Lakeside Day 2

Posted: 06.01.19 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

There were talking points both on and off the oche on day 1 of Lakeside!

It was an eventful day on and off the oche at the Lakeside yesterday! The broadcasters did a great job I think. Whenever a new TV company comes in they all try to put their own twist on the event and overall Quest/EuroSport did that successfully.

I am not sure about the “up close and personal” interview at the end of games though – possibly a recipe for disaster if any of the fans get a little carried away. This interview at the end also caused a “storm in a pint glass” when loser Tony O’Shea was interviewed clutching a pint of lager.

Some say it is bad for the image of the sport, some say it is hypocritical of the PDC to ban players from having photos with alcohol yet behind the scenes they are necking the stuff to “calm the nerves”.

In F1 we don’t bat an eyelid when the champagne flows so perhaps it is double standards. My own view is that the likes of O’Shea are role models for aspiring players, fans and all the other stakeholders in the sport of darts. Is it too much to ask to stay alcohol free whilst conducting your post-match media commitments? I don’t think it is!

Finally, my old department – the social media section took some stick on, err, social media. Some of it was kind of justified. There were some clangers I admit. But when accounts like the PDPA feel the need to mock the BDO account for calling a player Connor instead of Conan then that is going too far.

Who are these people who have never made a mistake in their lives? Come on, you know who you are. The majority of them either have ulterior motives or are just not very nice, or maybe both! I know from experience that mistakes in a pressured live sport environment do happen. I popped Scott Waites instead of Scott Mitchell in the final once and there were a number of times we nearly had a farts match instead of a darts match!

Give the new team a chance to find their feet and before you start moaning remember the saying about living in glass houses!

It is another great line up today with the Waites and Veenstra games standing out for me in the afternoon session.

In the evening, Big Dog, the recent signing for our sister company, Performance Darts, hobbles to the stage to take on Mark McGrath. Adam started favourite but as news of his broken foot got out he is now the outsider.

I can report that whilst he is not 100% he is confident he can give Mark a game. Adam’s new darts will be released on 22 January and he will be using his new signature flights tonight!

Afternoon Session – Starts at 1pm

Scott Waites  3  2/7   v  Jeffrey Van Egdom 1 3/1

Brian Lokken  1 3/1 v   Krzysztof Kciuk 3  10/29

Deta Hedman 0  8/15 v Maria Obrien 2   2/1

Richard Veenstra  6/11  v   Nigel Heydon 25/14

Sunday Double 

Waites and Veenstra

Evening Session – Starts at 7pm

Roger Jansenn  3/5 v  Wouter Vaes  8/5

Fallon Sherrock 5/12 v Corrine Hammond 9/4

Mark McGrath   4/5 v   Adam Smith-Neale 5/4

Wayne Warren  7/17  v   Mark Layton 20/9

Sunday Evening Double Dabble

Wouter Vaes and Wayne Warren