SURREY DARTS

SEPTEMBER - by Martin Cullip as featured in October Darts World 

Stephenson the Rocket to Steam in at the Masters

There was a news story early in the summer that many will have missed, but which will come as a huge shock to a whole generation of thirty-somethings. Death is never an easy subject to broach, so it will upset many to find out via this column that George, the Blue Peter tortoise, passed away a few months ago!

Hordes of youngsters through the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s were glued to their TV sets at tea-time, avidly watching the supreme efforts of George or his predecessor, the transsexual Freda, as they took 20 minutes to make two or three steps to freedom, only to be cruelly picked up & returned to square one by whichever presenter was on the BBC payroll at the time.

They may have been comparatively uninspiring pets, but it was Freda & George who unwittingly would have introduced the principle of hibernation to most of us well before any teacher had a chance to bore us with the technical details such as heat retention & lower metabolic rates (whatever they may be!). From Valerie Singleton to John Leslie, each presenter, come autumn, would fill a box with straw, & in the aged reptile would go for the viewing millions, the idea that the tortoise in question may have fancied a few more days strolling in the fallen leaves was never really an option!

So thanks to Children’s BBC, we are all knowledgeable about hibernation – but what about aestivation? I sense a few furrowed brows! Well, maybe if Blue Peter had had a dart player as a pet, a stick insect-like Scholten fading into his background of driftwood perhaps, or a cuddly Fordham with the cute trainers, we might all be experts on aestivation, which is the process of laying dormant for long periods of the summer!

Certainly players in our neck of the woods seem to lower their metabolic rate considerably from June to September, and rigorous practice regimes seem to be abandoned in favour of not-so-rigorous balmy evenings in the pub garden. However, it seems that Surrey has a player that has somehow escaped from his straw box & has spent his summer busily planning an early start to the darts season.

“Rocket” Jon Stephenson, whose nickname is in deference to a different George (Stephenson), pioneer of steam locomotion, rather than Ronnie Baxter’s alliterative use of the word, has been busy building himself up to an assault on one of the BDO’s Grand Slam Titles. You can almost hear the “Rocky” theme tune as you imagine Jon pounding the board throughout the summer & it seems his hard work has stolen a march on his opponents as he qualified for the Finals of the World Masters with a fine display in Derby on the 22nd August.

Jon became one of the eight England qualifiers by making it through from Group 4 & will line up with the best at Bridlington in October. Although we in Surrey are well aware of Jon’s talents (he was Surrey’s highest-placed A team player in the BICC rankings last year) he will be an unknown to the attendees at the Masters, but if he can prepare as effectively for the Finals as he did for the qualifiers, he may become a lot more familiar to TV darts fans after coming close to qualifying in the past for other such major events.

Jon’s pedigree is not in doubt, a fact he emphasised the following week when he made the Final of the Surrey Summer League singles (more later), knocking out a whole host of the Surrey big guns, including Dave Askew & Richie Blake, along the way, but the demure Purley man with the finely-coiffured hair may raise a few eyebrows at the Royal Spa with his laid-back style, as his action is an object lesson in relaxation!

However, whilst his throw may seem lackadaisical, his preparation has been far from it & we at Surrey wish him the very best of much-deserved luck when he meets the cream of the game next month. Perhaps others may wish to take Jon’s dedication as an example & maybe forgo the comfortable summer evenings next year for a bit of good old-fashioned practice. If not for yourself, do it for the late lamented George, who was never given that choice by the evil Blue Peter executives before being stripped of his dignity, taped up in a box & left in the storeroom for the winter along with the unused cables & surplus sticky-back plastic. Shame on them!

Meeting Points

With all this aestivation going on (I think we’re comfortable with that word now, don’t you?), there hasn’t been a great deal going on in Surrey during August, the reason, in fact, that the Surrey Column didn’t appear in Darts World last month. What’s that? You didn’t notice? Charming!

However, the gears & cogs of the administration of the game carried on apace with the meetings that will set out the plans for the upcoming winter seasons. First up was the annual no-show that is the County AGM. Regular readers of this column will remember that previous years have not attracted a great turnout for what is essentially, THE most important meeting of the year for anyone involved in Surrey darts, but this year the apathy was even more widespread than usual! Even allowing for the fact that the meeting was held during Blackpool week, a single figure attendance doesn’t pay respect to the gravity of the issues that were discussed, such as doubts over sponsorship, and lack of personnel, both playing and administrative.

