End of the road for Portsmouth’s most successful sporting team of the 21st century – the Admiral Drake darts team

The Admiral Drake darts team have won 11 of the last 15 Portsmouth Summer Darts League titles.

They have also won 12 of the last 14 completed Winter League championships as well - and had already clinched the 2019/20 title by the time the campaign was halted last month due to Covid-19.

Of those 24 league titles - out of a possible 30 - 10 have been with a 100 per cent record.

They won every game in the 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014 summer seasons, and every match in the 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2019/20 winter leagues.

From the beginning of the 2012 summer season to the end of the 2014/15 winter league - six leagues in all - Drake won all 111 matches they played!

Want some more stats? Then digest these: since the start of the 2005 summer league until the end of the 2019/20 winter league campaign, Drake played 601 league games. They won 560 of them - a 93 per cent success rate - and lost just 41.

Crunching the numbers still further, the team - based at the Drake pub in Kingston Crescent - won 288 out of 304 winter league games and 272 out of 297 summer league matches

There have also been 44 other victories since the start of 2006/07 - either individually, in a pairs event, or in a cup competition.

But nothing lasts forever, and now the team have folded - following through with the plan they initially had prior to the 2019/20 winter league season starting.

Long-serving captain Gary Collis said: ‘The team has run its course, it’s been a long time

‘It’s obviously nice to win, but winning isn’t everything.

‘It was nice to go something like three years without losing, and I’ve been really chuffed to see how many players have played for us and improved and then gone on to play for the county.

‘You don’t get in the Hampshire team by luck, they don’t give caps away for nothing - you have to put yourself out there.

‘I don’t take any of the credit, but it’s been good to see players joining us and then being good enough to make the step up.’

Collis admitted life hasn’t always been the proverbial bowl of cherries - even though one look at their honours board might suggest otherwise.

‘It wasn’t easy when we started off, I remember going to The Pelham and we only had five players out of nine. We struggled a bit early on,’ he recalled.

‘It’s difficult now, people haven’t got the money to go out all the time. When I was younger I used to go out three or four nights a week playing darts, but you can understand why people don’t do that anymore.

‘It’s not a cheap night out anymore.

‘I’ve felt a bit of a pest constantly phoning people up to see if they want to play. It never used to be like that - we had 10 or 11 players turning up, you never had to ring around. That’s gone out of the window now.

‘I just hate giving games away, and the opposition then have a player who’s turned up who hasn’t had a game.

‘I wouldn’t like it if it happened to one of our team, and I’ve always tried to make sure we don’t do it to others.

‘It’s not what it once was; it’s not just our team, it’s generally - there’s a lot of teams struggling to put nine players out.’

Mike Symes, a regular for the Drake in recent years, echoed Collis’ view that the time was right to call it a day.

‘Last summer we decided when we were registering for the winter league that this would be the last season,’ he recalled.

‘Gary said he’d devoted over 20 years to playing league darts every Tuesday and wanted a break.

‘The old man of the team, Bill Sturgess, also passed away a few years ago and it’s never really been the same since he left us.

‘We thought we’d see the (winter league) season out and then go our separate ways.

‘We’ve won everything - I don’t think there’s a trophy we haven’t won.

‘I’ve just become a dad again, so I was never going to play this summer anyway.

‘Had we carried on there would have been a few of this season’s regulars who would have stopped.

‘There’s a few people who can have their Tuesday nights back now!’

Gosport-based Symes – who only lost once in 16 winter league games in 2019/20 - added: ‘I know the team’s been a bit of an ‘all stars’ side, and some people have said Gary’s just been ‘buying’ the players in, but that’s not the case.

‘We’ve all known each other for many years, we’re all good friends.

‘I first played five years ago as a favour, I said I’d just play a few games - and I enjoyed it so much I’ve stayed.

‘It’s the best team I’ve ever played for, and Gary’s the best captain I’ve had.

‘The Portsmouth League is a tough league, and it’s also one of the friendliest leagues about.’

Collis was keen to thank Drake landlord and landlady Simon and Karen Hughes for their help down the years. ‘They have been brilliant, I can’t fault them,’ he praised.

