Having recently covered the international scene, I'd like to turn my attention to local league darts. More precisely, I'll be discussing the differences in leagues between the U.K. And U.S, and the associated effects.

I'm always hearing how “Brits are so much better than the Americans”, but is that really true? I maintain that the difference between the two is not so much ability-related, but more down the attitude and commitment. This is most noticeable in local league play. Many leagues in the U.S. - particularly the lower divisions – seem to be aimed at the recreational, rather than the competitive, player. Sure, even in Britain, people want to enjoy a few hours in the company of friends, but not at the expense of the darts.

What this means is that whereas British leagues provide an invaluable service in grooming players for tournament play, American leagues tend to provide a place for individuals to just hang out and have a few beers. Now, if you really have no ambition, and just enjoy doing the latter, I have no problem with that. I just hate it when it affects those who WANT to play and WANT to improve.

As I said, a local league is a place where players should be able to hone their skills and temperament, but it simply doesn't work over here. I'm frequently approached by players who come up with things like, “I'm getting pretty good, and I want to get better. I just don't think that playing in local leagues is helping me.” I have to agree with them, and I don't really know why their ambition and/or skill level is so displeasing to others in the league. Okay, this is heading back to a couple of my previous blogs about attitudes, so I won't dwell on that here; I simply felt that this had to be said.

Even the lowest standard fun leagues in England – and there are a lot of them - have a distinct competitive edge, and there are a number of things that Americans would find a little strange...

Firstly, a good darts pub in England has ONE dartboard! Some of the older two or three storey pubs will have more, but will have one board per level. These are usually located in a separate room, specifically for league play.

Obviously, the entire league match will be played on the one board, not spread out on several boards as often happens here. What also happens is that usually, the dartboard is replaced. The old worn-out board that has been hanging for the rest of the week is taken down, and is replaced (for the duration of the league match) by a newer, good-quality board. If I may digress a little, in the old days, this match board was invariably an elm board.

For those of you that haven't a clue what I'm talking about, many match boards used to be made of elm. When not in use, they had to be to be stored in a large container of water. Making a bunch of dart holes is not good for wood, so the soaking would close up the holes, and keep the surface of the board pliable.  When I say "pliable", don't be fooled! You could throw a 50g dart like a baseball, yet only the very tip of the point would stick. Don't worry, once the point was in the board, it wasn't coming out easily. Unless you hit a knot, of course...

Unfortunately, the spread of Dutch Elm disease in the 1970's put paid to the proliferation of elm dartboards, but they really were joy to play on. It was great to hear that resounding “thud” as the dart hit the board. It was wonderful to see that small bead of water come to the surface as the dart pushed it out. It wasn't so nice to have to clean up at the end of the evening, as you would have this big brown mark down the side of your hand (from taking your darts out of the board).

Anyway...

The first thing you need to know is that a league will generally run on one night only. Some of the local leagues I played in were the Epsom & District League (Monday), Molesey & District League (Tuesday), Sutton League (Wednesday), Elmbridge League (Thursday), and Sutton Club League (Friday). Within a 10 mile radius of my house, we had three or four of these local leagues to choose from EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK!

One thing that appears in many a league rule-book is that the home team will provide a chalker, and the away team will provide a caller (to call out the scores like they do on TV). Usually, that's done on rotation; you finish your game, and then chalk/call the next. You can see just how serious things are, can't you?

Then, during the match, all scores of 100 or better are recorded, and all checkouts – or "game shots" as they are called in England. At the end of the season, there are awards for the most tons, 180's, game shots, and highest game shot.

In recent years, a few local leagues in Britain have changed to a longer format, but most are still traditional. By that I mean 8-man teams, usually with a 14 or 15 point format. In the case of a 15-pointer, that will be :

8-man team (1001) – known simply as “eights”

4-man (801) X 2 – known as “fours”

Doubles (601) X 4 – known as “pairs”

Singles (501) X 8

A 14-point format would just eliminate the 1001 team event.

You may be wondering how we would fit all that in on one board, particularly when most leagues start at 8.30 or 9.00pm? Everything is ONE LEG only. There is no corking either. The away team will start all odd-numbered legs, and the home starts the even-numbered legs.

There are basically two seasons; winter and summer. Winter usually runs from September to April (approximately) with a short summer season fitting in between May and August. For summer leagues, it's not unusual to cut the teams down to six men, with two triples, three doubles, and six singles.

Most leagues will also run “competitions”, which means that they have a league singles, doubles, fours, and eights during the course of the season. With the number of players involved, along with these competitions, you can see why leagues only play one night a week!

Well, that's it for now, and I'll continue this story next time.

Steve