OLD darts articles

[Potter's Lake]

37 Steve Beaton £3,963

There we have it, from deep in the bowels of the archives, evidence that there was a time when Steve Beaton wasn't in the top 32.

[Rogg]

I liked all the observations but should clarify that this ranking list was never actually in use.

They were just showing how the first 2-year money list was in the process of being built. It only has 7 months of earnings on it at that point. Walsh was UK Open runner-up that summer which is why he is up in 3rd.

[dartsdirect81]

I liked all the observations but should clarify that this ranking list was never actually in use.

They were just showing how the first 2-year money list was in the process of being built. It only has 7 months of earnings on it at that point. Walsh was UK Open runner-up that summer which is why he is up in 3rd.

Oh. I thought something looked fishy, highest I remember Walsh was about 7th.

[sennafan24]

My memory of Walsh is that he did well in floor events.

Wikipedia shows that he did very little in TV majors (Worlds, MP, GP) other than the aforementioned UK Open final.

[sennafan24]

1 Phil Taylor £55,100
2 Colin Lloyd £41,533
3 Mark Walsh £23,568
4 Ronnie Baxter £21,920
5 John Part £20,657
6 Roland Scholten £18,773
7 Wayne Maardle £18,483
8 Peter Manley £18,042
9 Denis Ovens £13,679
10 Alex Roy £12,532
11 Andy Jenkins £11,715
12 Chris Mason £11,182
13 James Wade £10,327
14 Adrian Lewis £10,138
15 Dennis Priestley £9,482
16 Mark Dudbridge £9,167
17 Andy Smith £8,570
18 Terry Jenkins £7,898
19 Erik Clarys £7,896
20 Lionel Sams £7,477
21 Kevin Painter £7,382
22 Wes Newton £7,249
23 Steve Hine £7,125
24 Colin Osborne £6,900
25 Dennis Smith £6,583
26 Jimmy Mann £6,485
27 Dave Askew £5,941
28 Mark Holden £5,760
29 Bob Anderson £5,350
30 Darren Webster £5,336
31 Mark Thomson £5,059
32 Mick Manning £4,395
33 Andy Callaby £4,086
34 Matt Clark £4,017
35 Colin Monk £3,980
36 Alan Warriner £3,974
37 Steve Beaton £3,963
38 Ray Carver £3,722
39 Andy Belton £3,600
40 Keith Deller £3,590
41 Steve Maish £3,545
42 Wayne Jones £3,425
43 Alan Caves £3,396
44 Erwin Extercatte £3,326
45 Paul Williams £3,236
46 Jamie Harvey £3,074
47 Andy Hamilton £2,925
48 Adrian Gray £2,762
49 Ian Whillis £2,700
50 Michael Barnard £2,593

If you combined the 32 best players in the PDC and BDO during this period you would have a very strong code. Probably comparable with the top 32 of today.

I recall some berk on Twitter claiming that peak Rod Harrington would struggle to qualify for today's events and a comment on here a few months back claiming that peak Adams wouldn't be top 50 today. Statements that I found ridiculous.

[HalloweenJack]

1 Phil Taylor £55,100
2 Colin Lloyd £41,533
3 Mark Walsh £23,568
4 Ronnie Baxter £21,920
5 John Part £20,657
6 Roland Scholten £18,773
7 Wayne Maardle £18,483
8 Peter Manley £18,042
9 Denis Ovens £13,679
10 Alex Roy £12,532
11 Andy Jenkins £11,715
12 Chris Mason £11,182
13 James Wade £10,327
14 Adrian Lewis £10,138
15 Dennis Priestley £9,482
16 Mark Dudbridge £9,167
17 Andy Smith £8,570
18 Terry Jenkins £7,898
19 Erik Clarys £7,896
20 Lionel Sams £7,477
21 Kevin Painter £7,382
22 Wes Newton £7,249
23 Steve Hine £7,125
24 Colin Osborne £6,900
25 Dennis Smith £6,583
26 Jimmy Mann £6,485
27 Dave Askew £5,941
28 Mark Holden £5,760
29 Bob Anderson £5,350
30 Darren Webster £5,336
31 Mark Thomson £5,059
32 Mick Manning £4,395
33 Andy Callaby £4,086
34 Matt Clark £4,017
35 Colin Monk £3,980
36 Alan Warriner £3,974
37 Steve Beaton £3,963
38 Ray Carver £3,722
39 Andy Belton £3,600
40 Keith Deller £3,590
41 Steve Maish £3,545
42 Wayne Jones £3,425
43 Alan Caves £3,396
44 Erwin Extercatte £3,326
45 Paul Williams £3,236
46 Jamie Harvey £3,074
47 Andy Hamilton £2,925
48 Adrian Gray £2,762
49 Ian Whillis £2,700
50 Michael Barnard £2,593

If you combined the 32 best players in the PDC and BDO during this period you would have a very strong code. Probably comparable with the top 32 of today.

