As you may have read in an earlier article, this year, for the seventh time out of eight years I holidayed in Cyprus.
Staying in Pafos I took time out to talk to the men who are promoting darts across the island. I was so impressed with what is going on darts-wise there that have written an article about my visit for Darts Player 2009. If that article does not make the final cut then it will appear here in December.
In the meantime here’s a report from the local newspaper (reproduced with permission) which brings you up to date with what’s happening in just one major town in one corner of Cyprus.
THE PAFOS Darts League 2008/09 season has now kicked off and it promises to be another historic step forward for the League writes Chris Mills of The Paphos Post with at least twenty-four teams competing.
The League only began on 9th January 2007, with two divisions each with six teams. By last season this had increased to 16 teams playing in two divisions – an Invitation League and a Friendly League. For the 2008/09 season there are at least 24 teams (an addition of a further eight teams),which will play in and Invitation League and two divisions of a Friendly League. When the early registration meetings were held at three different venues, over 200 darts players registered for the league.
League chairman, Bernard Dangerfield said “We have made a lot of progress in a short time but we are also keen to keep our feet on the ground and take matters slowly. Three of our registered players are now involved in the teams for the Cyprus National side and we also have strong links with the Limassol Darts Association, the Cyrus Darts Federation’s Associations and the Larnaca Friendly League – all of which we will meet later in Inter-Town friendly matches.”
Four members of the committee recently met up with the representatives of the Larnaca Friendly League – Bob Johnson and Ken Allsop – the President of the Cyprus Darts Federation – Michael Savvides – and Limassol Darts Associations in Limassol. “It proved to be a very productive day” said Terry McGovern, Secretary of the Pafos Darts League. Terry added, “We also took the famous darts historian, Dr Patrick Chaplin, with us. He was over in Cyprus on a holiday from the UK and was keen to research the history of darts on the island.”
Darts began on the island in Limassol in the early 1970’s and moved to Famagusta in 1975; Nicosia in 1976 and Larnaca in 1978. Although the Pafos League was only established in 2007 and, as can be seen, it is going from strength to strength, team numbers having quadrupled in less than two years.
Dr Patrick Chaplin 