Now we all may accept that darts is a worldwide sport, however, it still raises a few eyebrows when I mention my old friend Alunn Johanssen and his darting exploits.

Throughout the late 60’s & early 1970’s Alunn collected a more than respectable collection of trophies for his on the oche performances. Graduating from local tournaments and eventually appearing in many international open competitions. Nothing exceptionable about that you may think, until you learn that Alunn hails from Greenland. Nuuk on the south western coast of Greenland, to be precise – hardly the most obvious location to find darting prowess.

 

Indeed as a teenager, Alunn had fashioned his own darts from Walrus tusk fitted with goose feather flights- progressing eventually to the more orthodox copper tungsten dart barrels. Despite this unconventional start Alunn out grew his local scene, and soon found himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of of Alan Evans, Billy Leonard, Barry Twomlow, Dave Whitcombe, John Lowe,and an emerging Eric Bristow.

On the occasions that our paths crossed on the darting circuit, Aluun spent many an hour entertaining all who cared to listen with his tales of hair raising journeys and adventures in an effort just to play a game of his beloved darts. My own favourite being the time when he ventured to play in a ‘local’  darts tournament, which meant travelling 30 miles to a neighbouring town with his friend Minthor. Not a great distance to have to travel one would think, however, when one considers the journey was to be made by dog sledge and traverse one of the vast glacial ice sheets that cover that land, you begin to realise how seriously this man from the North takes his darts.

Alunn and Minthor prepare their sledge (complete with dartboard).

I recently spoke with Alunn via email;

When I think back to those great years playing alongside such talent, I realise just how fortunate I was to have been part of it. My job ( Alunn was a marine engineer before retiring) meant I had a certain degree of freedom when it came to travelling. I would always take my darts along on any trip I made and nearly always managed to find a dartboard to play on.

I pressed Alunn to divulge his most special darting memory.

Well, to be honest, I have two that stand out to me!The first would be the first time I won the Kalaallit Championship ( effectively the Greenland Open)in 1972. This was my first serious tournament victory and signalled a growing confidence in my darting abilities, and as we all know, in darts confidence is everything.

The second would be witnessing the rise of the young Eric Bristow. It is difficult for people to realise now, just how remarkable his skills were in a world of mature dart players, this young boy seemed to appear from nowhere and totally dominate, he was fearless. I loved watching him play for England particularly, he had such character.

* * *