Darts: Club aims to get more players behind oche

Kamo Club president Ray Topia is hoping weekly social darts will help revive the sport in Whangarei, which at one point had 64 teams competing out of the area. Photo/John Stone

Darts players in Whangarei are the target as Kamo Club looks to hit a bullseye with the public, hopefully reviving the sport.

Having been a powerhouse in years gone by, where at its peak 64 teams were competing, Whangarei's darting scene seemingly checked out.

However, following on from a meeting held on Sunday, Kamo Club has stepped up to be the home for social and competitive darters looking to get back involved.

Kamo Club president Ray Topia saw the club as an easy in for new players as they already throw darts every Friday night.

"We're trying to use Kamo Club as a starting point to get this Whangarei [Darts] Association going," he explained.

"We have a lot of darts players in Whangarei but they have nowhere to go.

"Players play in clubs but there's nobody co-ordinating a local competition to get the darts players together."

While Topia noted the end goal was to have Whangarei people competing, he said initially the target was social players just to get people playing and enjoying it again.

"Not everyone is into playing competition darts and if we can get people interested then they can play competitions if they want."

Far North darts player national champion, Brian Steed agreed the current darts climate in Whangarei was more suited to a social league. However, he wanted to see Whangarei back competing in the future.

"It's going to be that social scene that gets going and in maybe two or three years' time we can get going competitively," Steed commented.

He added that of Sunday's meeting there were some fresh faces - plus representatives from Tikipunga Tavern, Ruakaka, and Hikurangi - which was encouraging to see.

"It was kind of good because they were new people to darts but I was disappointed in the older ones who may have had the knowledge to get [competitive darts] up and going weren't there.

"We're just lucky we've got Kamo Club who are willing to give it a go."

Topia invited anyone who was interested in having a go to come along and have a throw.

Kamo Club darts take place every Friday from 6.30pm.