening a life size picture of Nicola Cowell I moved to a very distinctive box and ripped open the wrapping to unveil a Unicorn Pro Eclipse dartboard! With my standard brass darts and after a frustrating wait for my dad to put the dartboard up in my living room (I am crap at DIY) I finally flung my first arrows…

12 months earlier I had watched the World Championship (PDC of course) laughed at the BDO tournament on BBC1…. (sorry just recovered from laughing again) and began to be inspired by the magnetism of the characters and standard of the play. Peter ‘One Dart’ Manley soon became a favourite, with his controversial character and fantastic showmanship and I aspired to emulate his finishing prowess!

Nobody told me about how hard it actually was and I soon began to curse the design…. I mean what evil bastard put no5 and no1 adjecent to the no20…!!!!!

I actually surprised myself how accuarate (30%) of the time I was and within 3 weeks had hit my first 180! So I set myself two targets to hit six 180′s in the first year and find a local team to play in. I steadily improved through the year and my mates joked how they would see me on TV soon… stupidlyI began to believe I could make an impression locally at least and was almost tempted to sign up for a local round of the Blue Square UK open as one of the rounds was at a pub near to where I lived! What a muppett… I thought it was an acheivement to hit six 180′s in my first year but soon had to put this acheivement in perspective having seen the top pros hit six 180′s in an hour!..shit!

My darts life changed in 2009 after playing this site’s creater Krispy once a week for 2 years (never lost to him..ha ha… oh hang on he posts this…he has nearly beat me… once) I moved to a village called Stilton (yes the cheesing rolling place) and my new neighbours introduced me to the local team in the country club… I had a quick trial.. and was in!…. The Adventure began and Lee Danger Griffin entered the world of competative darts…

Next week my first season as a pub darts player… meet the team… and follow Lee Danger Griffin in his expoits to become the best player this side of the A1…(Stilton basically… well my street actually)