BDO World Darts Championship

BDO World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Venue Lakeside (1986–)
Jollees (1979–1985)
Heart of the Midlands (1978)
Location Frimley Green, Surrey
Country England
Established 1978 (39th edition)
Organisation(s) BDO category Major / WDF category Major
Format Sets
Prize fund £300,000 (2016)
Month(s) Played January
Current champion(s)
England Scott Waites (men's)
England Trina Gulliver (women's)
England Josh Richardson (youth)

The BDO World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO). It began in 1978, and was the only world championship tournament up to and including 1993. Since 1994, following a dispute with the BDO and the subsequent fallout, a breakaway group (originally known as the World Darts Council, and now known as the Professional Darts Corporation) stages its own annual PDC World Championship, generally before the BDO version in late December and early January of each year.

The BDO version was first held at the Heart of the Midlands Nightclub in the English city of Nottingham. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From 1986, it has been held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey.

Highlights

In 1983, a 23-year-old qualifier from Ipswich, Keith Deller, beat the world's top 3 players including Eric Bristow in a memorable final to produce one of the greatest upsets in the sport's history.

In 1990 American player Paul Lim hit the tournament's only ever perfect 9-dart finish in the second round against Irishman Jack McKenna to win a bonus of £52,000 which was more than the eventual champion received.

The finals of 1992, 1998 and 1999 all went into a deciding set play off, having reached 5 sets all and 2 legs all. In 1992, Phil Taylor defeated Mike Gregory in a sudden death leg, having reached 5 legs apiece. In 1998 Raymond van Barneveld beat Richie Burnett 4–2 in legs in the deciding set. Raymond van Barneveld then repeated the same final set scoreline the following year against Ronnie Baxter.

Similarly, the final of 2007 was nailbiting. Martin Adams was 6 sets up, and after the comfort break, Phill Nixon responded by winning the next 6 consecutive sets. Adams held on to take victory in the 13th and deciding set, to win the title that had eluded him for 14 years.

