Wine Trade goes Darts mad

The Theatre of Dreams!!

After about a year of chat Mr Richardson and I finally managed to get the 1st Annual (that does make sense) Darts Night to actually happen on Tuesday night. I can't claim to have been the main driving force and certainly didn't sort the venue - The Horse & Groom on Great Portland Street, a good london boozer with one dart board in it's own sub-section which was dubbed the "Theatre of Dreams". The line up was 24 Players Strong with a few spectators too. A lot of merchants/brokers/others were represented. Sadly the team of two from BBR couldn't make it but rumour has it they have Phil "The Power" Taylor working with them as darts consultant with a view to a strong showing next year. The standard was as mixed as you can imagine which is what it is all about, amazingly nobody turned up from a "long/proper" Lunch and made a fool out of themselves...it was almost a shame. A lot of crisps were eaten and pints drunk. The rough format was, if you won your first match you were in the main competition if you lost it you were in the "plate", this guaranteed everyone two games. Richardson was favourite (2/1) from the off, he plays the most and this is his "home ground". So what was the line up and how did they do?

The main competition finalists
Albany Vintners: Marcus Edwards (2nd round of the main comp).

Armit: Ed Burns (2nd round of the main comp).

Around Wine: Dan Primack (2nd round of the main comp).
Bibendum: Steve Maunder (1st round of the Plate).
BWI: Clive Ashby (1st round of the Plate), Ashley Register (2nd round of the plate) & Kevin Narborough (Plate Semi-Final).
C&B: Tom Bird (1st round of the Plate), Luke Lupton (3rd round of main comp), Joe Muller (2nd round main comp), Graham Mossy (Plate Semi-Final), Guy Seddon (3rd round of the main comp) & Will Hargrove (Main Comp Semi-Final).
Falcon Vintners: Ian Richardson (Winner) & Eric Sabourin (Plate).
Jeroboams: Matthew Edwards (Winner of the Plate), James Wormall (Losing Finalist, main comp), & David Standfield (Plate First round).
J&B: Julian Campbell (main Comp Semi Final) & Toby I'Anson (2nd round of the main comp).
Magnum: David King (Losing plate finalist).
Quintessentially Wine: Nick Daniel (2nd round of the plate) & Ed Gerrard (Plate First round).
Wine Networks: Dan Haigh (2nd round of the main comp).

The "Plate" Finalists!

Other "honourable" mentions:

Getting lary in the scorers corner.

Over-celebration of the night: Luke "Lulu" Lupton for a ludicrous bout of high fives after beating Ed "the shirt"Burns (see below).
Shirt of the night: Ed "The Shirt" Burns, pure quality and to be applauded and remembered.
2nd Place Shirt of the night: Ashley Register...a glorious creation that featured strawberries.
Scoreboard operator: Tom "That's not your actual score" Bird, a crucial role played well, Maths would help though.
Accessory of the night: Graham "Mossy" "The Tattoo sleeve" Moss, really good work here, a shame it wasn't on his throwing arm but I am sure a few people had a good second look.
Top 3 dart score: Ian "already won something" Richardson (140). There was a while where Falcon had this covered as Eric struck an "unconventional" 108 early on.
Number of 3 dart "Tons": 10, not bad but next year we need 20!!

Burnsie wins the shirt award!!

The evening was a lot of fun with some great inter-firm grudge matches!! For anyone asking Richardson is 11/10 in the antepost market to retain his crown, Wormall 5/1 & Narborough 6/1...all others "odd on request!".