I recall some berk on Twitter claiming that peak Rod Harrington would struggle to qualify for today's events and a comment on here a few months back claiming that peak Adams wouldn't be top 50 today. Statements that I found ridiculous.

[Rogg]

Tobacco ruling leaves darts body in turmoil
https://www.marketingweek.com/tobacco-r ... n-turmoil/
20th March 2003






The British Darts Organisation has slammed the Government after being told it must cancel Imperial Tobacco’s sponsorship of the Embassy World Championships with immediate effect.

Tobacco sponsorship in the UK for global events ends in 2005, but for domestic events the deadline is 2003.

In November the Government invited the BDO to set out why the Embassy World Championship should be considered to be global.

This year the January tournament was won for the third time by Dutch competitor Raymond Barneveld and the BDO was hoping that this would work in its favour.

However, the organisation received a letter from the Government stating that the sponsorship did not meet the criteria to be classed as a global event and that the
£500,000-a-year sponsorship had to end this year.

A BDO spokesman claims the Government has “hindered us all the way. This leaves us with the unenviable task of finding a sponsor in ten months in time for the 2004 tournament.

“They led us to believe that we would get the same stay of execution as snooker and Formula One. The decision came as a major shock and we are now going to have to make some serious contingency plans.”

[oche balboa]

Back in the days when it was easy to play on the Pro Tour circuit

Cullen & Pipe Join PDC Circuit
JOE CULLEN and Justin Pipe have moved onto the PDC Pro Tour following their participation in the Blue Square UK Open last month.

The duo were among the 32 Holsten Qualifiers for the UK Open, competing for the first time in a PDC event at the Reebok Stadium.

Cullen, a teenager from Bradford who turned 19 last Sunday, made a big impression with his participation in Bolton by reaching round three.

He whitewashed Mark Stapleton in round one before defeating Dennis Smith 6-2 in the second round, and lost just 9-5 to Chris Mason in the last 64.

Pipe, 36, hails from Taunton and defeated Geoff Wylie and Lionel Sams before being knocked out by eventual champion James Wade in round three.

The duo will make their debuts on the PDC Pro Tour in Saturday's Bobby Bourn Memorial Players Championship.

[oche balboa]

https://web.archive.org/web/20080722223 ... 77,00.html

[PT13]

My memory of Walsh is that he did well in floor events.

Wikipedia shows that he did very little in TV majors (Worlds, MP, GP) other than the aforementioned UK Open final.

Walsh also had the best recovery from dartitis since Bristow got back to world number 1. In some ways, it was even more impressive with Walsh, because his floor form was the best of his career afterwards.

[Ross, Bob]

My memory of Walsh is that he did well in floor events.

Wikipedia shows that he did very little in TV majors (Worlds, MP, GP) other than the aforementioned UK Open final.

Walsh also had the best recovery from dartitis since Bristow got back to world number 1. In some ways, it was even more impressive with Walsh, because his floor form was the best of his career afterwards.

Concise.

+1

[Rogg]

Smiling executioner Taylor remains chairman of board; Darts
https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=wik ... d=d17168c4
7th January 2002


HE IS the archetypal assassin and yet he does not quite fit the job description. He should have flinty, ice-cold blue eyes possessed of not one iota of compassion; his are twinkling, merry, spaniel-brown eyes that suggest that their owner is the sort of chap who helps old women cross the road and is a multiple purchaser of The Big Issue. But in his confined world, Phil Taylor is a natural-born killer.

Taylor, as expected, won the Skol PDC World Championship at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet, on Saturday night. What was not quite so expected was the ease of his victory over Peter Manley, by 7-0. If he had needed to win 27-0, he would probably have done that, too.

Taylor, 41, from Stoke-on-Trent, is known in the business as "The Power", but the power he has goes beyond his technical mastery over the game. He is a genial, smiley sort of chap, but the hex that he exerts on his opponents is of a much darker stamp. Manley is a highly proficient player who has been good enough to be No 1 in the world several times in the past two years or so. Out there in darkest Essex, he was Taylor's creature, bowing to the monarch's will.

