How It All Started

In 2002, 4 of us (Derek Weston, Deborah Gordon and Jackie & Eileen Fettes) got together and came up with the idea to get an Aberdeen Open started up. We went to the Aberdeen Darts Association Committee and put forward the idea but were met with a blank expression and the comment that they were too busy to run such a competition.

So we held a meeting between ourselves and came up with the name of Granite City Open and started chasing major sponsors which we found in the name of Sizzlers BBQ and Grill and so the Granite City Open was formed.

July 2003 was the first ever Granite City Open and it was held in the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Market Street. Due to a computerised problem we don’t have a complete breakdown from our very first Open but we had around 250 entries between both men’s and ladies events and the big names who turned up were Ted Hankey, Gary Anderson, Gary Robson and Bob Taylor but none of those top names were to become the first ever Granite City Open Champion.

July 2004 saw the Granite City Open being held in the same venue as 2003 but under a different name as the owners of the hotel seem to change more than the weather but we were always made welcome. The event was getting bigger and bigger with us being able to attract more sponsors for each of the main events which enabled us to set our total prize fund at £6000 and with the prize money getting bigger the open was able to attract some more of the big names including Martin Adams and Mervyn King and entry now reached just over the 350 mark and there was to be new names on the trophies for both singles events.

July 2005 and once again the Granite City Open was held in the same venue and yes it did have another name from the year before but that could not stop the momentum the Open was gathering and entries were now over the 400 mark and the prize money had jumped to around the £7000 mark and the top names entering the event were continuing to grow as the open was regarded to be one of the best on the circuit. Once again there was to be a new name on the Men’s singles title but the ladies title was retained by the 2004 winner.

July 2006 saw us change venues as yet more new owners had taken over our previous venue, but this time there was not the same anticipation as the new owners had set their sights higher for the hotel. So it was off to the Station Hotel where we have built up a good rapport with the management. We had to use 3 different halls to host this event as, although the hotel was bigger than the other venue, the main hall was smaller. This was to be an amazing year for the Granite City as entries reached 373 in the men’s and 133 in the ladies. The prize money also jumped up again with it now reaching £7500

June 2007 to make up for the loss of space from the other venue we have decided to invest in new framing for going around the walls of the venue so we can gain several hundred square feet of which was dead space that we encountered last year. We also held meeting with our main sponsors and were able to get them to invest even more in our Open so we could become the highest prize money in the whole of Scotland at £10,000.

June 2008 saw 622 players enter between the mens and ladies singles which must be a record for a non ranking event and prize money was £11.300 , The mens title was heading back to Scotland after a 3 year absence and the ladies title went overseas for the second time, We have discussed with management with hotel to see owners about building a extension to ballroom as space is once again causing us headaches, Looking at setting prize fund for 2009 at over £12.000