Final Results and statistics

Year Champion Av. Score Runner-Up Av. Prize Money Venue Sponsor
Total Ch. R.-Up
1978 Wales Leighton Rees 92.40 11–7 legs England John Lowe 89.40 £10,500 £3,000 £1,700 HotMC, Nottingham Embassy
1979 England John Lowe 87.42 5–0 sets Wales Leighton Rees 76.62 £15,000 £4,500 £2,000 Jollees Cabaret Club,
Stoke-on-Trent
1980 England Eric Bristow 88.10 5–3 England Bobby George 86.49 £15,000 £4,500 £2,000
1981 England Eric Bristow (2) 86.10 5–3 England John Lowe 81.00 £23,300 £5,500 £2,500
1982 Scotland Jocky Wilson 88.10 5–3 England John Lowe 84.30 £28,000 £6,500 £3,000
1983 England Keith Deller 90.00 6–5 England Eric Bristow 93.90 £33,050 £8,000 £3,500
1984 England Eric Bristow (3) 97.50 7–1 England Dave Whitcombe 90.60 £38,500 £9,000 £4,000
1985 England Eric Bristow (4) 97.50 6–2 England John Lowe 93.12 £43,000 £10,000 £5,000
1986 England Eric Bristow (5) 94.47 6–0 England Dave Whitcombe 90.45 £52,500 £12,000 £6,000 Lakeside Country Club,
Frimley Green, Surrey
1987 England John Lowe (2) 90.63 6–4 England Eric Bristow 94.29 £60,300 £14,000 £7,000
1988 England Bob Anderson 92.70 6–4 England John Lowe 92.07 £71,600 £16,000 £8,000
1989 Scotland Jocky Wilson (2) 94.32 6–4 England Eric Bristow 90.66 £86,900 £20,000 £10,000
1990 England Phil Taylor 97.47 6–1 England Eric Bristow 93.00 £153,200[1] £24,000 £12,000
1991 England Dennis Priestley 92.57 6–0 England Eric Bristow 84.15 £110,500 £26,000 £13,000
1992 England Phil Taylor (2) 97.58 6–5 England Mike Gregory 94.42 £119,500 £28,000 £14,000
1993 England John Lowe (3) 83.97 6–3 England Alan Warriner 82.32 £128,500 £30,000 £15,000
1994 Canada John Part 82.44 6–0 England Bobby George 80.31 £136,100 £32,000 £16,000
1995 Wales Richie Burnett 93.63 6–3 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 91.23 £143,000 £34,000 £17,000
1996 England Steve Beaton 90.27 6–3 Wales Richie Burnett 88.05 £150,000 £36,000 £18,000
1997 Scotland Les Wallace 92.19 6–3 Wales Marshall James 92.01 £158,000 £38,000 £19,000
1998 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 93.96 6–5 Wales Richie Burnett 97.14 £166,000 £40,000 £20,000
1999 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (2) 94.65 6–5 England Ronnie Baxter 94.65 £174,000 £42,000 £21,000
2000 England Ted Hankey 92.40 6–0 England Ronnie Baxter 88.35 £182,000 £44,000 £22,000
2001 England John Walton 95.55 6–2 England Ted Hankey 94.86 £189,000 £46,000 £23,000
2002 Australia Tony David 93.57 6–4 England Mervyn King 89.67 £197,000 £48,000 £24,000
2003 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (3) 94.86 6–3 Wales Ritchie Davies 90.66 £205,000 £50,000 £25,000
2004 England Andy Fordham 97.08 6–3 England Mervyn King 91.02 £201,000 £50,000 £25,000 Lakeside
Country
Club
2005 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld (4) 96.78 6–2 England Martin Adams 91.35 £201,000 £50,000 £25,000
2006 Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 90.42 7–5 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 93.06 £211,000[2] £60,000 £25,000
2007 England Martin Adams 90.30 7–6 England Phill Nixon 87.09 £226,000 £70,000 £30,000
2008 Wales Mark Webster 92.07 7–5 Australia Simon Whitlock 93.92 £246,000 £85,000 £30,000
2009 England Ted Hankey (2) 91.46 7–6 England Tony O'Shea 90.54 £256,000 £95,000 £30,000
2010 England Martin Adams (2) 95.01 7–5 England Dave Chisnall 93.42 £261,000 £100,000 £30,000
2011 England Martin Adams (3) 92.13 7–5 England Dean Winstanley 89.08 £261,000 £100,000 £30,000
2012 Netherlands Christian Kist 90.00 7–5 England Tony O'Shea 87.78 £258,000 £100,000 £30,000
2013 England Scott Waites 86.43 7–1 England Tony O'Shea 81.90 £261,000 £100,000 £30,000
2014 England Stephen Bunting 96.18 7–4 England Alan Norris 92.19 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000
2015 England Scott Mitchell 92.61 7–6 England Martin Adams 92.55 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000
2016 England Scott Waites (2) 87.54 7–1 Canada Jeff Smith 84.99 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000

Finalists

Player 1st 2nd
England Eric Bristow 5 5
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 4 2
England John Lowe 3 5
England Martin Adams 3 2
England Ted Hankey 2 1
England Phil Taylor 2 0
England Scott Waites 2 0
Scotland Jocky Wilson 2 0
Wales Richie Burnett 1 2
Wales Leighton Rees 1 1
England Stephen Bunting 1 0
Netherlands Christian Kist 1 0
Wales Mark Webster 1 0
England Keith Deller 1 0
Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 1 0
England Andy Fordham 1 0
Australia Tony David 1 0
England John Walton 1 0
Scotland Les Wallace 1 0
England Steve Beaton 1 0
Canada John Part 1 0
England Dennis Priestley 1 0
England Bob Anderson 1 0
England Tony O'Shea 0 3
England Ronnie Baxter 0 2
England Mervyn King 0 2
England Dave Whitcombe 0 2
England Bobby George 0 2
England Alan Norris 0 1
England Dave Chisnall 0 1
England Dean Winstanley 0 1
Wales Ritchie Davies 0 1
Australia Simon Whitlock 0 1
England Phill Nixon 0 1
Wales Marshall James 0 1
England Mike Gregory 0 1
England Alan Warriner 0 1
Canada Jeff Smith 0 1

Nine-dart Finishes

Player Year Round Result Opponent
United States Paul Lim 1990 Second round Won Republic of Ireland Jack McKenna

Women's Championship

The women's World Championship started at Lakeside in 2001 and Trina Gulliver has won ten championships. Her seventh title in 2007 took her overall record at the Lakeside to 20 match wins and having only dropped four sets in the history of the championship – one each in the finals of 2001, 2002 and 2007 and one in the quarter final of 2003. She managed a long run of 13 consecutive matches without dropping a single set, which started the semi-final of 2003 and ended in the final of 2007.

