Unipart British Professional

[ChrisW]

Anyone remember this week long televised competition held at the Redcar Bowl.

[oche balboa]

I'm sure Mabbsy does

[Randall]

Nope

[Smithy1412]

I do. Didn't Jocky win it?

[ChrisW]

Jocky won it four times. The first which was held in Stockton's Fiesta Club 81.
Also in 83,86 and 88 at the Redcar Bowl.

[Rogg]

Nope

I thought you revered this 80s crap.

[Rogg]

I need to look up all the pre-split TV events to see if we missed out some winners in the all-time thread. Well no, I don't need to, but I may do it anyway.

[Randall]

Nope

I thought you revered this 80s crap.

Apparently not

[sennafan24]

Nope

I thought you revered this 80s crap.

Randall famously said in 1985 that none of the current players could hold a candle to Tom Barrett. "Prime Barrett would have suffocated them in the womb" he bellowed.

[tungsten tossers]

Nope

I thought you revered this 80s crap.

He was in bed... had to be up at 4.30am

[Rogg]

Nope

I thought you revered this 80s crap.

Randall famously said in 1985 that none of the current players could hold a candle to Tom Barrett. "Prime Barrett would have suffocated them in the womb" he bellowed.

Barrett was a solid player.

Look at this book.

"DARTS"

They didn't fuck about with fancy titles in those days!

[Rogg]

If you look closely at the blackboard you can see a couple of interesting names. Spooky. Well played Tom.

[ChrisW]

Found an article in the local rag from 2007 about the tournament.

FOUR of the biggest names in world darts turned back the clock with an exhibition at Coatham Bowl in Redcar - one of the sport’s biggest venues in the 1980s.



Brit aces Keith Deller, Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson and Canadian John Part boast nine world titles between them.

Deller was glad to be back for the exhibition organised by O’Grady’s and Coors - 20 years after he beat Leighton Rees 7-5 to win the British professional championship at Redcar.

“In the 80s you had 10 tournaments a year but you only had two tournaments that were seven days on TV with the final live, which was the Embassy worlds and the British professional,” said the Suffolk 47-year-old.

“Me, Eric and Jocky Wilson were the only players to win the British and the world in the 80s because it was such a tough one to win.

“It was great to be back and it brought back a lot of memories.”

Somerset’s Anderson, famous for his finger-jabbing 180 celebration, has been in the world’s top 32 since 1981 and been coming to Teesside for 23 years.

The 59-year-old still remembers finding Geordie arrows commentator Sid Waddell fast asleep on a pool table at the Dragonara Hotel following a boozy night after a tournament.

“I’ve been associated with the Teesside area since 1984 and I’ve been a sponsor of a golf tournament which is still played out of a pub society at the Penny Black at Hartburn, which is my local when I stay here,” he said.

“Every so often I get to come up and have a game of golf with the boys. I’ve got fond memories of this area and I still follow the Boro - it’s the first result I look for.

“And I can still remember finding Sid asleep on a pool table at the Dragonara one morning when we were off to play golf at Brass Castle Lane.

“We jacked it up onto its wheels and left it with him on it outside the entrance to the restaurant. They were good times!”

[Mabbsy]

I'm sure Mabbsy does

I should but I dont, Randall-esque

[Rogg]

“In the 80s you had 10 tournaments a year but you only had two tournaments that were seven days on TV with the final live, which was the Embassy worlds and the British professional,” said the Suffolk 47-year-old.

Very interesting. This was huge then in the pre-split world.

British Professional Championship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_P ... ampionship

[Smithy1412]

My favourite British Professional final was in 1987 when Deller beat the late, great Leighton Rees. Was a great game.

[Rogg]

My favourite British Professional final was in 1987 when Deller beat the late, great Leighton Rees. Was a great game.

Was everything on tv played in setplay back then? Seems like it.

[Smithy1412]

Yeah if I remember correctly every TV tournament was in set play back then, although some TV tournaments had more sets to win than others. An exception is the 1978 BDO world championship which was played in legs. Lowe struggled in leg play in 1978, playing better and winning it in 1979 when it switched to set play. Rees was whitewashed in the final, he suffered badly under set play and the introduction of set play coincided with his decline. In 1978 under the shorter set play, he threw far better and threw unbelievable darts for the time. The reintroduction of legs started around the same time as the WDC (now PDC) was formed. Of course you had the British Matchplay in this period but in terms of the size of this tournament it can be compared to the world Matchplay to an extent

[oche balboa]

Dennis Harbour made his TV debut in it

[Smithy1412]

Denis Ovens did too. So did a certain Martin Adams I believe.