---

Part of Manley's stock-in-trade is a bullishness that frequently tends to rub people up the wrong way, but he often profits by it. He was at it again before and after the final, but against Taylor his antics were rapidly revealed as empty braggadocio.

It is the convention in darts that players throw for the right to take the opening shot of the first set by aiming for the bull. It is of some importance, because the first to the oche in any set leads off in the first, third and, vitally, the deciding leg. Whoever is closest has the chance to take that turn. Manley was infinitesimally closer to the little red circle than Taylor in the practice room, but he gave the throw to his opponent. It was a bad move, a very bad move.

If Manley was engaging in a little reverse psychology, he should have known better. Taylor does the same thing more often than not, but then he is the best player in the world. Manley is not, and he should never have done it, because Taylor promptly won the set 3-0.

Manley had chances in the second set but resembled a dunce engaged in a debate with a member of Mensa when it came to landing winning doubles. He had nine shots at leg-winning doubles and hit only one. Taylor, on the other hand, had three and made them all.

Taylor had a 104 check-out in the third set before a 13-dart sequence put him in even firmer control. Manley won the third leg of the fourth, only for Taylor to go out in 11 darts for 4-0.

The match was already embarrassingly one-sided and Taylor made it even more so as he conceded a mere three legs as he made it five and six. In darts, they call it six-zip and Manley could not have been more impotent if he had been in a straitjacket.

Very soon, six became seven and seven made it ten. World championships, that is, twice as many as Eric Bristow, Crafty Cockney, MBE, won. It is a record that is unlikely to be broken, by anybody but Taylor himself. Nobody, not even Tiger Woods or Don Bradman, has dominated his sport as overwhelmingly as Taylor does his.

---

In victory, Taylor was as magnanimous as he always is. "I feel gutted for Peter, because he was a worthy finalist," he said.

In defeat, on the other hand, Manley was as churlish as only he can be. At the moment of final humiliation, he walked off the stage without congratulating Taylor.

He eventually returned to acknowledge his conqueror and later pleaded in mitigation that he had had to answer a call of nature. It is to be earnestly hoped that he washed his hands before his final act of subservience to the master of masters.

[Rogg]

Bump for the original Q-School. You could have played the whole of Euro School in an afternoon.




Q School Entries Announced
https://www.pdc.tv/news/q-school-entries-announced
11th January, 2011

THE inaugural PDC ProTour Qualifying School will feature 119 players in Wigan from Thursday-Sunday.

The 2011 PDC ProTour has seen the introduction of a Tour Card system, with 103 players earning a Tour Card by rights following the completion of the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.

A total of 128 Tour Cards will be awarded to players wishing to compete full-time on the PDC ProTour this year, with four offered to the Lakeshite Championship semi-finalists and the remaining places coming from the four-day Qualifying School in Wigan.

Q School will be played across four days from Thursday January 13-Sunday January 16, with each day hosting an individual knockout event.

The 119 players competing in Q School include 55 existing PDPA members and 63 new players or players who have rejoined the PDPA, including John Ferrell and Lee Palfreyman.

Magnus Caris, Devon Petersen, Preston Ridd, Dietmar Burger and Michael Mansell all competed in the World Championship recently, while Hull youngster Reece Robinson competed in the Rileys Darts Zones UK Open last June.

Many other young players competed in the inaugural PDC Unicorn Under-21 World Championship in the autumn of 2010, including Shaun Griffiths, Chris Aubrey, Michael Bushby, Jon Smith and Adam Smith-Neale.

The field of entrants also includes 2010 Lakeshite Championship runner-up Dave Chisnall and previous Grand Slam of Darts qualifiers Brian Woods and John Henderson.

Lakeshite Champion Martin Adams and Martin Phillips have declined offers of a Tour Card, with Dean Winstanley and Jan Dekker having until Thursday to confirm whether they will accept their place.

Four players from the original top 96 - Chris Mason, Lionel Sams, David Fatum and Scott Burnett - declined their Tour Card and have been replaced by Par Riihonen, Dave Smith, Stuart Dutton and Scott Rand, who were the next players in the PDC Order of Merit.
...

[Rogg]

Lots of talk lately about European Tour structure. Here is the very first event. Austria, 2012.




Austrian Darts Open Schedule Of Play
https://www.pdc.tv/news/2012/04/16/aust ... edule-play
16th April 2012


THE schedule of play for the Austrian Darts Open, the first European Tour event 2012 which will be held from April 27-29, has been confirmed.

The first of five new £82,100 tournaments will be held at the Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt, Austria and features 64 players competing for the £15,000 first prize.

