Very short notice, but if anyone has time on their hands today The Croft Bar are once again hosting an afternoon of Aunt Sally in memory of Frank a much loved individual and long time Aunt Sally player and darts player in and around Abingdon.

Anyone who knew Frank will have lots of memories of him, he was a memorable character and if you can join his family and friends today all proceeds will go to Cancer Research and for £2 you get to play Aunt sally with the randomly selected teams competing for the Memorial Trophy and a barbeque will be available throughout the afternoon, as well as the Croft’s well stocked and much used bar! Start is at 2pm, but will be open to all all day!

Well, Wednesday evening certainly exceeded our worst expectations in terms of the weather and we had no option other than to call off the planned Captain’s Cup Final  and the Founders and legends competition for the over 50’s.

Most people had the common sense to stay at home, but both the Captain’s finalist and Mickey Neal our  host at Abingdon Conservative Club all turned up together with Paul Stone and myself and a couple of potential entrants, but the weather was so atrocious that there was never any chance to play so all present took the joint decision to call it a day and retire to the bar!

We now have a dilemma as to whether we can re-arrange the Founders & Legends which within the next week or so or outside or alternatively,we could  play the competition indoors a little later if we can find a suitable date and venue. The Captains final which has already been re-arranged is a little less challenging as we can possibly fit that in before the start of the Presentation Night in November or on a Wednesday evening before the scheduled winter league fixtures which start this week .

Whatever we will explore all of  the options and make a decision as soon as possible and let you know by early next week.

Apologies, but we all know what they say about best laid plans………………..

Despite the appalling weather today. the likes that we haven’t seen since week 12 the Committee has agreed that tonight’s Competitions taking place at Abingdon Conservative Club will go ahead. 

other options have been considered in the last couple of hours including switching the Competition indoors, postponing, cancelling and holding over the 2023 Founders & Legends Trophy until early 2024.

For one reason or another none of these options were either possible or considered feasible so in the best of Aunt Sally traditions we have decided to “grin and bear it” so bring along your waterproofs and umbrellas and make the most of the final Competition of the season!

We appreciate that today’s weather will affect entries, but we are a hardy lot and maybe there will be enough entries to make tonight’s Competition, as always, a really competitive evening.

Timescales will be as already stated with the re-arranged Captains Final first on at 7.15pm after the draw has been made for the Founders.

Where necessary (and assuming possible) we will take a break between games if the rain is too heavy, but come what may we will get the Competition completed tonight!

Well, Wednesday Night saw the finals of the team competitions take place plus the Secretaries trophy, also on Wednesday the final of the scheduled league fixtures took place when The Vine and Berinsfield SC A met in a re-arranged game postponed from Week 12. That last  league game of the season saw the completion of a remarkable  turnaround, but more of that later!

For now, I will focus solely on Wednesday’s Finals.

The Finals saw some entertaining and close encounters and some excellent scoring. We kicked off with the final of the 8’s where Premier league champions faced C section The Bell, Grove who, for the second successive season showed that with the handicap system working teams from outside the top sections can progress to the final of this team knockout competition.

On their route to the final The Bell had seen off Abingdon Conservative Club, also from the C section, in their semi final who had been finalists in 2022.

The Bell Grove did themselves proud, but succumbed to a 2-0  defeat against the mighty United/Con Club who were represented in all of the Finals on the night. The Bell chose to set in the first leg and despite missing a couple of their regular players hit a very creditable 18 dolls which, with their handicap of 6 dolls and a top score of 4 from Tony Hetherington set a challenging target of 24 for United.  For United both Dave Dix(more about his night later!) and the resurgent Bob Duff both hit 5 dolls and with Scott Humphries, Barry Parker and Leigh Clapton all adding 4 dolls each to see United home in that first leg by 29 dolls to 26.

The second leg saw The Bell set again and once again they set a challenging target hitting 19 dolls, which with their handicap gave them a set of 25. Top scorer for The Bell in this leg was Steve Weeks with 4 dolls. United were again chasing a challenging total and didn’t get off to the best of starts when their opening 2 players only managed 3 dolls between them, but then along came Dixie and his 6 put United back on track, 10 dolls  from their next 3 throwers still made the target challenging with 2 to throw and 7 dolls still needed. When a score is needed and even with his ongoing health problems you can normally rely on Barry Parker and he didn’t let his side down with a cracking 5 dolls leaving Leigh Clapton as anchor needing just 2 to secure the win. To keep the suspense going leigh hit the doll with his first stick, missed with his next 4 and then clinched the leg with his last stick enabling United to win the leg 26-25

A cracking final which included a first 6 on Finals night for Dave Dix, which subsequently wasn’t to be his last!

