The Indoor League
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Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Italic title The Indoor League was a pub games competition series that was produced by Yorkshire Television and aired from 1973 until 1977. The programme was hosted by former England cricketer Fred Trueman (1931–2006).
Background
The first series of The Indoor League began transmission, by ITV, on 5 April 1973 at 1 pm and ran for the following six weeks. The TV Times magazine dated 31 March 1973 contains a one-and-a-half-page editorial on it, featuring noted darts player Tom Barrett. Most of the competitions were filmed the year before transmission. From series 2 onwards, The Indoor League made its various competitions open to international competitors, and they played for the Indoor League World Championships.
Presenter Fred Trueman often wore a cardigan and smoked a pipe throughout his links. He always ended the show with the Yorkshire dialect phrase, "ah'll see thee". The programme's theme tune was Waiting For You by André Brasseur.[1]
The show featured many indoor games, the majority of which were pub games, each of which had a prize of £100 for the competition winners. The sports included darts, pool, bar billiards, bar skittles, table football (Template:Aka foosball), arm wrestling and shove ha'penny amongst others. Among the commentators were Dave Lanning and Keith Macklin. The programme was broadcast from The Leeds Irish Centre, which was later recognised as the 'birthplace of television darts'[2]
The Indoor League was created by Sid Waddell,[3] who also produced the series from 1972 to 1976. Darts coverage on television was in its infancy, with the News of the World Darts Championship having just begun to be broadcast on ITV in 1972. Waddell would later go on to become one of the voices of darts on television when the World Championship was created in 1978.
In the first series, all darts matches were played on a Northern England "doubles dartboard" that does not have any treble scoring segments. The competition was restricted to players from within the Yorkshire Television region but, due to the programme's success, from the second series onwards the men's and women's darts competitions were open to all players from around the globe, and they played for the Indoor League World Darts Championships. In the final series there was also an international mixed darts tournament. The winner of the first competition received £100, with the runner-up getting £50. From the 1974 Season onwards, the winner of the men's darts tournament qualified for the BDO World Masters the following year.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
The first two series were released on DVD by Network Releasing but are now out of print. All available episodes were repeated by now defunct UK digital channel FrontRunner TV.
Series air dates
| Series | Tournament year | From | To | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1972 | 5 April 1973 | 10 May 1973 | 6 |
| 2 | 1973 | 27 September 1973 | 11 April 1974 | 13 |
| 3 | 1974 | 8 January 1975 | 2 April 1975 | 12 |
| 4 | 1975 | 1 January 1976 | 25 March 1976 | 15 |
| 5 | 1976 | 7 Feb 1977 (regions) 10 Feb 1977 (Yorkshire TV) |
2 May 1977 (regions) 5 May 1977 (Yorkshire TV) |
13 |
| 6 | 1977 | 9 January 1978 | 7 April 1978 | 13 |
According to the ITV listing magazine TV Times, programmes were shown by the different ITV regions on different days of the week and at different times across their schedules. Some ITV regions showed an episode of the programme one or more weeks later than other ITV regions. The details above are taken from TV Times.
Tournament winners
The Indoor League Men's Darts Championships
- 1972 Template:Flagicon Colin Minton beat Template:Flagicon Charles Ellis 2–0 (Played on a Yorkshire dartboard)
- 1973 Template:Flagicon Tommy O'Regan beat Template:Flagicon Alan Evans 2–0
- 1974 Template:Flagicon Leighton Rees beat Template:Flagicon Alan Evans 2-1
- 1975 Template:Flagicon Conrad Daniels beat Template:Flagicon Cliff Inglis (Championship of Champions)
- 1976 Template:Flagicon Leighton Rees beat Template:Flagicon Charlie Ellix 3–0 (Indoor League World Championship)
- 1977 Template:Flagicon Tony Brown beat Template:Flagicon David "Rocky" Jones 3-2 (Indoor League World Championship)
The Indoor League Ladies' Darts Championships
- 1973 Template:Flagicon Loveday King beat Template:Flagicon Jessie Catterick 2–0
- 1974 Template:Flagicon Greta Hallgren beat Template:Flagicon Millie Bergeson 2–1
- 1975 Template:Flagicon Jean Dickinson beat Template:Flagicon Brenda Simpson 2–1 (Championship of Champions)
- 1976 Template:Flagicon Jean Dickinson beat Template:Flagicon Margaret Lally 2–0 (Indoor League World Championship)
- 1977 Template:Flagicon Sandra Gibb vs Template:Flagicon Margaret Lally (Indoor League World Championship)
The Indoor League Mixed Pairs' Darts World Championship
- 1977 Template:Flagicon Ken Brown & Template:Flagicon Sandra Gibb beat Template:Flagicon Kevin White & Template:Flagicon Lynn Stewart (Indoor League World Championship)
Indoor League Bar Billiards Championships
- 1972 Template:Flagicon "Taffy" John 2,820–1,450 Template:Flagicon Malcolm Rider
- 1973 Template:Flagicon John Baker 2,400–1,440 Template:Flagicon Peter Wells
- 1974 Template:Flagicon John Peters 4,200–3,050 Template:Flagicon John Baker
- 1975 Template:Flagicon Roy Buckle 900–? Template:Flagicon Alan Sales
- 1976 Template:Flagicon Stan Pratt beat Template:Flagicon Gerry Lambert
- 1977 Not held
After the second series, The Indoor League Bar Billiards added the unusual rule of a 45-second maximum break limit. This was to allow full games to be shown during the 18-minute TV as breaks in bar billiards can go on for long periods of time.