The world's top 32 are drawn against 32 qualifiers from the UK, European and Home Nations Qualifiers for the first round, which will be played across two sessions and two stages on Friday April 27.

The second round will be played across two sessions on Saturday, with play only on the main stage, before Sunday sees the third round held in the afternoon session and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final played in the evening session.

All games during the tournament are the best of 11 legs, with each game expected to last around 30 minutes.

European Tour Event One - Austrian Darts Open
Friday April 27
First Round
Afternoon Session - 1pm start
Main Stage
Wayne Jones v Gino Vos
Mark Walsh v Brian Woods
Mark Webster v Jelle Klaasen
Colin Lloyd v Ian White
Paul Nichoolson v Dean Winstanley
Wes Newton v Boris Krcmar
Terry Jenkins v Dietmar Burger
Vincent van der Voort v Darren Webster

Second Stage
Richie Burnett v Michael Rosenauer
Peter Wright v William O'Connor
Steve Beaton v Mick Todd
Co Stompe v Ross Smith
Brendan Dolan v Joe Cullen
Steve Brown v Steve Evans
Dave Chisnall v Martin Kurecka
Alan Tabern v Zoran Lerchbacher

Evening Session - 7pm start
Main Stage
Gary Anderson v Scott Rand
Simon Whitlock v Mareno Michels
James Wade v Prakash Jiwa
Adrian Lewis v James Richardson
Andy Hamilton v Roland Scholten
Phil Taylor v Gaz Cousins
Raymond van Barneveld v Arron Monk
Kevin Painter v Johnny Haines
Justin Pipe v Mensur Suljovic

Second Stage
Colin Osborne v Richie Howson
John Part v Mark Dudbridge
Denis Ovens v John Scott
Jamie Caven v Michael Smith
Andy Smith v Kim Huybrechts
Mervyn King v Michael van Gerwen
Ronnie Baxter v Jim Walker

Saturday April 28
Second Round
Afternoon Session - 1pm start
Webster/Klaasen v Tabern/Lerchbacher
Walsh/Woods v Caven/M Smith
Jones/Vos v Pipe/Suljovic
Lloyd/White v King/van Gerwen
Newton/Krcmar v Brown/Evans
Jenkins/Burger v Ovens/Scott
Nicholson/Winstanley v Baxter/Walker
van der Voort/Webster v A Smith/Huybrechts

Evening Session - 7pm start
Hamilton/Scholten v Chisnall/Kurecka
Painter/Haines v Part/Dudbridge
Anderson/Rand v Stompe/R Smith
Wade/Jiwa v Beaton/Todd
Lewis/Richardson v Wright/O'Connor
Taylor/Cousins v Burnett/Rosenauer
van Barneveld/Monk v Osborne/Howson
Whitlock/Michels v Dolan/Cullen

Sunday April 29
Third Round
Afternoon Session - 1pm start
Taylor/Cousins/Burnett/Rosenauer v Nicholson/Winstanley/Baxter/Walker
M Webster/Klaasen/Tabern/Lerchbacher v van Barneveld/Monk/Osborne/Howson
Whitlock/Michels/Dolan/Cullen v Walsh/Woods/Caven/M Smith
Anderson/Rand/Stompe/R Smith v Jones/Vos/Pipe/Suljovic
Lewis/Richardson/Wright/O'Connor v Lloyd/White/King/van Gerwen
Hamilton/Scholten/Chisnall/Kuecka v Painter/Haines/Part/Dudbridge
Newton/Krcmar/Brown/Evans v Jenkins/Burger/Ovens/Scott
Wade/Jiwa/Beaton/Todd v van der Voort/Webster/A Smith/Huybrechts

Evening Session - 7pm start
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final

All competing players will be emailed with a full Players Brief of information in due course, including details of registration times.

[Randall]

What were the results?
Pipe v mensur last was a good shout

[Captain Hobo]

What were the results?
Pipe v mensur last was a good shout

Denis Ovens 6 - 5 John Scott

The only result that matters.

[The Thorn]

Does it?

[Lexington]

Interesting seeing the names in the first Q School. Young Shaun Griffiths never fulfilled his promise. Not seen his name for years.

[oche balboa]

Interesting seeing the names in the first Q School. Young Shaun Griffiths never fulfilled his promise. Not seen his name for years.

Played some WDF stuff last year

[Rogg]

What were the results?
Pipe v mensur last was a good shout

Pipe beat Wade in the final. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Austrian_Darts_Open

Taylor and Lewis didn't play, causing byes.