Botterill has been a devout veteran of the annual trophy match hosted on Sarnian soil, making it over for every edition since its inception in 2014.
Unfazed by his Kentish team’s 7-2 defeat in the spacious new venue of La Villette Hotel, he spoke as to why they all love the annual trip so much.
‘We love this place, and to be quite honest, this is a great venue,’ he said.
‘Especially knowing we can stay here and play darts at the same venue. It doesn’t matter how much it costs, or whatever, because the Guernsey guys are like a family – we know them all and we all get on well together.
‘We absolutely love it – we wish it could happen twice a year.’
Even in defeat, Medway held their own, including Tom Smith taking individual man-of-the- match recognition for a leading 74.10 three-dart average.
That topped the pile from three Guernseymen’s efforts – Jason Allez’s 71.80, Adie Exall’s 71.60, and Jay Dalton from the B team’s impressive 71.57.
Thanks to support from Sheppards, organiser Rob Davidson is now hoping that they can develop this competitive relationship even further.
‘We’ve had an invitation to go over there and hopefully we can do it,’ Davidson said.
‘It’s up-and-coming. We’ve got a lot more things in the pipeline – other teams coming over, and even Medway have mentioned they might bring more players over, so we might end up playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday, instead of just Friday and Saturday.
‘It’s taken 11 years to get where we are, but the next few I think we’ll progress.’
Even as it is, the trophy match is a big win for Guernsey sports tourism, with the team staying in a hotel and generating numerous bed nights every year.
‘Twenty-seven people over – they come over Thursday and go back Monday,’ Davidson added.
‘It’s not just good for darts, it’s good for Guernsey.’
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