FOR many years Darts World magazine ran a popular Player of the Month feature that celebrated the best performances from the amateur and league scene across the UK.
Readers and league secretaries were invited to nominate standout efforts, and each month the magazine would highlight the most impressive achievement — along with a runner-up and, on occasion, a pairs team of the month.
Sometimes the choice must have been almost impossible.
Take this classic example from September 1996:
• John Brine (Eastleigh) produced a sensational 10-dart 501 in the South Hampshire Men’s Summer Super League, scoring 180, 140, 145 and a 36 checkout against Portsmouth’s Dave Gant.
• Garry Spedding finished a game of 1001 in just 24 darts (41.70 average) at the Hensingham (Cumbria) Darts League 180 play-offs.
• Steve Ballard & Paul Schick rattled in five 18-dart legs of 701 on their way to the final of the South Hampshire Men’s Summer Super League Pairs, where they defeated internationals Andy Jenkins and Andy Wallace.
Often, as here, players would go on to far greater heights. Within 6 year Gary Spedding was in the last 16 of the News of the World reboot by around a decade on he’d reached the last 32 at both main World Championships and the Winmau World Masters.
Any one of those performances would be considered exceptional by modern standards, let alone 30 years ago.
Choosing a single winner from that trio would have been a real headache for the Darts World team.
Which one would you have picked as Player of the Month?#PlayerOfTheMonth #DartsWorldLegacy #Darts #AmateurDarts
Images: Darts World magazine (Issue 286)
