RUGBY’S Friday Night Charity Darts League are hosting their first memorial competition later this month – the Bruce Kennedy Mixed Pairs Open.
The event is open to all players at the cost of £5 per pair and will take place on Friday, April 21 with registration open from 7pm on the night and the draw at 8pm at Rugby Workers Club.
And everyone is welcome, whether registered to the league or not, with matches to be played from a 501 start.
The tournament is named in memory of the late Bruce Kennedy who started playing darts in Rugby in the late 1970’s.
He won the Rugby Open at the Rugby Welsh Club to claim the £100 prize on offer and predominantly played at the Royal British Legion Club on Albert Street.
Kennedy is a former winner of the Friday Night Charity Darts League in 1981/82 and also played for Half Moon, The Avon Mill, Church Over Social Club, The Talbot and The Old Lion.
He captained The Old Lion with great distinction and broke London House’s stranglehold on the league to win the title in four out of seasons and twice completed the league and cup double.
Kennedy also played on Thursday nights in the Rugby and District League where he won the Hibberd Mixed Pairs alongside his sister.
He then started playing in the Rugby LVA League where he won three doubles titles and the A League with The Old Lion.
Kennedy eventually became chairman of the LVA League before his passing in September 2013.
Martin Bowley and Gary Noakes, who played alongside Kennedy, are current committee members and were instrumental in the resumption of the Friday Night Charity Darts League.
Bowley and Noakes said: “Bruce was an incredibly supportive and fair man. A captain who was a pleasure to play for and instrumental in moving Rugby darts forward.”