While researching this article, I struggled to find many Drake team pictures on The News’ photo archive system.

There appears a good reason for that - nobody seems to have enjoyed taking them.

‘I’ve hardly got any photographs of myself, let alone pictures of a darts team,’ quipped Collis.

‘Not many in the team go in for things like that, we’re just a group of blokes who go to the pub for a drink and to play darts - that’s it!’

Admiral Drake roll of honour (2006-2020)

2006/07

Challenge Cup winners

Individual KO winner (James Brooker) & runner-up (Danny Pinhorne)

Runners-up men’s pairs (Gary Collis and Barry Stevens)

2007

Denise Neal Challenge Cup winners

Individual KO runner-up (Barry Stevens)

2007/08

Men’s pair winners (Gary Collis and Barry Stevens) & runners-up (James Brooker and Gareth Evans)

2008/09

Challenge Cup winners

2009

Denise Neale Challenge Cup winners

Mixed pairs winners (Ricky Williams and Sue Smee)

Men’s pairs winners (Jamie Stewart and Ricky Williams)

2009/10

Mixed pairs champions (Ricky Williams and Steff Smee)

Individual KO runner-up (Steve Musson)

2010

Denise Neale Challenge Cup winners

Mixed pairs winners (Ricky Williams and Sue Thomson)

Men’s pairs winners (Steve Musson and Ricky Williams)

Individual KO winner (Ricky Williams)

2010/11

Challenge Cup winners

Mixed pairs runners-up (Ricky Williams and Steff Smee)

2011

Fours competition winners (Jon Bramble, Gary Collis, Lee Smith, Sam Head)

Denise Neale Challenge Cup runners-up

2011/12

Challenge Cup winners

Fives competition winners (Jon Bramble, Gary Collis, Gareth Evans, Sam Head, Lee Smith, Barry Stevens)

Men’s pair winners (Jon Bramble and Lee Smith)

Mixed pairs runners-up (Gary Collis and Eileen Smith)

2012

The Ron Neale Shield winners

Fours competition winners (Jon Bramble, Gary Collis, Barry Stevens, Lee Smith, Sam Head)

Men’s pairs winners (Barry Stevens and Gary Collis) & runners-up (Jon Bramble and Lee Smith)

2012/13

Challenge Cup winners

Men’s pairs winners (Jon Bramble and Steve Musson)

Mixed pairs runners-up (Jon Bramble and Jenny Fenton)

Individual KO winner (Jon Bramble) & runner-up (Danny Smith)

2013

Denise Neal Challenge Cup winners

Fours competition winners (Jon Bramble, Gary Collis, Sam Head, Barry Stevens, Clive Pearce)

Men’s pairs winners (James Brooker and Sam Head) & runners-up (Gary Collis and Danny Smith)

Individual KO winner (Jon Bramble)

2013/14

Challenge Cup winners

Fives competition winners (Danny Smith, James Brooker, Ricky Williams, Adam Lipscombe, Shaun Brooker)

Mixed pairs winners (Jon Bramble and Dawn Simmonds)

Men’s pair winners (Danny Smith and Ricky Williams)

Individual KO winner (Ricky Williams)

2014

Men’s pairs winners (Jon Bramble and Sam Head)

2014/15

Challenge Cup winners

Men’s pairs (Jon Bramble and Danny Smith)

Individual KO winner (Ricky Williams)

2015

Denise Neale Challenge Cup winners

Men’s pairs runners-up (Jon Bramble and Danny Smith)

Individual KO runner-up (Sam Head)

2015/16

Fives competition winners (Barry Stevens, Gary Collis, Sam Head, James Brooker, Bill Sturgess, Charlie Jackson)

Men’s pairs winners (Ricky Williams and Danny Smith) & runners-up (Charlie Jackson and Sam Head)

Individual KO runner-up (Sam Head)

2016/17

Individual KO runner-up (Barry Stevens)

2018/19

Men’s pairs winners (Adam Lipscombe and Ricky Williams)

Individual KO winner (Danny Smith)

2019

Fours competition winners (Danny Smith, Mike Symes, Barry Stevens, James Brooker)

Individual KO winner (Danny Smith)