There were some key committee resignations this year & it was hoped that a healthy turnout would encourage more to lend their weight to the Surrey cause & donate some of their time to help out with the many jobs that are vital to the smooth running of the County weekends – but it may be a struggle to entice volunteers throughout this season based on the lack of interest shown at the AGM.

On the plus side, Surrey now have a new team at the helm of the County teams, with Keith Benson making way for a new Mens Team Manager in the form of Tony Cartwright, who promptly selected Jason Kelly as the Team Captain after Gary Creamer’s retirement from County action. The Ladies also have a new Team Manager in Tania Blake, who will have a tough task in following the irrepressible Rita Higginson after her retirement from years of dedication to the Surrey Ladies. We wish all the new appointees the very best of luck & success for the 2004/5 season.

In contrast to the County AGM, the Mens Super League equivalent was well-attended with 21 finally sitting round a hastily arranged table at the Epsom Common Club after the County venue, the originally scheduled place for the meeting, was inexplicably closed for the evening! Again, the League is over-subscribed & all were looking forward to attempting to take Ditton FC’s newly-acquired League Crown away from them. For anyone interested in seeing if a rival team can wrestle the Title from the new Champions, you may wish to check out the Surrey web-site at www.toe-the-oche.co.uk as, for the first time, all League communications will only be available by downloading from the site … the paperless League has arrived! How very 21st Century!

Phil Yer Boots (and wallet!)

Nine years ago, a very tall man with a dodgy moustache had a little gem of an idea!

“Eureka!”, exclaimed he “to stop all the Surrey dart players aestivating too much (that’s enough! – Ed) during the summer, we could hold a League that is played over 15 weeks at the same venue whereby every player gets four matches a night – that would surely get them out of their local pub garden!”

And lo, the tall man said “Let there be the Summer Mens Super League” and there was the Summer Mens Super League – and Peter Munt looked at what he had done & saw that it was good!

Nine years later & the League is as strong as a league can be, hugely popular, over-subscribed & genuinely enjoyed by all who take part. For many though, the very best part of the League, run so well by Peter & his partner Lisa, is the ‘free entry’ singles competition which boasts the biggest prize money of any competition played in this county.

Thanks to sponsorship gained by Peter from Epsom Legion, whose club is packed every Tuesday from May to September, a whopping £500 is available to the player who can tip-toe his way through the class field, and, incredibly, Phil Wathen has just trousered the big payday for the second year in succession!

The jury is out on whether Phil, who defeated World Masters qualifier Jon Stephenson in the Final, simply had a ‘good night’ on both occasions, or whether he just gets turned on by the thought of the massive £1500 prize fund, but his performance throughout the evening was immense, especially as he didn’t lose a single leg until his Semi-Final victory over Lionel Sams, despite meeting some very useful players along the way.

The League itself was won by the Golden Lion quartet of Richie Blake, Gary Creamer, Gary Bullen & Ray “Batty” Smith, who completed the season with a 100% record to eclipse the Ditton-based “You’re Having a Laugh” team that took the impressive League trophy last time out.

As usual at this time of year, this column offers its thanks on behalf of all the players who took part in the League, for the efforts of Peter & Lisa which make the summer such an enjoyable time. It’s the couple’s 10th Anniversary at the helm next year, does that mean we have to take them out for a candlelit dinner & arrange for a visit from Interflora?

Playing By Numbers

Greetings Pop Pickers! And welcome to the Surrey run-down of the new PDC’s “Top 100” Chart!

Dave Askew is a non-mover at 18, it seems that “Diamonds are Forever” with the Redhill jewel. Moving up two places is Lionel Sams to number 24, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”? Not for this Kingston king of the darting jungle!

Shooting up the chart is Alan Caves at 26, you can’t keep the good Sunbury man down, and this Caveman is a real Club Classic! “I believe I Can Fly” says Matt “Superman” Clark, another who is soaring high at 43.

Falling 3 places, but still clinging onto a chart place is Mark “Spike” Harris. The North Cheam sensation could drop out of the Top 100 without much-needed points, but he is quite happy whatever happens – as he says “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” … Not Half!

With other Surrey players bubbling under, stay tuned for the next run-down of the “Hit (the Double) Parade” to see if there will be more new entries from the County players after their period of aestivation (That’s it, You’re Fired! – Ed)