Darts in South Africa

[Dicie]

Welcome, would like to hear the no holds barred stuff from SA, and good luck with the SA pro tour

[Freedom Of Speech In SA]

Today will mark the launch in South Africa of the SAPDO -SOUTH AFRICAN PROFESSIONAL DARTS ORGANISATION.

They get off the ground with a Pro League that will start at 8pm SA Time.

As some of you may or may not know - there has been a lot happening in SA in the darts world.

SA did not have any Professional Darts - the Mother body for darts here is the DSA - DARTS SOUTH AFRICA, an Amateur Organisation affiliated to the WDF. They are registered with SASCOC - SOUTH AFRICAN SPORTS COUNCIL AND OLYMPIC COMMITTEE - the governing body for all sports in SA.

SAPDO and DSA are currently going through - what SASCOC have deemed a power struggle.

There is currently a situation that DSA have deemed SAPDO an unrecognised structure and under the terms of the Constitution - any registered DSA player that takes part in an unrecognised event will be subject to disciplinary action.

With this being said - a number of high level dart players with SA are willing to risk the potential DC hearing and possible suspension and take part it what they are calling "Darting History".

Current members of SAPDO include 2007 PDC World Champs Qualifier -Charles "The Sensation" Losper, 2012 PDC World Cup Of Darts Player Shawn "The Game" Hogan, Former SA National Champ - Waleed "Blade Wallace" Clayton, Former SA National Champ - Jason "The Joker" Erasmus.

It is going to be very interesting to see exactly how many dart players attend this event tonight - there are a lot of fence sitters in SA Darts..

[Dicie]

Thanks for that, look forward to reading much more from SA darts. Good luck to all playing tonight

[The Ginge Reaper]

Who?

[Randall]

all sounds very familiar with the talk of splits and punishments.

[Freedom Of Speech In SA]

31 Players turned up to the launch of the Pro League - there were many more (as predicted) fence sitters that wanted to observe first before making a choice to sign up.

The standard of darts was excellent from some of the guys.
I match was a 3-3 draw and between the 2 guys they threw 8x180's in 6 legs.
Including and 11 darter and 2 x 12 darters.

This is the type of darts that people need to see - some of these guys are more than capable of competing on the World Stage - but due to unexposure from their own media they cannot raise the funds required to get oveseas.

I will post some stats from last night to show how some of these guys are doing.

The setup of darts here is miles from UK.
There are very little social leagues - and if you are a member of Darts South Africa - you may not play in them anyway.
There are inter district games - Like county games. But due to the size of the country and limited transport (high Cost) - you play regional inter district games.
As i said previously - this is the first and only Pro darts Org in SA, and they are only just kicking off now.

It is a long way to go for the board of SAPDO - and providing they can get financial help from sponsors - i believe that we will be seeing a lot more from these guys on TV sets soon.

Gonna go and do the stats and league tables for last night and i will return later.

[Dicie]

You happy with 31 players on the first night? I suppose when you look at the original WDC brak away movement the numbers are similar.

What are the plans for the future, will there be open events run by this new group?

[Freedom Of Speech In SA]

WDC started with 16 - main difference is that they had money when they did it and that made life easier.

The SAPDO membership is now over 60 members - and growing every week.

Open comps are planned in the next 2-3 weeks, and they have received an invitation from DPA to send players over in August for the Ozzie Open.

Still going through last nights stats but a few of the guys averaged 88-90, over 12 legs its not too bad.
The standard will get better.

2 of the stats i have seen are from under 21 players too...

I am not only helping the SAPDO guys here, but i am the Development Officer for the Western Cape (DSA Amateur body).
And owner of the only dart business in SA - so i am involved here in every aspect of the game..

This place has potential - and is a sponsors paradise.

Some of the youngsters her could make a real go of it in the PDC or WDF youth scene.

