The University of Gloucestershire’s darts society’s Jack Payne has revealed his personal ambitions prior to the new tournament beginning this week.
“I really want to win something, whether that is the league or whether that is one of the other tournaments we are going to be running this year in-house.”
The university’s third Premier League gets underway on Thursday night at Francis Close Hall. Ahead of that beginning, Payne said: “There are a lot more players as well, there are loads of new faces and loads of people coming back so we are really looking forward to it.”
Payne has been at the forefront of organising the league this year after Keelan Hills left the university at the end of last year.
“It hasn’t been too bad really,” Payne said on the challenges of setting up the league. “We are using Darts Atlas, they have been really helpful, they sort out a lot of stuff which I don’t have to do myself.”
Payne’s side have been moved from the South West League to the Central League following their league win last year.
“We don’t know any of these teams so far,” Payne said on the uncertainty having never played some of the universities before. “It brings a bit more of a challenge to us, there is a bit more quality there than in the southern leagues, I don’t see why we can’t go and do like we did last year and get another title win.”
The university have had an interesting start to life in the Central League so far with a win against Birmingham and a Challenge Cup defeat to Lincoln. On the season so far, Payne said: “I have seen really good signs, everyone has been playing really well and I can’t see why we can’t go on and win the league this year.”
The society has also doubled their members over the summer and that is largely down to the coverage of the sport and Luke Littler’s run to the World Championship final.
On the rise, Payne said: “It is amazing to see, thanks to Luke Littler for getting the interest up there. It is brilliant for the lads who run it (the university society), they have done really well.”
Gloucestershire take on UCFB Wembley on Wednesday in their first home game of the season in the Central League. On the task ahead, Payne said: “It is going to be a tough one, they are meant to be one of the better teams in the league. We have got to give it our all and I don’t see why we can’t beat them, we have got a fully strong team so let’s give them a go and see what we can do.”