The next final was for the Secretaries Cup and was between Bob Duff and Martin Rawlings representing Berinsfield SC B from the B section. No handicap here and another very close f1rst leg contest with both players setting 2 dolls apiece with Bob eventually clinching the leg 3-2 after 3 sticks. The second leg saw Bob set 5 dolls which was too many for Martin so Bob retained his 2022 title.

Next up was the 5’s Final with Plum Pudding facing Abingdon United and the Abingdon United team going after their 3rd win of the evening.  United threw first and scored 11 dolls which didn’t prove to be enough as a 5 from Ken Fisher and a 4 from Paul Longford meant that with Phil Adams and Barry Townsend still to throw Plum Pudding only needed 2 dolls to win the leg and Phil duly obliged with 2 dolls from his first 3 sticks. The second leg produced a couple of 6’s with Phil Adams registering one for Plum Pudding and inevitably Dave Dix for United matching that. Overall though it was Plum Pudding with 18 dolls against United’s 14 were victors in 2 legs!

The 4’s final between Croft Nomads and Abingdon United was a bit of a one sided affair with United needing only 3 players to win the first leg 10-7 and Croft only using 2 players before falling to a straight 2 leg defeat in chasing United’s 16 dolls. In United’s 16 Dave Dix hit his 3rd six of the evening and he was well supported with a 5 from Scott Humphries with a 5 doll haul having hit a very unusual (for him) blob in the earlier 5’s final.

The last final of the night was another close encounter again involving Abingdon United/Con Club and the Plum Pudding. It was the last final of the night and the only one to go to 3 legs. Plum Pudding came through 2-1 with a 5 from Barry Townsend in the 3rd leg securing a 9-8 leg win. Phil Adams hit successive 5’s in the first 2 legs. Leg scores were Abingdon United/Con Club 12,8 and 8, Plum Pudding 10,11, and 9. It was the only final of the night featuring Dave Dix where he failed to hit a maximum, but his average le score for the night was a remarkable 4.56!

Finally many thanks to everyone who took part in the Competitions this year, not just to the winners and runners up, but to everyone who took part and gave up their Sunday afternoon in both June and again in August to enter. Thanks to our Committee for their time and effort which is necessary to arrange plan and oversee the many Competitions and finally thanks to Abingdon United FC for hosting the 2 days and 1 evening of Competitions again this year.

A special mention also for our own  Mr Doll provider Brian Clapton who never let’s us down and to Kate, Abingdon United’s bar manager and her team for the excellent service and for kindly preparing food for us back in August and again on Wednesday. Also thank you to all of the callers and “stickers up” who play an essential role in holding competitions and who rarely get thanked!

It’s just a short summary of last week’s results, double digit scorers and details of outstanding matches, next week (Wednesday) it’s our Founders & Legends Competition which this year will be held at Abingdon Conservative Club and is open to all registered players aged over 50and a reminder that tonight is Finals Night at Abingdon United FC for the 8’s, 5’s, 4′, and 3’s team competitions with practice from 7pm with play starting at 7.30pm.

Last week’s highest scorers was Abingdon United/Con Club’s Dave Dix with a second successive 15 dolls, Phil Adams of the Plum Pudding hit 13 as did Derek Fletcher of Steventon Sports, Richard Jones of Berinsfield, Steve Martin (Bystander A) and the legend that is Barry Parker (Abingdon Utd/Con Club all managed 12 dolls apiece.  Ian Brook (Croft Nomads) and Dean Bowler (Red Lion A) and Rick Vincent (Harwellian B) all contributed 11 dolls for their teams and Alan Bell (Croft Nomads), Danny Hamilton and Josh Smith both of the Vine, Mick Christopher (Grapes B) Keiron Hughes (Wheatsheaf, Drayton) all recorded 10 dolls apiece to finish their personal seasons with a very credible 10 dolls each.

Surprisingly last game of the season, probably as good a Wednesday in weather terms that we have had all season, but nobody managed to finish the season with a perfect 6!

There are still some outstanding matches as The Vine and Berinsfield A are playing their previously postponed Premier/A section fixture tonight and the result of that could have a significant bearing on the runners up spot in the A section.

Also still to play are the play off for Runners up in the C section which will be between Royal Oak and The Bell, Grove and that will be played at Steventon Sports on September 27th and in a 3 way tie for Runners Up in the D section College Oak B, Grapes A and Bystander B will also play to determine the runners up place on the same night at the Croft Bar.

