View from the Oche

 

I started back at work this week ,hence the lateness of this edition and it should just make it out before the next round of games I hope and should not be so dated. In this edition we have match reports that see Mabuhay return to form ,Nomads signaling their intent to challenge for the Div 2 title and unfortunately an early forfeit game in Div 4. We find out how Gypsy Pat did in his predictions and get his new ones and Madhouse provide us with our Who Are Ya? victim for the week ,with Stephen Guess.

Division 1

Buhay Na Buhay v Team Viet

So just who is going to challenge last year’s Champions?? I think many thought that Team Viet were a good bet to do that but they suffered a suprising reversal away to Buhay Na Buhay team who have sent out a message to the rest of the league that they will be very stiff opposition and bounced back after their narrow loss to The Buccaneers last week. A storming start ,where they claimed both triples and all the doubles set BNB on their way ,they overcame a dodgy middle spell where TV threatened to fight back with three Singles wins for Jesse,Xu and Dung ,to finish strongly and claim the last three Singles and ensure a victory. An all round team performance by BNB ,with Roden claiming 5 checks and supported by most of his other team mates ,Lito helping himself to 3 checks too. The slow start cost TV dearly and they will hope to rectify this in coming weeks. 3 tons for Hai,Jesse and Xu and 3 checks for Jesse ,Dung and Xu proved be too little.

Mabuhay v Buccaneers

A little hiccup last week for the Champs ,with points dropped ,but this week they came back to form and dismissed the Buccaneers in fine style. On the back of a solid doubles performance and early Singles wins from their front four, they claimed the match early. The Buccaneers roused themselves to get the last two Singles with wins for Nhan and Brett but all far ,far too late. Jonel topped the tons charts for the victors ,with 8 and also claimed the most checks with 4. For the hapless Buccaneers, Nhan had quite a successful night personally with 6 tons and 3 checks. The Buccaneers can at least look forward knowing they don’t have to play Mabuhay every week and they have some quality players who I am sure will have more success in the weeks to come.

Ice Blue v Really Rottens

Ice Blue’s struggles continue with a  narrow loss to Really Rottens.  A good start for the Rottens ,claiming both Triples proved to be the deciding factor in the match between these two evenly matched teams. Kenny made a return to Rotten colours and had a cracking night, with 5 tons and three checks.Guppy helped himself to 6 tons and Matt caused the most damage with 4 checks. Rick ,Ravi and Negi got Singles wins for Ice Blue and Tom claimed an impressive and decisive victory over Ruud in the last Singles of the night.The returning Rick got himself 5 tons and 4 checks to be the top player from the Blue. Not sure about the affect being round ice cream all the time is having on poor Kris, as his epic bus journey from Munei did not bring him any joy on Tues night –stick to the waffles Kris!

Division 2

Nomads v Phattys Phukkers

The Nomads signaled their intent to no longer be the draw specialists with a clinical and well deserved win over the underperforming Phukkers. It had started so well for the Phukkers with yet again two wins in the triples [where has this come from] but then we saw a collapse of biblical proportions as the they again failed miserably in the doubles  with Logan and Daivd R  doing some serious damage and Chad and Jeff made the most of Jimish’s inablility to get his blunt darts to stay in a very dodgy old board. Glyn had suggested some tactical Singles allocation for the Nomads but in the end it didn’t really matter as the Nomads comfortably took 5 out of the 6 and also the team game- only Jamie winning for the visitors. Phukkers will hope to get some consistency out their players in the coming weeks or they could end up in trouble and as for Nomads well they must be one of the early season favourites ,despite having a smaller playing squad than most. Chad as usual topped the tons with 7, while Logan and David R got 4 checks each.For the poor Phukkers Colin stood all alone with 3 tons and himself and Jamie each got themselves 2 checks.