Indoor League Arm Wrestling Championships
- 1972 Not held
- 1973 Template:Flagicon Donald "Buster" Witney beat Template:Flagicon "King" Ben Boothman 1–0
(Ben Boothman went on to have a successful wrestling career as King Ben with ITV's World of Sport Wrestling)[4]
- 1974 Template:Flagicon Clive Myers beat Template:Flagicon Tony Lees 2–1
- 1975 Right-handed – Template:Flagicon Tony Fitton beat Template:Flagicon Tony Lees
(Tony Fitton left the UK shortly after this season to work in the USA. He was exposed in a Sports Illustrated exclusive in 2008 as being the so-called "Godfather of Steroids", contributing to the major steroid problem in American Sports during the 80s and 90s) [5]
- 1975 Left-handed – Template:Flagicon Bill Richardson beat Template:Flagicon Paul Jordan
(Bill only entered the left handed competition because all the spots in the right handed competition was taken. He later won Universe Championships Mr Universe in 1980)
- 1976 Under 200 lb – Template:Flagicon Clive Myers beat Template:Flagicon Joe Graham 2–0
- 1976 Left-handed – Template:Flagicon Mike Winch beat Template:Flagicon Alan Jackson
- 1976 Super heavyweight – Template:Flagicon Bill Richardson beat Template:Flagicon Donald "Buster" Witney 2–0
- 1977 Under 200 lb – Template:Flagicon Clive Myers vs ?
- 1977 Left-handed – Template:Flagicon Mike Winch vs ?
- 1977 Super Heavyweight – Template:Flagicon Bill Richardson vs ?
Indoor League American Pool Championships
- 1972 Not held
- 1973 Template:Flagicon John Ashcroft 1–0 Template:Flagicon Ray Edmonds
- 1974 Template:Flagicon Willie Thorne 3–0 Template:Flagicon Ray Edmonds
- 1975 Template:Flagicon Ray Edmonds 2–1 Template:Flagicon Willie Thorne
- 1976 Not held
- 1977 Template:Flagicon Phil Tyas vs Template:Flagicon Dean Emmott
Indoor League Table Skittles Championships
- 1972 Template:Flagicon Philip Senior beat Template:Flagicon Dennis Jones
- 1973 Template:Flagicon John Chell beat Template:Flagicon William Woolwich
- 1974–1977 Not held
Indoor League Table Football Championships
- 1972 John Kropacz & Frank Bowett 6–0 Eric Crane & Stephen Kelly
- 1973 Speedy Campbell & Bervis Harris 6–3 John Kropacz & Frank Bowett
- 1974 Nelly Nelson & John McKrith 6–5 John Kropacz & Frank Bowett
- 1975–1977 Not held
Indoor League Shove Ha'Penny Championships
- 1972 Alan Brown beat Barry Stones
- 1973 Bryn Turner beat Alan Brown
- 1974–1977 Not held
1972 Indoor League Men's Darts Results
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All matches were played on a Northern England dartboard that does not have any treble scoring segments. The 1972 darts tournament was limited to players within the Yorkshire TV region. The winner received £100 and the runner up £50. There was no women's darts tournament in 1972. Only the final, two semi-finals and two of the quarter-finals were transmitted during the 1972 series of six episodes.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
1973 Indoor League Men's Darts Results
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Alan Evans, in his semi-final match against Tony Ridler became the first ever male player to score a 180 on Television. In the same game, Ridler also scored a 180 in the second leg.
The current News of the World Darts Championship winner Ivor Hodgkinson entered the tournament but was beaten in the first round by Frank Crolla.
The tournament featured several internationally capped darts players. Winner O'Regan played for both England and Ireland before becoming captain of Ireland. Willie Etherington, Ron Church and Des Stabb represented England, Bob Whyte represented Scotland,Alan Evans and Tony Ridler played for Wales and George Foster & John Kelly represented Australia.
1974 Indoor League Men's Darts Championship Results
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Doug Priestner, hit a 180 with his first three darts in the competition. He played with John Craine represented of Isle of Man and Steve Rollings represented by South Africa.
1975 Indoor League Men's Darts Championship Results
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For the second year running Doug Priestner, hit a 180 with his first three darts in the competition. Cliff Inglis, hit back-to-back 180s in one of his matches.
1976 Indoor League Men's Darts World Championship Results
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In the 1976 Indoor League men's darts World Championship players were redrawn after each round. And the draw above reflects this.
1976 Indoor League Ladies Darts World Championship Results
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1977 Indoor League Men's Darts World Championship Results
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Reigning champion Leighton Rees was unavailable at the time of filming the competition due to him touring Australasia doing dart exhibitions. In the 1977 Indoor League men's darts World Championship players were redrawn after each round. And the draw above reflects this.
1977 Indoor League Mixed Pairs Darts World Championship Results
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During the second semi-final, Peter Chapman become the first player to hit a televised 180 in a mixed pairs game, and Sandra Gibb scored the first ever televised 180 scored by a female player.
The semi-finals and final in this mixed pairs competition were the best of five legs of 701.
References
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- ↑ Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Template:Cbignore
- ↑ http://wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=bios&wrestler=6229 Template:Bare URL inline
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External links
- Template:Trim/ Template:Trim at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:WikidataCheck
- Indoor League at UK Gameshows web site
- Major Darts tournament winners
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- Darts tournaments
- British sports television series
- 1973 British television series debuts
- 1978 British television series endings
- 1970s British game shows
- 1970s British sports television series
- ITV game shows
- Television series by ITV Studios
- Television series by Yorkshire Television
- British English-language television shows