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the east end fives board
I am always keen to receive articles from darts players, writers and fans and am happy to
share them with visitors to my website and invite their feedback. This time I
am thrilled to be able to publish an article about the legendary ‘Fives’ or
‘East End’ dartboard written by and reproduced with permission of Justin
Irwin.
As 2008 ended and 2009 approached Justin’s thoughts turned to darts, that most traditional and
popular of all English pub games. Whilst two World Darts Championships were
fought out over a three-week period, London-based Justin sought out the
grandfather of the modern dartboard
THE ‘EAST END’ FIVES BOARD
The Fives Board - Photo Justin Irwin
It’s
January, so darts is back. The plethora of televised darts in late
December/early January once again illustrated the two sides of the sport:
BDO or PDC, Sky or BBC, Ally Pally or Lakeside, Ted ‘The Count’ or Phil ‘The
Power’. In London there are even two different boards to choose from: the
familiar ‘Clock’, with its twenty segments, and the lesser-known ‘Fives’
board.
The Fives
dart board is a London speciality. Split into just twelve segments, the
numbers 20, 15, 10 and 5 each feature three times. The wider sections ought
to give more opportunity to hit a maximum ‘180’, but the extremely narrow
trebles, and the frighteningly long oche - the area from which the darts are
launched – make it altogether a different challenge. At nine feet, the
throwing distance is more than a foot further than that used by the Clock
board.
With no
number 1, the standard dart game of ‘501 up’ is replaced with contests that
begin at 505. The two central ‘bullseye’ rings, worth 25 and 50 points each,
and a familiar colour scheme, are the only constants on both boards.
Despite its
rarity, the Fives – or, as it is known to the rest of the country,
‘East-End’ - board significantly pre-dates the Clock. Darts is thought to
have its beginnings in medieval England and France as an indoor version of
archery, which, according to Dr. Patrick Chaplin, Britain’s only darts
historian, was soon found to be a little too easy. The values of the archery
target were therefore transferred into a segmented format, making the game
more difficult. With it, the Fives board was born.
The Clock board
did not appear until the 1890s, apparently designed by a fairground showman,
Brian Gamlin, from Bury, Lancashire. With lower numbers flanking each of the
highest (1 and 5 surrounding the 20; 3 and 7 by 19), the new scoring system
added a different dimension of skill – and dartboards have ever since remained
as integral to fairgrounds as dodgems and helter-skelters.
The new board
was well-timed. Within a few years mass-production had begun, and, once
brewery-driven pub leagues began to flourish, consistent rules, regulations and
equipment had to be agreed. The Clock took a toe-hold in the game, and was
chosen for the inaugural and influential News of the World tournament in London
in 1927-28. It never looked back.
Regional
variations of dart boards were consigned to remaining exactly that. The
‘Log-End’ board – soaked in water overnight to prevent it drying out – retains a
presence in Manchester,
and the Lincolnshire, Ipswich, Yorkshire, and Kent boards are amongst those
which can still be spotted in the occasional local pub.
Those pubs in East
London
that have retained the local board for the last century show no signs of
changing now. But, with darts pubs in the capital disappearing faster than the
banshee-like Sid Waddell can scream another ‘one-hundred-and-eighty’, the Fives
board is now fighting a different battle to stay in existence.
Finding a board
is not getting any easier – this may be just the moment to invest in some
tungsten time. If the recent performances of The Machine, The Matador,
Silverback and Barney have made you think that darts looks easy, then East
London is the place to head. With that longer distance to throw and those
narrower doubles, a game on the Fives board is the perfect way to find out if
you have a little bit of the Crafty Cockney in you.
The Waterman’s Arms, E14 - Photo Justin Irwin
Fancy a game of
darts on a Fives board? All of the following pubs have an ‘East-End’ board,
although with several playing in leagues on both the Fives and the Clock, at
some you may have to ask the bar staff to swap boards. Most are involved in
darts leagues on several weeknights. All are full of character and characters
for an old-fashioned London experience, but, be warned, none are gastropubs. (I
have also shown the nearest Docklands Light Railway (DLR) or tube station.)
- Aberfeldy, 6-32 Aberfeldy Street E14; All Saints DLR
- Boleyn Tavern, 1 Barking Rd, E6; Upton Park tube
- Britannia, 185 Bow Common Lane, E3; Mile End tube
- Cubitt Arms, 262 Manchester Road E14 Island Gardens DLR
- Duke of Cumberland, 101, Cumberland Road E13 Plaistow tube
- Ferry House, 26 Ferry Street, E14; Island Gardens DLR
- Lord Cardigan, Cardigan Road E3; Mile End tube
- Palm Tree, Haverfield Road, E3; Mile End tube
- Queens Head, 8 Flamborough Street, E14 Limehouse DLR
- Streeties, 15 Shirley Street E16; Canning Town tube/DLR
- Turners Old Star, 14 Watts Street, E1W; Wapping tube
- Waterman’s Arms, 1 Glenaffric Avenue, E14; IslandGardens DLR
Justin’s book
Murder on the Darts Board, about his year as a professional darts player,
published in London
in 2008 by Portico Books is available from all good bookshops or via
www.amazon.co.uk. For Patrick’s review of Murder
click here. For more information
about Justin visit
www.justinirwin.com
© 2008 Justin
Irwin
Additional
material © 2009 Patrick Chaplin
EXCLUSIVE
for this
website Justin has provided his full list of where the Fives board is played (or
where he has been told it is played) in the capital. If any visitor to this
website knows of any other hostelries where they still play on the Fives board
(or if you have any recorded sightings of the Fives board anywhere else in the
country) please e-mail me via my Contact page.
OK, over to Justin:
Where I have seen the board in January 2009
- Aberfeldy,26-32 Aberfeldy Street, E14 0NU
- BoleynTavern, 1 Barking Rd, E6 1PW
- Britannia,185 Bow Common Lane, E3 4JJ
- Cubitt Arms, 262 Manchester Road, E14 3HW
- Duke of Cumberland, 101, Cumberland Road, E13 8LS
- Ferry House, 26 Ferry Street, E14 3DT
- Foresters Arms, Abbey Street, E13 8DT
- Lord Cardigan, 112 Anglo Road, E3 5HD
- Palm Tree, Haverfield Road, E3 5BH
- Queens Head, 8 Flamborough Street, E14 7LS
- Streeties, 15 Shirley Street, E16 1HU
- Tooke Arms, 165 West Ferry Road, E14 8NH
- Turners Old Star, 14 Watts Street, E1W 2QS
- Waterman’s Arms, 1 Glenaffric Avenue, E14 3BW
Additional pubs where I have been told there is a fives board in January 2009
- Bow Bells,116 Bow Road E3 3AA
- Bubbles Bar (Golden Lion) 343 Barking Road, E13 8EE
- Crown, 667 Commercial Road, E14 7LW
- Eleanor Arms, 460 Old Ford Road, E3 5JP
- Greyhound and Hare, 174 Balaam Street, E13 8RD
- Hammers, 80 High Street South, E6 6ET
- Henley Arms, Albert Road, E16 2JB
- Red House,99 Barking Road, E13 8EQ
- Ruskin Arms, 386, High Street South, E6 6ET
- Short Blue, Bastable Ave, Barking, IG11 0QG
- Thomas Neale, 39 Watney Market, Commercial Road E1 2PP
- Victoria Tavern, 28 High Street, E13 0AJ
More
©2009 Justin Irwin |