In 2008, Anastasia Dobromyslova won the World Championship, becoming the first player other than Trina Gulliver to take the title. Following her appearance at the Grand Slam of Darts in November 2008, Anastasia Dobromyslova joined the Professional Darts Corporation, hence leaving the BDO and did not defend her title. 2009 saw five-time runner-up Francis Hoenselaar complete the Masters/World Championship double by beating Gulliver 2–1 in the final. 2012 was the first final without Gulliver, who lost in the semi-final to the eventual champion Dobromyslova.

The finals:[3]

Year Champion (average in final) Sets Runner-Up (average in final) Prizepool
2001 England Trina Gulliver (83.97) 2–1 England Mandy Solomons (79.11) £6,000
2002 England Trina Gulliver (84.36) 2–1 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar (82.95) £8,000
2003 England Trina Gulliver (84.93) 2–0 Scotland Anne Kirk (70.20) £10,000
2004 England Trina Gulliver (87.03) 2–0 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar (85.44) £10,000
2005 England Trina Gulliver (79.68) 2–0 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar (73.89) £10,000
2006 England Trina Gulliver (73.80) 2–0 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar (70.26) £12,000
2007 England Trina Gulliver (80.61) 2–1 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar (79.23) £12,000
2008 Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova (81.54) 2–0 England Trina Gulliver (71.64) £12,000
2009 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar (77.39) 2–1 England Trina Gulliver (75.19) £12,000
2010 England Trina Gulliver (80.52) 2–0 Wales Rhian Edwards (68.25) £12,000
2011 England Trina Gulliver (73.95) 2–0 Wales Rhian Edwards (73.86) £16,000
2012 Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova (73.95) 2–1 England Deta Hedman (74.13) £16,000
2013 Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova (82.29) 2–1 England Lisa Ashton (80.40) £16,000
2014 England Lisa Ashton (84.81) 3–2 England Deta Hedman (77.79) £29,000
2015 England Lisa Ashton (83.22) 3–1 England Fallon Sherrock (83.76) £29,000
2016 England Trina Gulliver (72.93) 3–2 England Deta Hedman (75.51) £29,000

Finalists

Player 1st 2nd
England Trina Gulliver 10 2
Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova 3 0
England Lisa Ashton 2 1
Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar 1 5
England Deta Hedman 0 3
Wales Rhian Edwards 0 2
England Mandy Solomons 0 1
Scotland Anne Kirk 0 1
England Fallon Sherrock 0 1

Records

Since the split in darts two versions of the world championship have existed since 1994, this record section relates specifically to achievements in the BDO version.

Most titles: Eric Bristow 5. Raymond van Barneveld has won four titles (plus one PDC world championship). Phil Taylor won this title twice, but has added fourteen PDC World Championships to his haul
Most finals: Eric Bristow 10. John Lowe appeared in eight finals and Raymond van Barneveld reached the final six times (eight finals when combining BDO and PDC totals). Phil Taylor has appeared in 20 world finals when combining PDC and BDO totals
Most appearances: Martin Adams 21. John Lowe and Eric Bristow appeared in the first 16 tournaments, but the split in darts prevented them from increasing that total. Adams' appearance at the 2010 tournament surpassed their record.
Youngest champion: Jelle Klaasen 21 years 90 days (2006)
Youngest competitor: Michael van Gerwen 17 years 257 days (2007)
Oldest champion: Martin Adams 54 years 224 days (2011)

Averages

Since the breakaway of the PDC players, there has been much debate about the relative merits of the players within each organisation. The debate often focuses on the three-dart averages of players in matches.

