Who has the sharpest dart skills in the world – or at least in Hoboken?
The Shannon Cup aims to answer that question next week, as the town’s top dart-players face off against each other for big bucks.
The two-day tournament, based on golf’s Ryder Cup, pits a U.S. team against a world team to see who has superior skills.
Winners will get $1000 plus bragging rights.
The Shannon Cup
The showdown will happen on Sept. 18 and 22, when members of team USA, composed of U.S.-born Hoboken dart players, will throw against team World, made up of foreign-born Hoboken dart players (mostly from Ireland and England), at the Shannon Lounge on First St.
Shannon manager Tara Whelan said she and a friend came up with the idea for the tournament after the two heard of a similar event for pool.
Whelan then approached two of Hoboken’s longtime dart players, Len Hehir and Angelo Di Giulio, to be captains of the teams. She then invited the top players in the Hoboken Dart Players Association to take part in a qualifying competition held in August to determine the ten players on the two teams.
Whelan said that she was keeping the competition simple this year, but added that she does not expect to keep it this small for long.
“We plan on expanding and making it one of the biggest dart competitions in this part of New Jersey,” she said. According to Whelan, there will be a total of 56 points available in the tournament, and it will be a race to 29 points. There will be seven different types of games played, including singles 12-point Cricket, Singles 501 (eight points), Doubles Cricket (eight points) and Doubles 401 double-in (eight points).
Whelan, whose family has owned the bar for over 50 years, said she has developed an appreciation for the popular pub sport, though she herself does not play.
“There’s a lot more strategy that goes into playing darts than people think,” she said.
Big league
Whelan said she has seen how darts have grown in popularity in town in the past couple of years.
“Every night until 1 a.m. in any bar you go into, there’s a game going,” she said.
Di Giulio, captain of the Shannon Cup’s team USA, agreed.
“The popularity has definitely grown,” Di Giulio said.
He explained what he thought was the sport’s appeal: “It’s a free bar game, it’s a social game, it requires a skill, but basically anyone can start to play,” Di Giulio said.
Di Giulio, along with World team captain Len Hehir, is a founding member of the Hoboken Dart Players Association (HDPA). They helped form the organization/league along with Kurt Klein, Tony Tomchak, John Lindstrand, and Selwyn Fraser in the summer of 2002, after playing darts together for many under the New Jersey Tavern Owners Dart Association.
The HDPA originally had 15 teams. This year, Di Giulio said, there are approximately 35 teams registered in the league.
“It’s quite a big league now,” said Hehir, owner of Moran’s pub on Garden Street, who has been playing darts in Hoboken for the past 20 years.
He said that along with the growth in numbers, he has also seen growth in skill.
“Gradually over the years, the skill level has gone up,” he said. “Every year it gets better. It’s very noticeable.” “Everybody knows one another in the league,” he added. “It’s its own self-contained fraternity.”
Friendly rivalry
“There’s a good friendly rivalry in Hoboken,” Hehir said.
And that will probably extend to next week’s contest. Di Giulio and Hehir both expect a close competition. “I think it will be a pretty equal match-up,” said Di Giulio, though he added that he believed the World team might have a bit of an advantage: “Darts are traditionally a more popular sport in European cities,” he said. “It’s a pub game. These guys have been playing their whole lives,” he said.
Hehir disagreed.
“It’s probably balanced more toward the Americans than us,” he said. “There are about 100 Americans in the league and about 12-14 of us (foreign-born members).”
But he did not discount a win. “We’re definitely a minority, but our skill level is high.”
“We’re definitely all looking forward to it,” he added. “We have no idea what the outcome will be. I’m sure it’ll be real close.”
Hoboken’s top dart players will aim for glory and $1,000 at the Shannon Cup on Sept. 18 and 22. The competition will also feature dart demonstration and beat-the-pro contests, as well as raffles throughout the day with dart-related prizes and gift certificates. For more information, visit: www.shannonlounge.com or call (201) 656-9820.
Comments or questions can be sent to: mfriedman@hudsonreporter.com.