A Look Back In Time - 1st August 2012

In this day and age when most darts leagues are struggling for survival the Ripley Elite Darts Singles League is doing very nicely thank you with in excess of fifty members in its two divisions.

The league is based at the Somercotes Snooker Club, Derbyshire, is played on Wednesday nights and players of all standards are accepted with current averages varying from 13 to 31.56. The two divisions consist of around twenty six players and the top six players in division one at the end of the season get promoted to the premier division the following season.

The standard of play seems to go from strength to strength as each week passes by and at the halfway stage of the current summer league both the premier and first division honours are still well and truly up for grabs.

At the time of going to print the premier division lead is held by Phil Henshaw and he certainly looks like the player to beat. With a total of 52 points and an average of in excess of 27 per dart in his 70 legs played Phil is six points ahead of second placed Daz Brown, who won the winter league title. Ash Spencer is also on the same 46 points as Daz Brown, all three top players have completed 13 fixtures.

PDC player Matt Padgett, in fourth place is a further three points adrift however, he does have a game in hand on the three players above him.

Current individual performances in the premier division go to Aden Kirk with the most 180’s (9), while four players, Phil Henshaw, Daz Brown, Matt Padgett and Alan Evans have all recorded 13 dart legs. The highest average of 31.56 is held by Phil Henshaw, obviously a man in form.

The first division at present looks like a three horse race between recent Nottingham Open winner Wayne Pepper, Pete Henstaock and former Embassy qualifier Gary Fenn.

Pepper is currently in pole position on 64 points from 14 games, with Pete Henstock second with 57 points from 15 games, but the man to watch is third placed Gary Fenn, who although some 14 points adrift of leader Pepper has three games in hand. With six promotion places up fro grabs it should be an exciting second half to the season.

Most 180’s in division one is as in the premier division nine hit by Gary Fenn, Fenn also having the highest finish of 160 plus the best average of 30.31. Fastest leg of eleven darts goes to Wayne Pepper

Anyone interested in joining the league for the winter season should contact Daz Brown on 07869-105655 or alternatively e-mail him on dazlins1@aol.com

The Pip Club League are reaching the business end of their season with various cup finals to be played off. First the Challenge Cup division one games in which the semi finals both produced surprise results. League champions Red Lion lost out to Dolphin and in the other last four game J.W.Belgrave Club beat third placed Progressive Club. The final was a victory for Dolphin.

In the second division semi finals there were no surprises as Royal Oak beat Two Gates Club and Sports Bar ‘180’ took out Travellers. The final also went to plan as Sports Bar ‘180’ beat Royal Oak.

In the division one play off for the Divisional Cup league runners up Bulls Head (Polesworth) defeated third in the table Progressive Club, but the biggest shock came in the division two final where wooden spoon winners Old Liberal Club, who had completed their fixture card without a win in fourteen games, five draws and nine defeats, beat third placed Travellers to take the title.

In the Open Cup semi finals Dolphin, who finished the season in fifth place in division one were the surprise package as they beat division one champions Red Lion. The other last four play off saw Travellers, from the second division lose out to first division opponents Progressive Club.

Dolphin pulled off another shock in the final by beating Progressive Club, who ended the season two places above them in third place.

The Small Heath League End of Season 501 Knockout was won by Emerald Club representative Neil Parsonage. Neil’s final opposition came in the form of Glynn Thomas from the Custard House. Losing semi finalists were Matthew Cooper (Scanlons) and Colin Walsh (Mitre), whil Alan Whale (Custard House), Clive Austin (Mitre), Joe Fox (Emerald Club) and John O’Connor (Redhill Tavern) all made their exits in the quarter finals.

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