Darts players miss out on thousands due to cancelled tournaments in Inverness, Elgin, Fort William, Lossiemouth and Wick
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DARTS players missed out on almost £20,000 of prize money as a result of competitions being cancelled in the Highlands and Moray last year.
Events that fell by the wayside included the Portland Open and Innes Bar Festival in Inverness, Harper’s Weekend and Caithness Doubles in Wick, as well as Walter Abbott weekend (Elgin), Bryan Whyte Weekend (Fort William) and the Lossiemouth Festival.
The Scottish Open was due to take place this weekend in Renfrew but had to be cancelled.
However, Inverness Summer Darts League secretary Jim MacNeil is hopeful competitions across the country can start again.
“Events around March, April and May have been cancelled,” he said. “But everything else is moving on nicely and we are just waiting for the go-ahead.”
Meanwhile, MacNeil has been appointed to help revamp the inter-county darts system.
The Scottish Darts Association (SDA) board member has been appointed as chairman of a steering group which is looking to change the way darts competitions are organised and played nationally. He will look at the set-up of all the SDA championships and the Scottish Open.
It comes after the British Darts Organisation went into liquidation. A new organisation called United Kingdom Darts Association has been formed to oversee the inter-county system in England and Wales, but Scotland has opted to go its own way with the SDA County Championship.
MacNeil says they will look at strengthening the county game in Scotland.
