Friday, 20 July 2012

One hundred and eighty!

I have always watched the big darts tournaments and envied those in the audience. It's not much, I know, but they always seem to be having a better time than me. When the "Charlton Masters" was announced, I knew this was a must and a handful of us signed up immediately.


The Northstand Lounge isn't the most natural venue for watching darts and I felt sorry for those at the back. It wasn't the most competitive of events either, but I got to see Webster, Wade, Whitlock and Barneveld close-up and it was throughly enjoyable, even if I didn't leave the bar all night.  What was refreshing, was how ordinary and down-to-earth the players obviously are.


They were piped in to the sort of music boxers are accustomed to but they looked completely at home, slapped every hand offered to them and were genuinely very humble and appreciative. Whitlock won it and I am now determined to get to one of the big ones.
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3 comments:

  1. Aido20 July 2012 at 22:17

    Interesting your thoughts about the players being ordinary and down-to-earth,Dave. I wonder how many other sportsmen (including footballers, of course) you could incluse in that bracket,eh? by the way, I always go for treble 19, as I'm of the vertically challenged sort!

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  2. Dave21 July 2012 at 07:48

    Aldo - we had exactly that conversation. Andy Fordham was there and knows one of my friends, so he came over and said hello to all of us. Completely "normal" bloke who drive an old Astra. I am sure Phil Taylor and a few others have made a nice living but even Phil Taylor always behaves like he can't believe his luck. Maybe it's because they inevitably spend so much time in ordinary pubs and clubs?

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  3. Anonymous23 July 2012 at 22:47

    Wasn't that bad down at the back - Andy Fordham hung out with us and we got to see the walk-on girls close up. My brother in law even got a couple of pictures taken with the gorgeous one in the golden dress though we both agreed the dark haired girl was far more natural. Kind of like on the night the best fun was watching the ordinary players and the players who came across as ordinary blokes. Simon Whitlock did and I was glad he won. James Wade was the only player who point blank refused pictures with the folks at the back. Even Barneveld agreed to a couple with us poor silver ticket holders.
    Good to see The Valley in lovely condition for the coming season as well. Pitch looking immaculate. Bring on Leicester.

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