2023 Greatest Show on Earth

[The Ginge Reaper]

Its virtue signalling.

[tungsten tossers]

Its virtue signalling.

Indeed... Sky will be all over it....

cannot wait to see the refugee footage and bombed cities

[oche balboa]

its terrible decision. Ukraine has some players who did ok in some events but not worthy of a fucking place at the worlds

WDF will offer one next

[DeepFriedRat]

Agreed, an awful darts player will qualify at the end of the day

[oche balboa]

Sky will do a promo with the Ukraine player and he will give his story.... madness

[TheMalteseDart]

If they want to ban Russia and Belarus then fine. I don’t mind qualifiers from shit regions, happens in the football World Cup too, but the fact it’s solely a Ukraine qualifier and not an EADC one does make it virtue signalling. Not saying there’s be any entries but they should’ve left it open for Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan etc too, a Ukrainian would probably win it but seems unfair to rule out the other countries from that region

[DeepFriedRat]

Koltsov will be pissed. Not only the Russian Qualifier gone but the South Europe one too, as Greek citizenship I think was his back up

[Safc]

Koltsov will be pissed. Not only the Russian Qualifier gone but the South Europe one too, as Greek citizenship I think was his back up

Still has the PDPA Qualifier same as the likes of Jason Heaver.

[The Thorn]

Koltsov will be pissed. Not only the Russian Qualifier gone but the South Europe one too, as Greek citizenship I think was his back up

Still has the PDPA Qualifier same as the likes of Jason Heaver.

"they are all here"

[The Thorn]

Would rather see two extra foreign jobbers who may be better than two UK-based jobbers who struggled to string together two Pro Tour wins on the tour all year.

Agreed. There are 32+32 places on offer for players on the tour. The regional qualifiers are mostly for players without tour cards and make sure there is a healthy representation of all regions. English jobbers are at a huge advantage anyway as the tour is mainly based there. The current setup of qualifiers is very fair and generous for them

[DeepFriedRat]

Safc

Love how you didn't mention Hendo, Joyce, De Zwaan or anyone but Jason Heaver of all people

[Safc]

Safc Love how you didn't mention Hendo, Joyce, De Zwaan or anyone but Jason Heaver of all people

Was because i expect JDZ to make it on the Pro Tour and Hendo only gets the PDPA as a back up. The Dutch and Belgian and German lots get multiple routes instead of just the PDPA Qualifier.

[DeepFriedRat]

Thorn, Ginge, anyone against more PDPA qualifiers

I'd definitely agree if all tour card holders were banned from international qualifiers. You have to admit the international qualifiers/youth opportunities for tour card holders are unfair. Mentioned before about Adam Gawlas, Geert Nentjes, Rusty Jane etc, they've got 4 opportunities to make the Worlds on top of the Pro Tour 32.

Versus

25 years old+ GB* tour card jobbers only have the ProTour and the PDPA crapshoot and that's it. Couple that with the fact you have players in this category currently like Hendo, Waites, Joyce, Boulton and Murnan who are better players than probably anyone in the world that hasn't already qualified for Ally Pally.

I personally would continue to allow the tour card holders for international events, but only one entry allowed per player and one more space for PDPA.

Surely Gawlas, Rusty Jane etc shouldn't be allowed another bite of the harder cherry, if they fucked up an easier route 2 or 3 weeks ago.

*England, Scotland and Wales. Not counting NI and ROI if Tom Kirby is held.

[DeepFriedRat]

Think Malt might agree with that

[DeepFriedRat]

Interesting

West Europe Qualifier clashes with the Saturday session of the Players Championship Finals.

This could affect Nentjes, Mike de Decker, Kevin Doets, Vandenboagerde, Meulenkamp, Kuivenhoven and Hempel (if he can play West Europe and loses the Super League).

It's also only 2 days before the PDPA Qualifier so we might not see a load of overlap.

[The Thorn]

Thorn, Ginge, anyone against more PDPA qualifiers I'd definitely agree if all tour card holders were banned from international qualifiers. You have to admit the international qualifiers/youth opportunities for tour card holders are unfair. Mentioned before about Adam Gawlas, Geert Nentjes, Rusty Jane etc, they've got 4 opportunities to make the Worlds on top of the Pro Tour 32. Versus 25 years old+ GB* tour card jobbers only have the ProTour and the PDPA crapshoot and that's it. Couple that with the fact you have players in this category currently like Hendo, Waites, Joyce, Boulton and Murnan who are better players than probably anyone in the world that hasn't already qualified for Ally Pally. I personally would continue to allow the tour card holders for international events, but only one entry allowed per player and one more space for PDPA. Surely Gawlas, Rusty Jane etc shouldn't be allowed another bite of the harder cherry, if they fucked up an easier route 2 or 3 weeks ago. *England, Scotland and Wales. Not counting NI and ROI if Tom Kirby is held.

No, I don't agree with that. It doesn't take into account my point that it's way harder for non-UK players to play the tour to start with. Adam Gawlas has it significantly harder than if he was Adam Gale from Yorkshire. He has had to put in more effort, sacrifice more to get to the same level as an UK player with similar skill level.

This positive discrimination merely offsets some of the effects of the negative discrimination of the tour being very much UK centric. Darts will never be a truly global sport if it's very much based in the UK. At this point the PDC has to make a significant effort to diversify the field.

I'm all for giving international players, youth players and women 2 bites of the cherry. It's all for a great cause. And I don't see it as unfair, especially in a field that has 96 players so there is plenty of chance for everyone.

[DeepFriedRat]

That logic only works if you travel from qualifier to qualifier though. It only rewards those who travel constantly rather than emigrate. Look at Gordon Mathers, he's an international player and he's fucked for all routes except PDPA. Same with Kai Fan Leung when he moved over. So it only really rewards sacrifices if you travel to the qualifiers or the system allows it, not if you get a tour card.

If Matt Campbell or Jeff Smith moved over permanently, it applies to them too. IIRC the CDC Tour are banning tour card holders next year. If Gates or Danny Lauby were to get a card, they'd be completely fucked internationally alongside the two Canadians.

Same goes if Cody Harris would've got his card a while back, or Raymond Smith if he moves over like he's implied in 2023. Seigo Asada too, who was a missed double away from a card in 2020. So the whole rewarding sacrifice thing only fits the top-heavy [young] European market.

I can understand the World Youth Championship as the Worlds is just an added bonus for the winner, one that's hardly ever been used anyway. Main point of that is to win the title.

But there's no way there should be three or four opportunities available when you're clearly not good enough to avail of the two you've been given.

Especially when players who've travelled further and are likely to have left their families behind are rewarded with fuck all in comparison.

[DeepFriedRat]

Can't believe I'm saying this but rewarding the highest ranked player from X, Y, Z international countries with spots like WDF do could be something the PDC could look at.

That way winning a tour card is basically immediate Worlds qualification if you travel from an obscure or under represented country and are actually decent. Rather than utter shite winning from a qualifier just for the sake of turning up.

[DeepFriedRat]

Completely forgot about Baggish as well, add him into that list

[oche balboa]

So 62 players currently in the PDPA draw. Personally there should be more then 2 spots. its the same amount as Development & Challenge Tour.