So last weeks results

Premier /A Section

The Hart 3  Abingdon United/Con  Club 3

 Stanford FC 0 Plum Pudding 6

Steventon Sports A 3 Croft Nomads 3

Bystander A 4 Berinsfield SC 2

Red Lion A 0 The Vine 6

B Section

Harwellian B 5 Abingdon Utd C 1 

Abingdon RBL 0 College Oak A 6

Fleur de Leys 4 Plough , Wittenham 2

Berinsfield B v Eight Bells Eaton walkover for Berinsfield 6-0

Abingdon Arms A 2 Wheatsheaf, Drayton 4

C Section

Royal Oak 2 Fox, Denchworth 4

Abingdon Con Club 2 Chequers 4

Grapes B 6 Boundary House 0

Bear &  Ragged Staff 2 The Bell 4

D Section

College Oak B 5 Bystander B 1

Croft Bar B 5 Red Lion B 1

RAL SC 2 Hanney RBL 4

Plough, Hanney 2 Grapes A 4

E Section

Sutton Courtenay FC 1 Queens Arms 5

The Midget 2 Brewery Tap A 4

Prince of Wales 6 Harwellian A 0

Brewery Tap B 2 North Star A 4

F Section

Black Horse 0 Abingdon Arms B 6

Wheatsheaf, Didcot 6 The Fox, Boars Hill 0

North Star B 0 Steventon Sports B 6

A full round up of tonight’s finals and a review of the league season will be on the web site in the next few days.

Back in 1994 John Simmons was in the Semi Final for the Singles trophy and put two 6’s on the board to go through to the final…..

Read more.

Well, here we are week 18 and for many it’s still all to play for with only 3 of the 6 sections winners already decided! In sections A, B and C it’s congratulations to Abingdon Utd/Con Club who by defeating Plum Pudding 4-2 last week secured the Premier section title once again, In the B section College Oak A have clearly enjoyed their new surroundings and have dominated the B section and emerged as worthy section winners and in the C section Grapes B have led the table for much of the season and deservedly clinched the C section title.

Amazingly in all of the 7 sections the runners up slots is still up for grabs in every section so tomorrow night means there is still lots to play for. Likewise the top doll scorers in each of the sections look to be a last game scramble in several of the sections and in both the B and C sections only one doll separates the top 2 doll scorers and in the D section potentially it is still between 4 players to earn the mantle of “top dolly”.

So after an 18 week season there is still lots of competition both at team and individual level. This season, I think, that whilst many people suggest  our game is “dying”  the level of competitiveness, the results and participation of 51 teams suggest that some of the negativity  lots of us still enjoying our Wednesday night “Aunt Sally fix”.

Well what about last week’s results. A close encounter between Abingdon Utd/Con Club and Plum Pudding saw a 4-2 victory for the newly crowned Premier Section champions for whom Dave Dix not surprisingly top scored with his best of the season 15 dolls ably supported by teammates Paul Barrett and the legendary Barry Parker who scored 10 apiece in United’s 24-23, 24-19, 20-23 win. Scott Humphries usually so consistent had a night to forget for United, but for Plum Ken Fisher hit 14 dolls, his best of the season and the “Mr Consistent” Barry Townsend added 11 dolls. Plum were missing Phil Adams so maybe his absence would have made the result even closer.

In the race for runners up both Croft Nomads and Steventon Sports A went down 4-2. The Croft at The Vine who hit their highest doll count of the season with 70 dolls for whom skipper Roy Harrison hitting his first double digit score of the season and in the 3 legs The Vine avoided any blobs. Foe Croft Steve Enock hit another 11 dolls and Alan Bell 10, but despite a 28 third leg score Croft failed to take advantage of their chase for the runners up spot which means Steventon Sports only need to win a leg when the 2 sides meet at Steventon tomorrow.

Other double digit scorers in the league last week were Mickey Phillips and Dave Hudson for the Bystander A,  I( think in both cases his was their best scores of the season), Ian Rogers with 10 for the Red Lion, Kevin “the brush” Chapman  for College Oak A,  Andy Shipman for 10 Harwellian B, Dave Sapey also with 10 for Abingdon RBL, Colin Cherrill hit 11 dolls  for the Fox at Denchworth and Mark Brind late of Steventon Sports also hit 11 dolls for his 2023 home team The Plough Hanney in Section D.

In the next review we will look back across the season the “highs and lows”, the “might have beens”  and the feedback we have received (which is always welcome) whether it be good or bad, preferably not personal or abusive!! and look forward to the Winter League competition which starts in a couple of weeks and the 2024 summer season.

Don’t forget Finals Night will take place at Abingdon United on Wednesday 13th with the 8’s, 5’s, 4’s, 3′, Captains and Secretaries finals all taking place from 7.30 and the following week it’s the Founder’s and Legends Trophy for over 50’s which will be held, this year, at Abingdon Conservatice Club