The Oval & District Ladies Darts League (ODLDL) started many years ago and June Dyson (myself) has been organising and running it for approximately 28 years. The dart venues are mainly situated in the Battersea/Clapham area. Originally, the league was run with 8 ladies per team but was changed to 6 as some teams had problems with getting enough ladies to play. There are quite a few darts leagues now with 6 ladies per team, which also makes it a bit easier getting reserves.
At present there are only 5 teams in the ODLDL and they play each other 6 times during the season, which makes it almost a year long. The present system of play was started as there are only 5 teams in the league and it made a very short season. The 6 times round method was discussed and agreed at a meeting with all captains. Some leagues have a summer and winter league but it means 2 lots of fees, 2 lots of competitions and 2 presentations. By having one season, there is only one fee, one lot of competitions and one presentation. Also, with 8 or 9 teams, you may not get 2 seasons into a year, so there could be a lot of time with no darts. This system has worked extremely well in our League and it has also enabled people to get to know each other better. There are no darts matches in August as this is the main holiday period and it gives everyone a break.
Competitions are staggered throughout the season - this means that people should not be without a game for more than a couple of weeks. Whereas, if the competitions are all at the end of the season, some people will miss a quite a few weeks if they have not entered any or get knocked out early.
Meetings take place approximately every 6-8 weeks, usually in one of the team venues at 11.30am on a Sunday. All captains or secretarys should attend and there is a fine of 4 points for non attendance and 2 points for more than 15 minutes late. Team members can attend if they wish and one of them should be asked to attend if both the captain and secretary are unavailable. All suggestions are discussed and the rules of the league are an accumulation of those put forward over the years which have been agreed by all present at the meetings.