October 13th 2016 away v White Swan (Dirty Duck)

Almost 2 years to the day of the last post on this blog when the Rose & Crown went down by the width of a wire to New Greens it's time to revisit this most local of village dart teams. 2014 was indeed a very different place both on the political landscape and the darting landscape. I say this as the Rose & Crown were gently meandering their way through the second division of the once prestigious St. Albans dart league and arguably the Conservative party had sunk to the second division of politics by needing the help of a man who the public said "He's nice and better than the other lot".Of course that was the nations first ever televised political debate and the man in question was of course Nick Clegg and at the time he along with the Conservative Party sat in coalition together The Rose & Crown went on to lose that night two years ago in a hotly contested match but gained promotion back to division one nonetheless. The aforementioned man however, went on to suffer heavy defeat in the election (May 2015) but in so doing he catapulted the Conservative party back to the top table but that table came at price and that price was ultimately his job not mention his political career but also "Brexit",or as t was known in its initial conception "a referendum". The aforementioned gentleman had now long since departed the corridors of power leaving it in the capable hands of the Conservatives Party "Production Company" who presented over the next couple of years what can only be described as a "Punch and Judy" show played out to an audience of expense claiming MP's, I digress, re Theresa may as Punch in our production, David Cameron as Judy and George Osborne as the Crocodile because he certainly stole all the sausages. Oh how politicians behave. If any further proof is needed you only need to look at the most powerful nation on earth, armed to the hilt with nuclear weapons that would wipe out most if not all of humanity. They start a craze that sweeps the nation where they all dress up as clowns and try to frighten everyone....believe me they don't have to dress up as a clown they are about to elect one as president, lets face it all Hilary needs is the bright red lips and a red nose and we know Trump can juggle his balls don't we? So as we see the world has changed. The very way we live our lives now is quite different and the Rose & Crown Dart team is no exception. Following on from promotion they endured a torrid season back in the 1st division finishing 9th with just three wins all season but post "Brexit" has brought on a new dawn and with only one defeat this season so far they are already close to matching last seasons points tally. Tonight they earned a point in a game that ebbed and flowed but in all honesty was always likely to end in a draw. The opponents tonight were the White Swan but as many would know them "The Dirty Duck". Gone are the days of spit and sawdust in this town centre hostelry, the stale smell of local drunks who in all honesty had probably cut out the middle man and urinated on the tatty old at stools that they were seemingly glued to were now all but a memory too, replaced by the aromatic smell of scented candles and trendy fruit based beverages. The dark dingy surroundings replaced with bright neon lights that make the glasses glow that are stored in chillers and now soft mood lighting illuminates the luxurious seating areas. The beer too has changed, where once pints of brown and bitter and light and mild were complimented by old tobacco tins and spittoons there are now very trendy micro breweries offering craft ales a plenty with gourmet pork scratchings that originate from the Gloucester Old Spot they even manage to have a champion pint of Guinness but I have to say at £4.40 a pint I want it to be a double Olympic Champion that also makes a bacon roll in the morning! It has to be said that the "Dirty Duck" has undergone a transformation in recent years of epic proportions. The Rose & Crown dart team to has changed albeit not so epically but it is a change none the less. The faces maybe are somewhat older and a little more worn than a couple of years ago which goes without saying but the will to want to succeed which was missing for so much of last season seems to have returned in abundance and is no more evident than in the Rose and Crown's newest recruit Rupert, who despite having a torrid time in recent weeks epitomises the desire and will to win of the St Michaels outfit. Other things have changed too, there is a new skipper, Dave Noble and it was the skipper who lead by example last night and got the visitors off to a flying start. Rupert continued his torrid start with stalwart Tony Scott as the usual solid pairing went down 2-1. Paul Mullins and John Goode restored the lead with a hard fought encounter that produced an abundance of tonne pluses from both pairings. The home side rallied and went ahead reeling off the first two singles before Mullins levelled for the visitors. Ron Deamer could not find his form of yester year and was lacking that spark that could have turned this encounter in favour of the visitors. So it was down to the skipper to secure the point and send the Rose and Crown to 4th n the 1st division for the first time in a few years. Oh how things have changed.