London

Like most sporting potentates, Winston Bennett inspires a mixture of fear and respect. As the Jamaican chief executive of the Anglo Caribbean Domino League swings his car into the small car park fronting the Chestnut, a pub surrounded by housing estates in the backwaters of Tulse Hill, the group of middle-aged and elderly Jamaican men waiting outside snap to attention.

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Thanks to Winston, they are dressed in regulation matching powder-blue sweatshirts bearing the name of their team, Bradfield Giants of Peckham. Winston is a stickler for discipline, something that’s traditionally been lacking from the raucous world of West Indian dominoes, and anyone not wearing team uniform is liable for a £10 fine – even at this pre-season friendly.

Winston, who moved to England from Jamaica in 1960 and works at New Covent Garden Market, is the self-styled Sepp Blatter of dominoes. Since assuming control of the league in 1999, he has worked tirelessly to build the game that is as much a part of West Indian culture as cricket (and one that is recognised as a legitimate sport, enjoying the same levels of media coverage as darts or snooker). The league, says Winston with justifiable pride, now has over 3,000 members and pits its three London clubs (Bradfield Giants, Clapham Eagles and Tottenham All-Stars) against opponents from Leicester, Rugby and Manchester. With food, music and dancing laid on by the host teams, a fixture is as much a social occasion as a sporting clash.

In league matches, 12 players compete in teams of two at six foldaway tables, with the team manager or captain able to replace any of the pairs by notifying the referee. A point is awarded to the first player in a team to get rid of all his or her tiles, and the first team to 141 points wins the match. A square of carpet is also placed on each table surface to muffle the noise of the dominoes being slapped down in traditional West Indian style.

‘It’s a very noisy game and people get very psyched,’ Winston explains. ‘You can imagine what the atmosphere is like for a league match with six tables banging away. It’s just incredible.