Baan Thai v Alayah

The game went as was probably predicted ,even by Gypsy Pat ,with Alayah eventually cruising to a comfortable win over rock bottom Baan Thai, who at least had the comfort of being able to play  their home game at their own venue. It was actually finely poised at 3-3 after the first Singles but then Alayah showed a ruthless streak claiming all the remaining games for the loss of just two legs. Rey topped the checks stats for the home team with 3, while Jeff got 3 tons. For the victors a real team effort and chairman Lee will be proud of the start his boys have made.Willy, Huck and Paul each got 4 tons ,while a new name to me –Gerald – got most checks with 4.

Black Magic v Dirty Harrys

Black Magic got their second 7 -5 win over Dirty Harrys at Voodoo last Tuesday night. It was close after the doubles and triples with the Dirties actually holding a narrow 3 -2 lead.A strong Singles performance from BM took the game, with only the Gimp losing his match to Devo, who judging by the amount of tons he threw during the night was bang on form.BM did not trouble the tons board much during the evening, with the White Barry White topping the charts with 3. Rob1 played a typical captains innings [well not an Aussie cricket captain’s – cos they are crap!] with a useful 4 checks. Devo and Dan got 3 checks a piece for the Dirties.Devo getting 6 checks.

Division 3

Featured Match

The Prixx v Buddha

These two sides were hard to split in Division 2 last year so we were expecting a close battle and so it proved. Victory went to the reinforced Prixx by a narrow 7 -5 margin. The Prixx raced into a 4-1 lead with new players Jiggy and Warren being the main players.Look like these two additions could prove very useful to The Prixx.Buddha staged a stirring fightback in the Singles but just gave themselves too much to do.Wins to John,Scotty ,Tun and Andy were just not enough. They had a chance of gaining the draw but a loss in the team game consigned them to their first defeat of the season ,Matt from The Prixx getting the vital check.Three players from the home side got 4 checks- Jiggy, Warren and Matt.Their top tons scorer being Melvin with three.For the Buddha boys 3 tons each for Tun ,Ben and Andy, while checks were good for John and Scotty with three each.

Other matches

ACDC fell to a rather surprising heavy defeat against the Charmed Assassins, losing  10 -2 . Their recent form had not been too bad and I am sure Pat and his team would have expected it to be a little bit closer. In the final match  NSW got back to winning ways in a titanic struggle against Patriots ,getting a 7-5 win in the team game and winning just one leg more.

Division 4

Featured Match

Dreamtime v Boston

Well Gypsy Pat got this one all wrong and it proved to a very close affair and a point a piece for the sides.Dreamtime were looking for their first point and were looking good for all three early on ,going into 3-2 lead courtesy of Gazza and the New player 1. Boston staged a great comeback winning four of the Singles ,with Cian getting a win to go alongside his two legs checked in the doubles. The win was snatched away when Dreamtime got the team game and both sides got their first points on the board.Only 6 tons in total in the game ,with New Player 1 getting 2 for the home team and Ngoc getting 2 for the Patriots. Again New Player 1 topped the charts for Dreamtime with 4 and for the Patriots ,Cian also got 4.

OTHER GAMES

One would hope we are not seeing the signs of losing our first team from The Sidl but the Lunatics in Division 4 once again did not complete a fixture and The Udder Team claimed a walkover. In the other game Bernie’s Best fell to a home defeat from G-Force 8 -4. So G-Force top the league early on after their unbeaten start.

This week we meet with one of the long standing Madhouse players, Stephen Guess ,who is never shy about having a word or two at Darts AGM’s!!

Stephen you have been in Vietnam for an eternity now,why did you come here and what do you do?

I first came in June 1997, but moved permanently in 2003. The first time was following a divorce!! The second time was because the UK government were ruining my industry, as a Financial Adviser, and also because I felt it was good from an education point of view for my son. Now I have set up my own company, Regency International, providing financial advice to expats here.

You were a committee member way back [I remember the rather lively AGM when the likes of you, Ben and Darren were removed or stepped down –they don’t make nights like that now] . What do you think your main achievements were during your time running The Sidl?

We took over when all the other committee members had moved abroad with their companies and there was only Gary Dale and he left 2 months later. We got things back on track, introducing the divisions and setting up the website as well as reintroducing some of the comps. We had plans for the future but they never materialized following the next AGM. One thing the committee at that time tried to do was run the darts for all the members and not just the elite.

