1985, 1995, 2005 PDC & BDO World Championships rewind

[oche balboa]

Just before Barney left the BDO, he also won the 2006 Dutch Open.

I suppose it was a bit embarrassing that Raymond and Sylvia van Barneveld went out of their way to get Eric Bristow at the 2006 Lakeside final (to equal 5), only for Barney to play below his usual standard and Klaasen punish him in the final.

Bristow wasn't really welcome there. It didn't go down too well & I recall Bobby George telling Bristow to behave

Bristow slagged off the final to the papers afterwards

Yep he did. Compared to Taylor's visit in 2001 this didn't go well with the BDO big dogs

Taylor got along well with Potter IIRC.

Whereas Bristow and Croft loathed one another.

There were like Father and Son for a time. Olly Croft went to Eric Bristow's funeral

[PT13]

Just before Barney left the BDO, he also won the 2006 Dutch Open.

I suppose it was a bit embarrassing that Raymond and Sylvia van Barneveld went out of their way to get Eric Bristow at the 2006 Lakeside final (to equal 5), only for Barney to play below his usual standard and Klaasen punish him in the final.

Bristow wasn't really welcome there. It didn't go down too well & I recall Bobby George telling Bristow to behave

Bobby said "Behave!" after Eric said, following an awkward silence as Eric walked around "Here Bobby, you haven't had a decent dart player in this place for 13 years".

[PT13]

My earliest clear darts memory is the 1990 Embassy, although I was apparently watching even earlier. The location was both my mum's house and my maternal grandparents house. Taylor's semi final and final win that weekend especially stand out. Lazarenko only won 1 leg in the semi final. And then Taylor beat Bristow 6-1 in sets.

The 1992 Embassy final between Taylor and Gregory. At the time, we never ever thought that there could be such an amazing darts match ever again. The standard and drama for the time was off the charts. My grandad wasn't there with my mum, my nan and I, as he was off having a round of golf with some friends.

I've still got a VHS tape of 1993 Embassy quarter final and semi final BBC footage that I recorded at the time, along with Mr. Bean in Room 426 after it, which broadcast on ITV a month later. LOL. Some of this 1993 Embassy footage includes Dougie Donnelly mentioning the split about the 16 rebel players signing a World Darts Council statement.

Mr. Bean in Room 426. love it. It's possibe that I can find the Radio Times listings for the sessions you recorded in 1993. Would it have been the afternoon coverage that you recorded?

As I recall, I had two highlights programmes on that VHS tape before Mr. Bean in Room 426. The first involved highlights of two quarter final matches (Mike Gregory vs. Bobby George, John Lowe vs. Kevin Spiolek), and the second was semi final highlights (John Lowe vs. Bobby George, Alan Warriner vs. Steve Beaton). They were night programmes. Dougie Donnelly talking about the 16 rebels signing the World Darts Council statement was immediately after showing Lowe beating Spiolek, just as the first programme mentioned above was ending.

This listing would have been that semi-final highlights show. 11.20pm on BBC2.

Excellent

I was certainly watching Genesis of the Daleks on BBC2 at that time too, and the other Doctor Who stories broadcast.

[sennafan24]

Bristow wasn't really welcome there. It didn't go down too well & I recall Bobby George telling Bristow to behave

Bristow slagged off the final to the papers afterwards

Yep he did. Compared to Taylor's visit in 2001 this didn't go well with the BDO big dogs

Taylor got along well with Potter IIRC.

Whereas Bristow and Croft loathed one another.

There were like Father and Son for a time. Olly Croft went to Eric Bristow's funeral

Aye, the former was covered on the Blood On The Carpet documentary.

[sennafan24]

Just before Barney left the BDO, he also won the 2006 Dutch Open.

I suppose it was a bit embarrassing that Raymond and Sylvia van Barneveld went out of their way to get Eric Bristow at the 2006 Lakeside final (to equal 5), only for Barney to play below his usual standard and Klaasen punish him in the final.

Bristow wasn't really welcome there. It didn't go down too well & I recall Bobby George telling Bristow to behave

Bobby said "Behave!" after Eric said, following an awkward silence as Eric walked around "Here Bobby, you haven't had a decent dart player in this place for 13 years".

I can imagine Randall saying something similar today if he strolled into Ally Pally.

[PT13]

My theory is that when Taylor was at his best [05, 08-10], he was simply too good for RVB. But when Taylor was below his best [06-07], Barney was very close.

Is that an accurate read? Or was Barney's form in the 2000s fluctuate more than I am making out?

