LIFE AFTER LOUIS
The News of the World made a brief re-appearance in the 1996/97 season but it was not the same.
The lines of communication between the News of the World office and the secretaries had been severed and it was almost impossible to get information on who was organising the competition.
There seemed to be a ´cloak of secrecy´ surrounding the event !
The wrangling between the BDO and the PDC did not help matters either.
There seemed to be a ´Them and Us´ scenario with the usual dollop of fixture-clashing.
The competition went ahead, with players from Northern Ireland competing for the first time, and five players qualified to represent the whole of Ireland in the 1997 Grand Finals.
They were Des Byrne (Westmeath), Kieran Lennon (Waterford), Tom O´Connor (Wexford) and Mick ´Flash´ Dwyer (Wexford) and they were joined by Denise Cassidy (Fermanagh) winner of the ladies´ section.
The overall winners of the last News of the World Championships were Phil Taylor and Linda Jones.
The end result was that the News of the World were very unhappy with the response and decided not to run it again.
And so the world´s greatest darts competition had ´died´ once more.
But to all of us in the ´Eire Division´ the ´News of the World´ ended on the 4th. of December, 1989, the day Louis Donohoe passed away.
The ´News of the World´ may be over but the memories will last forever ! Thank you, Louis.
Michael O´Sullivan,
Former Area Secretary,
News of the World Darts Championship.
My sincere thanks to all those who assisted in compiling this Tribute.:
In particular to Ken Donohoe, Louis´ son, who provided the historical photos and data on Louis.
To my fellow-Corkman living in Dublin for nearly fifty years, Arthur Hook (Ireland´s Mr.Teletext)
- who has all of the darts information somewhere in his house.
To Jack McKenna - whose memory is slipping !
Last, but not least, to my new-found pen pal (or should that be e-mail pal) Patrick Chaplin,
Darts Historian, who helped to tie up the loose ends.
Go Raibh Mile Maith Agaibh Go Leir !
