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My last ADA event was the Mid West Region Championship in St. Louis back in early February. Unfortunately a conflict in my schedule would prohibit me from attending the Mid Atlantic Region Championship until I found out the ADA vs England Telephone Match would take place there.
There was no way I was going to miss it.
This is just one of the reasons that I take pride in my ADA membership is something that I think of as the “Bonus Factor”. I became an ADA member, a few years ago, out of love of our sport. Back then, after shopping around for a while, I came to the conclusion that the ADA was the only darts organization in the USA with the kind of professional infrastructure that could maximize the enjoyment and satisfaction of competitive darts play. And I was correct in that conclusion.
As the National Sales Director for my company I usually schedule appointments during my ADA travels but not this time. I took a couple of vacation days so I would not miss this historic event. Having the Mid Atlantic Region Championship held during the same weekend was “icing on the cake”!
I had heard of these annual telephone darts matches, but did not realize that the event had been going on since 1982 – 26 years of international competition! The way it worked is this: Anyone who wanted to hear the match could go to the ADA website for the telephone number and the personal identification number (pin) to gain access to the broadcast telephone match. Attendees at the Regional Championships had the option of listening to the broadcast on the public address system at the hotel while witnessing the stateside team’s play.
I did both! I inserted my “Bluetooth” cell phone headset and listened to the match while walking in and out of the Championship room. I noticed other members doing the same. That was a good call (excuse the pun) and added to excitement. Getting started however all did not go as planned as technical issues prevented the Princess Alexandra Pub, the England host location from hooking up at the 1 PM EST starting time. Fear not as Championship officials had a “back up” plan. ADA Virginia franchise owner Rob Coleman provided listeners a dart by dart review of a couple of finals Championship matches.
Although the techies got it together soon, it was decided, with the English team’s concurrence, to finish out the Finals broadcast, which was a great decision. It added extra excitement to the experience to hear the great playing of the Men’s Neutralizer Soft Tip Singles finals between Shane Meeks and Mark Youngblood. Shane tossed three brilliant games throwing two perfect six dart gems and one seven darter! The Women’s Soft Tip Open finals followed with Jean Purgold defeating Michelle Adams 4-1.
A great addition to the guest lineup was when Jean came on the line for an interview with Horace Handley of Northampton, England. Jean said she had visited England once, during which she had played darts at a pub there. To her chagrin, when the 11 o’clock closing time came, she was asked to leave, while the locals continued playing darts. Her take on the international match about to begin was “This is so cool!”
Then Glenn Remick, ADA President took over the line to talk with Horace and Al Drew originally from Northampton, Massachusetts. Glenn, Al and Horace were among the founders of this transatlantic tradition, brought together this day to reminisce on past matches and to celebrate the day.
It’s challenging to describe the deep sense of tradition, time and friendship that these three brought to the table. Glenn was not going to be in his usual role as the stateside moderator of the event; he was in New England due to a family emergency. This was the first of these occasions he had missed, but Rob Coleman was to fill in as the USA moderator (and did a superb job of it). Al Drew informed us all he had come out of retirement and was now working part time in Vero Beach, Florida.
There was some joshing about the “plastic darts machines” that Glenn had introduced to the English some years ago. Horace said that, other than the machine that Glenn procured for his club, he’d never seen another electronic darts machine in his part of England. And the one Glenn got him only was in use for about a month. The English are so conservative!
Then came the formal start of the proceedings. Glenn provided us all a brief history of the event. He said that, although there had been years in which no contest took place, this was the longest running international darts match in the world. It all started in 1982 when Northampton, Massachusetts decided to include its sister city, Northampton, England in its annual “Winter Carnival” festival. The question was: how to do so? The town fathers asked Glenn, already at that time a well known darts entrepreneur, if he could come up with a darts-theme to suit their purposes. And he did – so came about the longest running international darts match in the world.
To start the match and determine the home team the tradition is to have local celebrities toss 12 darts for high score. On the England side the Mayor of Northampton Ms. Lee Mason would do the honors. Glenn interviewed the Mayor and told of his visits to the Guild Hall in Northampton, England (the English teams and American teams exchanged three visits each over the years). He recalled the “Shield Room” where a plague of every Mayor of Northampton was displayed. Mayor Mason then gave a brief history of her office, saying that the plagues in the Guild Hall dated back to the year 1215. She is only the 12th “lady Mayor” in the history of the town. Glenn then introduced her opponent in the day’s “celebrity” exhibition match, the High Constable of Warwick County, Virginia AKA Rob Coleman. As the Mayor relinquished her place at the telephone it was quite evident that she thought the same as Jean Purgold had said; that this is “so cool”. Rob went on to win the high score challenge thus giving the “Yanks” the home team advantage.
Glenn also informed all that Horace Handley held a position in the government of Northampton, England, that of the Town Crier and then before both parties began play he outlined the match format of the contest. With ten members on each team the match consisted of three doubles (pairs), six singles & three triples. 501 straight start, double finish was played in the doubles and singles, 601 in the triples. Only the singles was best of three, the remaining matches were one leg. So with a total of 11 points a race to 6 will determine the winner. The ADA team qualified through two Virginia playoffs. The remaining team qualified on Friday and Saturday at the Regional.
After dedicating the match to two recently deceased darts players who had brought much to the sport; Trevor Brittan in England and Glenn’s brother, Gary Remick in the USA, Glenn stepped away, leaving the announcing duties to Rob Coleman and Horace Handley.
It is simply not possible for me to effectively report on what happened during the match. The three doubles matches were very well played with the ADA sweeping them for a quick 3-0 lead! Then Mid West and Mid Atlantic Regional Singles Champ Shane Meeks defeated Jim Fowell to make it 4-0, followed by Scott Lovelace defeating Jeff Billingham…5-0! Could Mike Clauson take out Martin Gamble to make it 6-0? Yes…sending those assembled in the Championship room into a frenzy! ADA wins! Even though we had won, the match still continued finishing out the remaining three singles and the two triples. Final score…ADA 8, England 3! The best singles leg of the match? Hands down to England’s Andy Tee. Against the ADA’s reigning Pro Darts Champion, Bill Cross, Jr. Andy won the leg tossing just ten darts; 180, 125, 180, 16 (double 8)!!!!
Some of the things that made listening to the match broadcast so much fun were the cheers and shouts when a great round was thrown on both sides of the “pond” and then the way the crowd then fell silent waiting for the next throw. It really was like listening to a radio broadcast of a darts match. And it was really a lot of fun to hear Horace Handley announce high scores with the same intonation and phrasing as the British darts broadcasters (OneUNDREDANATEEEE!!)
Even without key ADA personnel (Karl managing the Regional & Glenn in New England) the event and broadcast maintained the high standard of professionalism, cordiality and commitment that I have come to associate with the ADA. I probably don’t need to tell you that myself, and I suspect, all of the participants and listeners of this great match felt the same way as Jean Purgold; This was so cool!
ADA Qualifiers with their PPDA’s:
Bill Cross Jr - 26.37
John Coats – 26.37
David McCants – 25.05
Gary Wallace – 25.05
Tony Smeland – 25.05
Joe Schawe – 23.86
Shane Meeks – Qualified through event
Vance Sutherland – Qualified through event
Scott Lovelace – Qualified through event
Mike Clauson – Qualified through event
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