Barney's form did fluctuate. Taylor in 2006 won the World Championship, Premier League, World Series of Darts, World Matchplay, World Darts Trophy and World Grand Prix. Barney in 2006 won the International Darts League and UK Open. In their direct matchups in 2006, it was a 7-7 draw in their first Premier League meeting, 8-6 to Taylor in their second Premier League meeting, with Taylor going on to win the event. Barney beat Taylor 11-10 in the quarter finals of the UK Open and went on to win the tournament, Barney beat Taylor 4-3 in sets in the semi finals at the Las Vegas Desert Classic (but Barney lost 3-6 to Part in the final), while Taylor beat Barney 3-1 in sets in the Last 16 of the 2006 World Grand Prix and went on to win the tournament.

2006 Taylor was a very good Taylor for most of the year, even better than 2005 in my opinion.

Barney's form would fluctuate. Only in January-March 2007 and June-July 2007 would I say that Barney had the reputation of "He's the best player in the world at this very moment" and that being properly justified. I think June-July 2007 was the peak of that, when he was the reigning World Champion, Masters of Darts winner, UK Open champion (beat Taylor 11-4 in the quarter finals) and won the Las Vegas Desert Classic at a canter.

Barney mostly had struggles in form in the late months of 2007 and in mid 2008. By the 2008 World Matchplay, he was tinkering a lot with his darts, using ceramic darts, led Mardle 12-7 in the quarter final and ended up losing. At that point, Wade was definitely the second best player. After that, Barney took a break and didn't return until about a week before the 2008 World Grand Prix. Barney was now back in proper form again, and Wade wasn't playing as well as before. That dynamic went through into early 2009 or even mid 2009, but Wade had a better 2009 Premier League (and won it, after Taylor lost to King in the semi finals).

Fair points

I often link Taylor's performances in the 06 PDC Worlds in with 2005, as most of that event was played in Dec of 2005.

You are probably right about Taylor's 2006 being stronger than I make out though. It was 2007 where I specifically recall him struggling at times [MP and GP]. Sky's advertising for the GP that year was based around Taylor's lack of Sky TV trophies that year [he won the PL, but lost in the UK Open, MP, Desert Classic, and Worlds]

Barney also changed his darts in late 2006, which seemingly worked well for a while -

Barney, starting around September 2006, changed his darts and used the stacking technique that Taylor was using, with the darts in the board dipping downwards. Sid Waddell noted that Barney, unlike Taylor, sometimes mastered the understacker.

Before September 2006, Barney darts sat in the board more upwards than downwards.

When Taylor changed darts in 2008, he still didn't quite master the understacker, but his sidestacker was better than ever, and the thicker barrel also seemed to help the overstacker.

It's well known that Taylor was getting bored and ready to pack it in and wanted a new challenge, Hearn got Barney over to the PDC and the rest is history.

He flirted with retirement in early 2004 IIRC.

Taylor did retire, for 4 days. The final against Painter was on the night of 4 January 2004. Taylor was retired from 5-9 January 2004. Even when Taylor reversed his retirement, he took several months off. Taylor was clearly exhausted, and coming so close to going 2 years in a row without winning the World Championship was a nightmare.

Tommy Cox later gave insight into how distressing the 04 Painter final was for him.

Cameras also picked up Taylor lobbing a dart against the board in frustration during a break.

Taylor admitted that he almost broke down completely, composure wise, at 1-4 backstage. That's how bad he felt at the prospect of going 2 years in a row without winning the World Championship title. Tommy Cox's brother Eddie snapped Taylor's mind back into focus with the quip of "I don't hear any fat ladies singing, kidda". By the end, Taylor won in a sudden death leg, but had basically used up everything to the point that he retired for 4 days, and still took months off when he reversed his retirement.

Just before Barney left the BDO, he also won the 2006 Dutch Open.

I suppose it was a bit embarrassing that Raymond and Sylvia van Barneveld went out of their way to get Eric Bristow at the 2006 Lakeside final (to equal 5), only for Barney to play below his usual standard and Klaasen punish him in the final.

Bristow wasn't really welcome there. It didn't go down too well & I recall Bobby George telling Bristow to behave

Bristow slagged off the final to the papers afterwards

Some journalist asked Eric what he thought of the 2006 Lakeside final, and Eric said something like "It was amateur darts", which annoyed Olly and the BDO brass big time. Eric knew it would, of course.

Just before Barney left the BDO, he also won the 2006 Dutch Open.

I suppose it was a bit embarrassing that Raymond and Sylvia van Barneveld went out of their way to get Eric Bristow at the 2006 Lakeside final (to equal 5), only for Barney to play below his usual standard and Klaasen punish him in the final.

Bristow wasn't really welcome there. It didn't go down too well & I recall Bobby George telling Bristow to behave

Bristow slagged off the final to the papers afterwards

Yep he did. Compared to Taylor's visit in 2001 this didn't go well with the BDO big dogs

Taylor got along well with Potter IIRC.