If you were to be on the Committee now ,what would you do differently?

1 plan we had was to try and spread the darts to the Vietnamese by getting the very few Vietnamese who were playing at the time to try and spread the word, if we could manage to up the numbers we were going to approach HTV to see if they would broadcast the singles final, or something, on local TV.

Who is the best player you have seen during your time playing darts in Saigon?

There have been a number of good players, but I think Blaine Karst, nice guy, good demeanor and temperament on the oche.

Madhouse have played at various places over the years. Can you remember them all and which was your favourite?

We have played at the original No5, Café Latin, Arena, Blue Gecko, Phattys,  Drunken Duck, Red and now Universal. The first 3 closed which was a shame and we should never have left Phattys.

I said in View from the Oche last week you seem to be playing less Singles and are becoming a bit of a doubles specialist –any reason for this?

We have some good players in Madhouse now and that doesn’t include me!

Favourite opposition team to play over the years?

Black Magic a few years ago with Charles and Vinny et al. and more recently our battles with your mob Los Lochos

What is your tipple on match nights?

Red wine

Scotch eggs or pork Pies?

Both, they go together so well with mayonnaise.

What song would you choose as Madhouse’s anthem?

Meatloaf Bat out of hell or Dire Straits Walk of Life.

Which team do you think will win Div 2 this year and who are your tips for relegation?

Having played the top 2 teams in the table so far, a loss and a draw, I think this division is too close to call. Baan Thai maybe last, but we lost to them twice last season before winning in dramatic fashion in the final, so I can’t cast them as relegation candidates yet either.

Classic case of sitting on the fence.

Do you have any superstitions in regard to your dart games ?

No, I am not good enough for such nonsense.

One of your favourite sports away from the oche is golf? What is your present handicap?

A bad back and 18.8.

Finally Stephen give us thehighlight of your Saigon darting career?

Beating Guppy 2-0 and also taking the first leg off Rick Horton he had lost all year.

Gypsy Pat

So how did our resident fortune teller do last week after looking into his crystal ball.

Well a mixed bag in all honesty as he got two results correct [tho the wrong score ]and two wrong altogether maybe he will swap to tea leaves this week.

His predictions last week and the actual results in brackets.

Mabuhay 7 v Buccaneers 5 [ 9-3]

Nomads 8 v Phattys Phukkers 4 [9-3]

Prixx 6 v Buddha 6 [7-5]

Dream Time 9 v Boston 3 [ 6-6]

So we move on to this weeks matches and see if he can prove he isn’t a just all  ear rings and lucky heather!

Once again I’ve been asked to see into the future, so here are my predictions for four of tonight’s games.

First up, from D1, Buccaneers v Ice Blue, assuming Rick is not playing then I think Ice Blue will find it hard against the Buccaneers, I am going to forecast an 8-4 win for the Buccaneers.

The D2 game is going to be a very close fought game, with Alayah having four players in the top 10 and Nomads 3, both having one draw, Alayah have two 9-3 wins and Nomads one 9-3 win having had a bye in the first week, I’m going to predict a draw here.

If NSW can field a strong team then I think the girls of ACDC are going to struggle, although they have a great player in Oanh, last week against Charmed Assassins, Bich played very well, but, sorry girls, I think it will be NSW 9-3 ACDC.

D4 see GForce entertaining The Tavern, GForce have had a good start to the season and currently top the division, but The Tavern are not far behind them in these early stages, however with their strong start I think this will go to the top team, prediction GForce 8-4 The Tavern.

There you go Jim

Patrick

News/Gossip

• Popped into Chairman Lee’s new establishment on Friday night for the first time and very nice mate. A few Sidlers playing in the form of Ethan and Devo and the dart area is much improved on the old one. I like the middle bar which reminds of gogo bar seating [or so I have been told]
• I think soft tip darts could be taking off – I am not sure if I am right but I think Red, Darts ,Darts, Darts and now Vinyl have machines. Never played myself so it will have to give it a go sometime.
• Please get the left hand side board changed at Chilli Bar!!!!