WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 1998

From 6 to 9 August 1998, 26 countries played in Oslo in Norway during the eleventh edition of the WDF Europe Cup darts. The big question was of course whether the England men, this time with Martin Adams, Andy Fordham, Ronnie Baxter and Steve Beaton, would take home the overall title for the eleventh consecutive time. The England ladies Mandy Solomons and Trina Gulliver could win the overall Cup for the seventh time in the last eight editions. For the first time in the history of the WDF Europe Cup, two brothers play in one cup; Brian and John Elder from Ballymena play for Northern Ireland. The Faroe Islands and Iceland make their debut at a WDF Europe Cup here in Norway.

In the team event, there were few surprises in the group phase. Only the elimination of Finland perhaps, but they were in a very strong group with England and Denmark. In the last 16 not many remarkable results either. The first major confrontations do follow in the quarterfinals. England wins 9-2 against the Irish Republic and this round is also the last for the Northern Irish. They lose to the Belgians because they fall behind too fast with 0-5. It will eventually finish 4-9. The Netherlands wins against the yough competition from their eastern neighbours 9-7. The semi-finals is completed by Scotland. They win the British clash against the Welsh 9-7.

In those semi-finals, the Belgians Erik Clarys, Chris Van den Bergh, Tanguy Borra & Luc Vriesacker play like lions and the Dutch foursome Co Stompé, Richard Rietveld, Raymond van Barneveld and Roland Scholten have little chance. They fall behind quickly 4-1. Chris plays his legs with an average of over 120. Tanguy gets 35.66 per arrow and Erik and Luc also play their part. Only Raymond van Barneveld can make a small fist for the Dutch and wins against Luc Vriesacker to come back to 4-2 and from Tanguy Borra for the 6-3. The other Dutch players are certainly not bad, but Scholten, Stompé and Rietveld cannot turn the tide and the Netherlands lose 9-3. This is a fantastic result for the Belgian men, who already match their best result ever from 1986.

In the other semi-final, things are a lot closer between Martin Adams, Andy Fordham, Ronnie Baxter & Steve Beaton from England on one side and Peter Johnstone, Bob Taylor, Mike Veitch & Les Wallace for Scotland on the other. The victory is for England 9-7.

The final is played two days later. In the final, England goes 2-0 up, but the Belgians fight back and make it 2-2. Then the English quickly run away to take an 8-2 lead. The Belgians came back to 8-5, but in the fourteenth leg the inevitable happens when Andy Fordham beats Tanguy Borra. For the English it is the ninth time in history that they win the team event.

WDF Europe Cup Men Teams

About WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 1998

Competitors Of WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 1998

Godfrey Abela

Martin Adams

Ivars Adamson

Kyriakos Anastasiadis

Beat Basler

Ronnie Baxter

Steve Beaton

Tanguy Borra

Peter Brolin

John Burke

Vincent Busuttil

Brian Buur

Paris Chloros

Erik Clarys

Gaudenz Coray

Charlie Cover

Stephane Dalancon

Ritchie Davies

Tony Dawkins

John Demicoli

Terje Deras

Louis Doherty

Brian Elder

John Elder

Uldis Erkis

Luca Falseti

George Federico

David Field

Pascal Fontaine

Andy Fordham

Demetris Georgiou

Charles Ghiller

Seamus Gormley

Brendan Grace

Petur Gronagard

Thorgeir Gudmundsson

Rene Handschin

Bernd Hebecker

Boris Hristovski

Geoff Hurst

Throsdur Ingimarsson

Bjarne Iversen

Janus Jacobsen

Marshall James

Frede Johansen

Peter Johnstone

Ole Jorgensen

Marko Kantele

Blaine Karst

Tibor Kiss

Jarkko Komula

Ermos Korradou

Kristinn Kristinnsson

Andreas Krockel

Attila Kulcar

Stelios Laskaris

John MaGowan

Nils-Gunnar Manshed

Jack McKenna

Maurizio Moretti

Jean-Luc Mortelec

Mikael Mortensen

Jaroslav Mottl

Stefan Nagy

John Neale

Christos Padazopoulos

Sean Palfrey

Martin Phillips

Antreas Podilatas

Loris Polese

Attila Port

Poul Poulsen

Marko Pusa

Colin Rice

Richard Rietveld

Dzintars Salmins

Vidar Samuelsen