Since the BDO Championship started in 1978, there have been 20 occasions where a player has achieved a three-dart average in excess of 100 during a match. Keith Deller was the first player to achieve an average of 100, in the quarter-final of 1985 against John Lowe, although he lost the match. It wasn't until Phil Taylor's semi-final of 1990 that another player managed a 100 average. Raymond van Barneveld has achieved the feat six times.[4]

Highest one-match averages:[5]

  1. 103.83 Raymond van Barneveld (2004, Quarter-Final) v John Walton
  2. 102.63 Dennis Priestley (1993, 1st Round) v Jocky Wilson
  3. 101.67 Mervyn King (2002, Quarter-Final) v Raymond van Barneveld
  4. 101.55 Ted Hankey (1998, 1st Round) v Wayne Weening
  5. 101.40 Marko Pusa (2001, 2nd Round) v Jez Porter
  6. 101.28 Martin Adams (2002, Quarter-Final) v Wayne Jones

Television coverage

BBC Sport

The tournament has been broadcast in the UK by BBC Sport on television every year since its inception in 1978-2016. The BBC's coverage has been fronted by David Vine (1978), Peter Purves (1979–1983), Tony Gubba (1984–1990), Eamonn Holmes (1991–1992), Dougie Donnelly (1993–1998), John Inverdale (1999–2000) and Ray Stubbs (1999 and 2001–2009). Twice world finalist Bobby George has been a pundit on the BBC's coverage since 1998. Colin Murray succeeded Stubbs as presenter from 2010-2016, as Stubbs had left the BBC at that time. Murray has been assisted by Rob Walker since the 2009 World Masters. Walker is more well known as the MC for the BBC's snooker coverage.

The commentary team has changed over the years with David Vine (1978), Sid Waddell (1978–1994), 1994 BDO world champion John Part (1995–2007) and David Croft who covered the tournament for 10 years on BBC TV and Radio as previous broadcasters until 2012 when he moved to Sky to cover F1. Tony Green is the longest-serving member of the BBC commentary team covering every event from the first championship in 1978, but missed the event for the first time due to illness in 2011. The replacement for Green in 2011 was BBC Radio 5 Live and Chris Evans Sports Newsreader Vassos Alexander who stayed in the commentary box in every year since and Jim Proudfoot of talksport replaced Croft in 2013. Other commentators in 2014 was John Rawling who commentated on darts for ITV and BBC Radio 5 Live and Scott Mitchell who played in the tournament and commentated on the later stages. Bobby George, Martin Adams, Trina Gulliver, Tony O'Shea and other BDO players also handle commentary duties.

Between 1989 and 2001, the Championship was the only tournament shown on terrestrial television in the UK in some years. The BBC covered the Unipart European Masters in 1995, while ITV covered four WDC UK Matchplay tournaments from 1993–1996 on quadro dart boards, as well as the 'Clash of the Titans' one-off encounter between the two world champions, Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld, in 1999. However it wasn't until 2005 that viewers were able to see every dart live at the World Championship, when the BBC introduced interactive coverage on its BBC Red Button service.[6] The BBC's contract to cover the tournament ran until 2013,[7] however they have reduced their coverage from the 2012 event and no longer have exclusive coverage in the UK. ESPN now broadcast the evening sessions live,[8] with the BBC still showing the final exclusively live.

On 6 January 2013, it was announced the BBC had signed a 3-year deal to show the Lakeside World Championships from 2014-2016, on 4 December 2013 it was announced the BBC will show the tournament exclusively in Britain for 2014 which they did from 1978-2011 with ESPN (now owned by BT Sport) dropping darts. This means every dart will be shown live on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Red Button, BBC Website and the BBC i-player. It was also announced the coverage would still be presented by Colin Murray and Bobby George, which it has been since 2010 despite Colin Murray leaving Match of the Day 2 and BBC Radio 5 Live to move to Talksport. However, in late 2014 it was announced that BT would cover every evening session in the tournament in the 2015 tournament; this means the BBC Red Button coverage again comes to an end, the BBC will have live afternoon darts coverage every day with coverage of the first men's semi final, the women's final and shared coverage of the men's final while BT Sport will have coverage of every evening session and shared coverage of the final. For 2015 the commentators were John Rawling, Jim Proudfoot, Vassos Alexander, Tony Green and George Riley and for 2016 the commentators were John Rawling, Vassos Alexander, Tony Green and George Riley. The BBC contract expired after the 2016 Final and the BBC opted to drop the tournament instead covering a new PDC tournament the Champions League of Darts in September 2016. It is unknown who will broadcast the event in 2017.

