The widow of Aunt Sally player Phil Butler told today how his last words to her as he stepped on to the oche were: "This cup is in my hands".

Phil Butler, 51, of Dodgson Road, Cowley, Oxford, was preparing to throw at The Gladiator Club, in Iffley Road, in the finals of the Aunt Sally summer league, needing to hit four of six dollies. He was convinced he would win the tournament.

Paula Butler, 53, said: "Go on love, hit six."

But when Phil stepped up to the oche to throw his first stick he collapsed, gripping his chest. Four spectators tried to revive him while waiting for the ambulance but he had died of a heart attack.

Paula watched paramedics carrying out heart massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She said: "I knew he had gone. It was instant and he did not suffer."

Phil had been on the waiting list for a triple-heart bypass for 15 months and the operation had been cancelled five times.

Paula said: "There wasn't anything that could be done for him. He died doing something he loved.

"I don't know who those people were who tried to save him, but I would like to thank them." His daughter, Tracey, 31, added: "I always said he wanted to go doing something he did best and he did - he was winning. I don't know if an operation would have saved him. He might not have come through the anaesthetic, who knows? The operation may have only given him another one or two years.

"But now we won't know. He was such a devoted father and said to me he would always 'see me right'. He was a jovial chap and always telling jokes. It is very quiet in the house without him."

She said Phil was a celebrity in the Aunt Sally world and had played since he was a teenager. Phil had won hundred of cups and trophies and gave most of them away for charity or for memorial cups.

He also managed Forest Hill football team for four years.

Phil also leaves another daughter, Kim, 19, and son Martin, 26. He had three grandchildren, Holly, seven, and twins Megan and Hannah, five.

His funeral will be at St James's Church, in Beauchamp Lane, on Friday at 10.30am.

Story date: Wednesday 10 November

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