Whereas Bristow and Croft loathed one another.

Olly and Lorna Croft were basically Eric Bristow's second parents. He had been as close to them as his own parents for years.

When John Lowe and Alan Evans would criticize Olly Croft even in the 1970s, Eric was the big Olly Croft defender. Lowe would ask things in the 1970s and 1980s like "Why are dart players losing money every time that we play in an international game?", "Why aren't dart players allow to wear personal sponsors on their shirts during tournaments?".

Even in the "Blood on the Carpet" documentary, Eric was asked about Olly and Lorna, and he said "I still go there a few times".

In Eric's autobiography, he commented on how stupid it was that the funerals of Leighton Rees and Lorna Croft clashed on the same day in June 2003. He decided to go to neither.

[Rogg]

Bristow in that video thumbnail has the 'doubt' face from that meme.

[sennafan24]

Aye, now you mention it I recall Sid often cited Barney's ability to understack the darts in early to mid 2006.

[sennafan24]

Even in the "Blood on the Carpet" documentary, Eric was asked about Olly and Lorna, and he said "I still go there a few times".

20 minutes in

Bristow says that they've only seen each other a few times since the split, and that Olly didn't make eye contact with him. I don't think they were friendly at all at that point.

[PT13]

It had a "parents disagree with son" vibe. Eric was a personality who enjoyed saying, to their faces and to everyone else, "We (the rebels) were right, you were wrong", and Olly would scowl like a disappointed dad, while Lorna would express sadness at Eric's behaviour towards their "family of darts". Olly even compared the rebels to children, and himself as a father who said no to their demands for more ice cream.

[sennafan24]

Bristow in that video thumbnail has the 'doubt' face from that meme.

[oche balboa]

In other news

It's 10 years ago today since that game between Martin Adams vs Glen Durrant

and 9 Years ago today since the last BDO Worlds Match on BBC. Scott Waites with a crappy joke to Bobby George at the end

[The Thorn]

In other news

It's 10 years ago today since that game between Martin Adams vs Glen Durrant

and 9 Years ago today since the last BDO Worlds Match on BBC. Scott Waites with a crappy joke to Bobby George at the end

Is it on video

The second one

[oche balboa]

1985 BDO World Championship - Day 6


Quarter Finals

John Lowe 4-2 Keith Deller
Cliff Lazarenko 4-0 Fred McMullan


Lowe vs Deller (Part match)



Deller Averaged 100 which wasn't done in the World Championships. Perhaps worth more on these boards. He lost to John Lowe. Tony Green is the sole commentator and gets excited when Deller checked out 164.




Deller vs Lowe match - Notice it doesn't mention his average or Lowe's



More about the match



Big Cliff fumes at the ref



Semi-Finals (Best of 9 sets)

Eric Bristow vs Dave Whitcombe
John Lowe vs Cliff Lazerenko

[Randall]

Well played john

[PT13]

In other news

It's 10 years ago today since that game between Martin Adams vs Glen Durrant

That was a brilliant match. Durrant was devastated at losing it.

and 9 Years ago today since the last BDO Worlds Match on BBC. Scott Waites with a crappy joke to Bobby George at the end

"If I pull your chain, will you flush?"

An embarrassing end to the BBC's coverage of the Embassy/Lakeside after nearly 40 years.

[oche balboa]

1985 BDO World Championship - Day 7

Semi Finals

Eric Bristow 5-2 Dave Whitcombe
John Lowe 5-3 Cliff Lazerenko



Bristow powers into the final



A big write up about the upcoming final, And where the money goes



Lowe doesn't think that the World Title is the most important title



Lowe makes astonishing attack on the sponsors




Matches on YouTube


Bristow vs Whitcombe (Full Match) - Bristow was awesome

No footage of John Lowe vs Cliff Lazerenko

[oche balboa]

1985 BDO World Championship - Final

Eric Bristow




VS

John Lowe




Route to the Final

Eric Bristow

Last 32 - Ken Summers 2-1 (86.46)
Last 16 - Willy Logie 3-0 (90.54)
Quarters - Alan Glazier 4-0 (91.71)
Semis - Dave Whitcombe 5-2 (99.66)

John Lowe

Last 32 - Terry O'Dea 2-1 (85.36)
Last 16 - John Cosnett 3-0 (84.54)
Quarters - Keith Deller 4-2 (98.09)
Semis - Cliff Lazerenko 5-3 (95.55)


Full Match on this link below




Will watch this later and provide some bits from comms etc.

[Randall]

Excellent thread oche
Really enjoyed it
Especially 85

[oche balboa]

Excellent thread oche
Really enjoyed it
Especially 85

Thank you Randall.