[Freedom Of Speech In SA]

BLOCK A AFTER WEEK 1
NAME P W D L LF LA DIFF 100+ 140+ 180 AVG PTS
1 CHARL PETERSEN 2 2 0 0 9 3 6 16 5 3 87.91 4
2 GRAHAM FILBY 2 2 0 0 9 3 6 14 10 1 75.06 4
3 RICHARD OLIVER 2 2 0 0 8 4 4 11 4 2 64.66 4
4 CLAYTON SEPTOE 2 1 1 0 9 3 6 17 2 65.38 3
5 RUSSEL MAINS 2 1 1 0 9 3 6 8 1 1 63.38 3
6 CLINT PRIME 2 1 0 1 8 4 4 17 3 72.67 2
7 WALEED CLAYTON 2 1 0 1 8 4 4 14 1 63.05 2
8 MALIK JACUBS 2 1 0 1 6 6 0 13 4 69.54 2
9 GRANT SAMPSON 2 1 0 1 6 6 0 15 4 69.14 2
10 CURT HARRIS 2 1 0 1 6 6 0 21 2 64.61 2
11 TREVOR OLIPHANT 2 1 0 1 4 8 -4 4 3 50.53 2
12 LESLIE OTTO 2 0 1 1 3 9 -6 5 2 55.04 1
13 GAVIN KULSEN 2 0 1 1 3 9 -6 5 1 3 53.44 1
14 OSCAR JACOBUS 2 0 0 2 4 8 -4 6 3 52.73 0
15 ALLAN JACK 2 0 0 2 3 9 -6 10 1 1 60.27 0
16 CARL WILLOUGHBY 2 0 0 2 1 11 -10 8 2 57.65 0

BLOCK 2 AFTER WEEK 2

NAME P W D L LF LA DIFF 100+ 140+ 180 AVG PTS
1 STEVEN NITSKI 2 2 0 0 11 1 10 18 7 79.89 4
2 CHARLES LOSPER 2 2 0 0 10 2 8 14 4 2 64.33 4
3 NOLAN ARENDSE 2 1 1 9 3 6 14 8 4 90.03 3
4 WARRICK SCHEFFER 2 1 1 9 3 6 19 10 79.86 3
5 EARL PENTOLFE 2 1 1 9 3 6 12 5 4 72.39 3
6 JASON ERASMUS 2 1 1 8 4 4 12 5 2 74.9 3
7 CRAIG WILLIAMS 1 1 0 0 4 2 2 12 2 72.56 2
8 BEVAN WILSON 2 1 0 1 6 6 0 9 5 60.55 2
9 MICHAEL CUPIDO 2 1 1 4 8 -4 10 56.18 1
10 MARVIN DE KOCK 2 1 1 3 9 -6 7 1 50.29 1
11 ENUL WARELEY 0 0
12 VICTOR SMIDT 2 0 0 2 4 8 -4 13 4 1 67.53 0
13 GARY DOWMAN 1 0 0 1 0 6 -6 6 1 63.75 0
14 DEAN PEREIRA 2 0 0 2 1 11 -10 20 3 1 73.53 0
15 ADRIAN PETERSEN 2 0 0 2 0 12 -12 5 1 49.39 0

[Freedom Of Speech In SA]

Ok so the league table thing didnt copy over but i will make it easier next time.

There was a team competition held on Sunday this weekend.
4-a-side.
Format 2 x 701 pairs (1leg)
4 x 501 singles (1 leg)
1 x 1001 team (1 leg).

Eventual winners were Cathkin Dart Club - team included Charles Losper and Waleed Clayton directors of the Pro Org..
Very nice darts thrown in some games..

A lot of mind games played by some of the older more experienced players - seems when they start to lose focus on the darts they turn to tactics to try and win games.

I.e 2 players throw for bull - then the captain comes accross and delcares the throw void because he didnt give his player persission to throw bull - he orders a re-throw - but lets the same player do it!!

It is funny to watch but annoying to play against.. It was me that was the involved party lol.
When we threw for the bull the 2nd time i threw my dart from around 12 feet back (wasnt all that far from the bull to be honest)..

We lost the game 4-2 (first to 4 format)..

The team went on to contest the final and lost.

In the Semi final they accused the opposing team of KILLING THE GAME - as they had 3 under 21 players in the side and all 3 are awesome players. Telling the team manager that it was a friendly comp and he should be ashamed for bringing such a strong team!!!

All this kicking off worked as they won 4-2 again.

No darts this week unitl Saturday when there will be a singles and doubles competition.
Then a team event on Easter Sunday.

[Dicie]

They sound similar to what every league has, always out for a bit of a scrap if they face one of the tougher teams..... Still a good read thou.