The BDO World Darts Championships continues to have the largest single audience viewing figures for a televised darts event in the UK.[9] The event is broadcast on terrestrial television, with the PDC version being exclusive to a satellite broadcaster: BSkyB's Sky Sports channel.

UK viewing figures for World Championship final data provided by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board UK.

2015 2,570,000 [10]
2014 2,500,000
2013 2,100,000
2012 2,370,000
2011 2,330,000
2010 3,100,000
2009 1,830,000
2008 3,010,000
2007 3,300,000
2006 3,620,000
2005 2,550,000
2004 3,410,000
2003 2,810,000
2002 2,460,000
2001 3,680,000
2000 3,700,000
1999 4,060,000

BBC Darts Team

Former BBC Darts Team:

ESPN

After being broadcast exclusively on the BBC in the UK for 34 years, ESPN began sharing coverage of the tournament in 2012. Ray Stubbs was confirmed as their host, returning to the Lakeside as a broadcaster, over two years after leaving the BBC.[11] ESPN host Nat Coombs was also part of the presentation team. Both broadcasters used the same commentary team – Tony Green, David Croft and Vassos Alexander for 2012 and Jim Proudfoot replacing Croft for 2013.[11] ESPN broadcast the evening sessions from the opening day until the quarter finals, as well as the second semi-final live. ESPN showed recorded highlights of the final.[11] Following the launch of BT Sport, which acquired all of ESPN's sporting rights, coverage was dropped from ESPN and the entire 2014 Championships was shown exclusively live by the BBC.

BT Sport

In 2014 it was announced that the coverage would be shared between the BBC and BT Sport for the 2015 tournament. BBC will have live coverage of the afternoon sessions, live coverage of the 1st men's semi final and the women's final. While BT Sport will have coverage of every evening session and live coverage of the 2nd men's semi final. Both broadcasters will share coverage of the final. Ray Stubbs will again host the tournament after hosting for the BBC from 2001-2009 and ESPN between 2012-2013, he hosted alongside 2 times champion Ted Hankey who returned to the BDO in 2014 but just missed out on a qualifying spot for Lakeside 2015 while Helen Skelton was roving reporter and both broadcasters shared commentary which was provided by John Rawling, Jim Proudfoot, Vassos Alexander, Tony Green and George Riley. For 2016 Ray Stubbs presented alongside Ted Hankey, Tony O'Shea or Scott Mitchell with commentary by John Rawling, Vassos Alexander, Tony Green and George Riley and roving reporter was Reshmin Chowdhury. After the 2016 the joint BBC / BT Sport deal expired and BBC Sport dropped their coverage instead deciding to cover the PDC Champions League of Darts in September 2016 and BT Sport have yet to make a decision to cover the tournament exclusively or not.

International coverage

International coverage of the event has increased through the years. Dutch television station SBS6 broadcast the event since 1998, as Dutch players have become more prominent in the world game. SBS6's contract to cover the event ran until 2008.[12]

References

  1. Prize fund included £52,000 bonus for Paul Lim's 9-dart finish
  2. From 2006, the £52,000 bonus for a 9-dart finish was included as part of the published prize fund, regardless of whether any player managed to achieve the feat. This table does not include that.
  3. "Women's World Championship results". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  4. "Raymond van Barneveld 6 ton + averages". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  5. "Highest One Match Averages". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20061115130953/http://pluto.spaceports.com/~mot/darts/bdowc2005.htm
  7. BBC extends Lakeside darts deal BBC, 3 September 2009
  8. BBC to split TV rights to darts coverage with ESPN guardian.co.uk
  9. Broadcasters Audience Research Board BARB GB
  10. "Weekly Viewing Data". http://www.barb.co.uk/. Braodcasting Audience Research Board (BARB). Retrieved 9 January 2016. External link in |website= (help)
  11. 1 2 3 ESPN and BBC collaborate to provide full coverage of Lakeside 2012 bdodarts.com
  12. ROYAL CONGRATULATIONS FOR BARNEY World Darts Federation, January 2005

External links

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