Annual ADA vs England Match in the books!
The Fall Season brings two things to the United States for the American Darters Association, cold weather and the longest running international darts match! The match started way back in 1981 where a team from Northampton, Massachusetts competed against a team in Northampton, England. With the internet not available to everyone yet, these “80’s” matches were done over the phone with a loud speaker.
This past weekend Team ADA involving of 12 members from 5 different states met under one roof at My Place Bar and Grill. My Place Bar & Grill is located at 811 Foreman Dr, Lafayette, LA 70506.
Team ADA consisted of Team Captain Josette Duhon from Louisiana (LA)
Tracy Peckinpaugh (LA)
Baron Ehrlich (LA)
Glen Richard (LA)
Wayne Duhon (LA)
Susan Lasseigne (LA)
Donnie Davis (TN)
Virginia Langford (TN)
Alan Rainey (AL)
Vivian Rojas (TX)
Chuck Brocar (OK)
Liz O’Hara (OK)
While Josette was setting our lineup for the United States, our counterpart ADA Rep in England, Jeff Billingham was doing the same with his squad:
Team England : Aydan O’Keefe (captain)
Rob O’Keefe
Selena Mullen
Paul Fount
Ray Quinn
William McErlane
Jeff Billingham
Karan Billingham
Debbie Sue Roberts
Carrie Wright
Janis Ozols
Carole Radford
Before the match begin we had a special guest come in from the San Antonio area. His name is Simon Morgan which is not only a dart player and ADA Member but longtime friend of the family. His father Trevor Morgan, was involved in the very beginning of the WMDA and the International Darts Across the Sea matches. Simon gave some history, inspirational words and one heck of cheers to the team before we started up. The Team beverages were brought to us by our partner The Boston Beer Company/Angry Orchard with “Angry Balls” shots. We would like to again thank Simon for coming out and all that the Morgan’s contributed to this year’s event! Trevor this one’s for you!!
Both Captain’s threw 9 darts at the board to see who the Home Team of the day was. We actually asked Simon to throw out the first 9 darts at the Unicorn Pro Board but he graciously declined adding, “I think I will just do the speech….and the angry balls shot”.
Team England won the Home Team Advantage and we were set to begin. All match scoring was done on and through DartConnect and their Scoring Application. Starting this International match was Mixed Triples consisting of Virginia Langford/Glen Richard/Susan Lassiegne vs. England’s Ray Quinn/Mel Stewart/Janis Ozols. England came out hot and beat ADA USA 2 – 0 in game one.
Our first female singles of the day was to be next with Liz O’Hara on our side vs. Debbie Sue Roberts for team England. Games one and two were identical giving England the lead early.
So the day started not so well for Team ADA being down 4 – 0 after the first two games. It wasn’t until game three when Donnie Davis won two out of the three matches against his opponent Paul Fount. The match stood 5 – 2 England but USA ADA was on the board. “After Donnie got us on the board, you could feel the attitudes and change in the air at the bar”, commented ADA CEO Gloria Remick.
Game four was next, Women’s Singles: Karan Billingham (England) vs. Vivian Rojas (ADA). While the score doesn’t reflect it, both games were extremely close, however Karan finished both doubles first giving England a commanding 7 – 2 lead.
“I’m not worried one bit”, adds ADA Rep and Event Director Chris Stone during the event; “We have a really good team and with them coaching one another we will be fine in the end”.
Apparently Team ADA USA has had enough at that point as Baron Ehrlich started game 5 in his singles match against Jeff Billingham and beat Jeff 2 – 0. From there team ADA USA went on and won the next 6 games gaining two points in each match. Contributors of these wins were the singles matches of Virginia Langford (2 – 1); Chuck Brocar (2 – 1); Alan Rainey (2 – 0); Tracy Peckinpaugh (2 – 0); and two Mixed Triples matches of Wayne Duhon/Josette Duhon/Tracy Peckinpaugh & Alan Rainey/Chuck Brocar/Vivian Rojas. Catapulting ADA USA from trailing now to a 16 – 10 lead.
Game 12 England strikes back with Selena Mullen defeating our Susan Lasseigne (2 – 0). Both teams would then be caught in a tennis match going back and forth on the matches:
Game 13 Wayne Duhon would defeat England’s Rob O’Keefe (2 – 0)
Game 14 Carrie Wright would defeat ADA USA’s Captain Josette Duhon (2 – 0)
Game 15 Glen Richard would defeat England’s Ray Quinn (2 – 0)
After the end of Game 15 the match was now ADA USA 20 to England’s 14. Each year we end the match on a team game, mixed triples with Donnie Davis/Liz O’Hara/Baron Ehrlich vs. Will McErlane/Debbie Sue Roberts/Paul Fount.
Team ADA USA showed no signs of slowing down and took both games in this final 2019 International Match. Your end results:
ADA USA – 22
England – 14
A big roar came over the crowd as Liz O’Hara took out the Double 32 to seal the deal and put this match in the history books! High fives, hugs and you guessed it, Angry Balls Shots were had throughout the bar!
We would like to thank England ADA Rep Jeff Billingham and his team along with their host location Roman’s for all the support and time putting into this event!
On our side we would like to thank all the ADA Representatives that held qualifiers and attended our annual event. All the ADA members that competed in the qualifiers and the ones who represented Team ADA USA!
Our gracious ADA Rep Host’s Wayne & Josette Duhon and Hosting Location My Place Bar & Grill and their staff that took care of us for those two days of dart activities. Again Simon and the Morgan’s for all support over the 37 years.
Our Partners for their continued support and partnerships Unicorn Darts, GLD Products, DartConnect, Angry Orchard and Samuel Adams.