The week of 16th to the 22nd September 2006 saw some great darts thrown during the 27th PUMA Australian Darts Championships, held at the Croatian Club, Ridleyton, South Australia.

Saturday 16th saw the running of the Pacific Masters Open and Pacific Masters Ladies competitions. These competitions are available to anyone, not just the State teams, to enter. South Australian entrants put up a good showing with three Men, Peter Machin, Craig Atze and Andrew Townes making the last 16 of the Open competition, and in the Ladies competition Jayne Osborne, or Humphreys as we all knew her before getting married and moving to Canada, and Rachel Gough made the last 16, while Amanda Fish and Simone Keogh both made it to the Quarter-Finals. All of these players now have World Ranking points with the World Darts Federation.

Sunday 17th was the start of the Australian Championships with the Peter McMenamin Cup. In the Ladies competition the South Australian Ladies played well but failed to reach the Semi-Finals while in the Men's competition the South Australian Men's Green team of Peter Machin, Kyle Anderson, Craig Atze and Andrew Townes were Runners-up to the Western Australian Gold team.

Monday 18th, Tuesday 19th, and Wednesday 20th am, these days were allocated for the Teams event where each State plays a round robin against the other States. The South Australian Men's team (12 - 52) were unlucky not to win this event, loosing out to Western Australia (12 - 59) by legs alone, both sharing the same number of wins. The actual game between South Australia and Western Australia was a cliff hanger with the final result being 6 - 5 in favour of Western Australia. In the Ladies event the South Australian ladies did not fare as well only finishing in 6th place. However 4th, 5th, and 6th places were only separated by 9 legs, all on the same number of wins.

Wednesday 20th pm, was the time for the Ladies and Men's Pairs event. In the Men's event Colin Edwards and Damien Chalmers made it to the Quarter-Finals while in the Ladies event, Margie Tonkin and Karen Mayes reached the Semi-Finals

Thursday 21st was Singles day. In the Men's Singles Andrew Townes reached the Quarter-Finals and in the Ladies Singles Vanessa Bridge made it to the last 16.

Friday 22nd, the final day was reserved for the Mixed Pairs. Here we had two pairs, that of Peter Machin and Vanessa Bridge, Kyle Anderson and Simone Keogh, make it through to the last 16.

Overall Champion State went to Western Australia with South Australia finishing in 5th place. During the Championships there were 278 180's thrown, Men 242, Ladies 36. Of these South Australia threw, Men 36, Ladies 9. Within the South Australian teams the most thrown for the Men was Peter Machin, 10 and for the Ladies Jackie Clothier, 3.

The listing of the Top 8 Averages was then announced for both Men and Ladies, wherein we had two Men, in 4th place was Kyle Anderson with an average of 26.352, and in 5th place Craig Atze with an average of 25.936. Unfortunately we had no Ladies in the top 8.

The 4 Men and 2 Ladies who were selected for the Australian Team was then announced, and Craig Atze secured a position in the team. 

Well done to all players who took part in these Championships and may your 'arrows' continue to fly true.

Full results of all events are on the DFA web site.

A great week was had by all players and spectators. Old friendships were renewed, new friendships were made, some tears were shed both in pleasure and disappointment, but the general census was that these Championships were among the best held.

Special thanks must go to all the Volunteers, without naming names as they know who they are, who helped prepare and organise these Championships, those who did all the running around during the Championships and the few who stayed behind to clear up afterwards. If I have forgotten anybody, please accept my apology. 

To the Croatian Club and members, thank you for allowing us to use your facilities and the way you looked after us, and the young Boys and Girls who during the opening ceremony sang for us the National Anthems of both Australia and Croatia.

To Ron, Mavis, John and Rachel who put in so much time and effort, at such short notice, for getting these Championships organised, a big THANK YOU.

And finally to all the spectators who turned up to watch we hope you enjoyed the darts that you saw.