The Dog’s Bollogs: Black Country darts team wins £10,000 and a game against world champion Cool Hand Luke

They competed against 65 darts players from across the UK to win £10,000 and a chance to play against world champion ‘Cool Hand’ Luke Humphries.

And The Dog’s Bollog’s from Wednesfield were victorious - winning The Cool Hand Cup Final after competing in their local the Dog & Partridge, run by Marston’s.

The Dog’s Bollogs, made up of Chris Slate (captain), Ryan, Oscar and Wayne, swept to glory in the head to head at traditional 501 darts, advancing through heats, quarter and semi finals, and eventually the grand final which was held at The Boundary in Alfreton, Derbyshire, on Friday, April 10.

The Wednesfield team, representing the West Midlands region, battled it out against Barlow’s Babes from Wales in the final, tying at three legs each before they claimed victory.

At the end of the tournament, The Dog's Bollogs were presented with the Cool Hand Cup trophy and a cheque for £10,000, before getting the chance to play against Luke Humphries.

Chris said; “Winning the Cool Hand Cup is an amazing feeling! There has been a fantastic atmosphere at the Grand Final and we've loved meeting other players from across the UK.

“As a part of the prize, we got the chance to play against the one and only Luke Humphries on the Grand Final stage which was surreal. We can't believe he was there to watch some of the games and even play against us.”

The nationwide tournament saw punters from across the UK compete in their local Marston’s pub with the 16 finalists competing in the Grand Final.

The pub owners teamed up with darts legend ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Humphries for the tournament which attracted 11,000 locals forming 700 teams in their pubs across the UK.

The highest-scoring teams from each region progressed to regional heats, where pub goers competed for their place in the Grand Final.

Among the remaining finalists were The Enforcers from the East Midlands, Hull’s Best from Hull & Humber, Shambles C from Leicestershire, Millrace Massive from Staffordshire, Hesketh from Manchester, It’s Coming Home from Shrewsbury & Telford, The Chequered Flag from East Anglia, Gloucester Boys from the South West, Tripple Threat from York & Leeds, The Charny Army from the North East, The Four Bulls from Lancashire, Ango All Stars from Liverpool & Cheshire, The Hollingwood from Eastern, and The Dell from the South.

John Green, Director of Operations at Marstons, said: “It’s been a true pleasure to bring the Cool Hand Cup back to over 500 pubs in partnership with Luke Humphries. This time, we invited teams to enter the tournament, and it’s been incredible to see darts and pub culture bringing people together, with over 11,000 people entering up and down the country.

“This year's Grand Final at The Boundary was an amazing evening, the crowd were fantastic and really created an atmosphere to rival Ally Pally. After a nail-biting final, we’d like to offer our congratulations to the Dog’s Bollogs team, as well as all our other competing finalists.”