When I first began delving into the history of darts nearly forty years ago, I believed that the game of darts had been established in Scotland for well over one hundred years, as indeed it had been in England. However, as my research progressed, I discovered evidence that this certainty was not the case.
It appears that darts, as a popular sport or pastime, first took a grip of the Scots in the early 1930s. One darts periodical published in November 1937 reported that five years previously there was only ONE dartboard in the city of Glasgow.
This was to be found in a public house owned by an ex-ship’s steward who had spent a long in English ports. He had ‘fallen for darts’ and brought it back to his native city. Interesting to note here that, by the end of the 1930s, darts in Glasgow was banned by local magistrates due to its encouraging gambling, drunkenness, and general ‘ne’er do wellism’! It was also reported in 1937 that the St. Mirren Football Club were ‘alive to the value of darts as a recreation’ and had installed a dartboard in their pavilion.
But who then was the first official Scottish darts champion?
I searched long and hard through numerous dusty tomes. I was an Herculean task. The News of the World championships are usually a good, initial, source of information but Scotland was not admitted into that competition until 1972. I could trace with ease all the then ‘big names.’ Jocky Wilson, of course, immediately sprang to mind.
Rab Smith, of Locharbriggs, Dumfries, was another. Ladbroke British Matchplay Champion in 1977 (beating Eric Bristow in the Final) and a member of the three-man Scottish team which beat England in the Siver Jubilee Classic. Rab was truly one of Scotland’s greats but surely there was someone before him.
Then, of course, there was Harry Heenan (pictured below). His career began in the early 1960s but he is probably best known for his winning the Scottish Singles in 1971. Harry was also runner-up in the first World Masters and three times reached the semi-finals of the Sunday Mail Masters.
(At the time of the original publication of this article (1999) it was reported that Harry ran a bar in Majorca. Harry passed away on 6th November 2012 at the age of 76.)
It was not until I had a letter published in the Scottish Daily Record in the early 1990s, asking the simple question “Who was the first Scottish darts champion?” that another name came to light – ALEX DOEY.
Alex wrote: “I was the first official Scottish Darts Champion. The competition was run by the Glasgow Evening Citizen in 1954.” Alex began playing in the 1940s and won his first serious competition out in the Libyan desert in 1947 playing in a NAAFI championship. Returning to Scotland, he joined the Station Bar, Alexandria, Glasgow and became Singles champion of the Vale of Leven and District in 1951, beating F. Maggs in the final.
In the same competition the following year Alex lost in the semi-finals to John Baird of the Tullewhan Hotel, Balloch, but he was back on unbeatable form in 1953, when representing O’Hara’s, Renton, he once again took the title, beating E. Antonelli in the final.
In the latter part of 1953, the Glasgow Evening Citizen decided that it was time to find out exactly who was Scotland’s Number One dart player. So, along with additional sponsorship by the well-known firm of darts manufacturers, Millard Brother, the newspaper set up the first Scottish Darts Championship. The winner, in addition to the title ‘Scottish Darts Champion,’ would hold the Evening Citizen Cup and receive a gold medal.
The country-wide search culminated in the last eighteen “Wizards of the Flight,” as the Evening Citizen described them in the Grand Final, held on 28th May 1954 at the Berkeley Gall, one of the St. Andrew’s Halls, Glasgow. Admission was by ticket only and all proceeds from the competition went to the National Institution for the War-Blinded.
For the record, the full list of participants, in alphabetical order, were: F. Bodel (Clydebank), A. Brown (Larkhall), W. Burgess (Troon), D. Carson (Clydebank), G. Clark (Greenock), J. Clayton (Bargeddie), S. Dally (Shotts), A. Doey (Clydebank), D. Fortreath (Dumfries), R. Hayburn (Salsburgh), W. Holmes (Renfrew), D. McArthur (Greenock), J. Mitchell (Clydebank), A. Morrison (Paisley), E. Sloan (Milngavie), J. Suttie (Dysart), J. Thomson (Glenrothes), and J. Wilson (Mossend).
At that time, Alex Doey was playing darts for the Club Bar, Dalmuir in the Clydebank and District League. It was W. Burgess of Troon who met Alex Doey on form in the semis. Doey then went into the Final, where he faced J. Daly of the Station Hotel, Shotts, and it was Alex Doey who lifted the cup at the end of the evening and became Scotland’s first Individual darts champion.
In 1993, Alex told me: “Having had a row with my club in the 1955 season, I was not allowed to defend my title, so I decided to get married instead.”
By that year too, Alex had left darts far behind but retained special memories of those days back in the Fifties when he became Scotland’s first darts champion. He still had the gold medal awarded to him for that achievement. After giving up darts, Alex went on to become a champion, both locally and nationally, in another pub – QUOITS.
© 1993 Patrick Chaplin. Text amended and updated 2025.
Note: The original version of this article appeared in Darts World magazine, June 1993.
FEEDBACK
On 8th October 2015, after reading some of my work, a gentleman named Eric Boyle emailed me:
“Just reading about some of your darts history and it took me back to the Fifties when I started playing darts with my father in Glasgow. At the time, I was about 10 or 11 years old and we used to play off the 9 foot throw with brass barrelled darts, [with] cane shafts whittled down and split by a razor blade with a small rubber band. The flights were made from paper. What we used to do was fold the paper up as normal, then we would draw round an old penny, cut it out and then trim it to shape with scissors. We didn’t do too badly either, we made the Glasgow championship Pairs semi final on two occasions. Can’t throw one to save my life now.”
Dr Patrick Chaplin 