Issue 8 (February 19, 2016)

Friday 19 February 2016

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

“The BBC has got a world class event” The PDC chairman Barry Hearn talks the new BBC deal and the future of the BDO

PHOTO: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Darts Weekly

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Friday 19 February 2016 Darts Weekly

Wright fights back to keep up winning start to 2016 season Peter Wright 7 James Wade 4 Peter Wright came from 3-1 down to beat James Wade 7-4 and move two points clear at the top of the Betway Premier League.

At the end of the third week of competition, Snakebite is the only player left with a perfect record having won all three of his games.

Wade made a quick start to the

opening clash at Dublin’s 3Arena, breaking the Wright throw in the first leg before going 3-1 in front.

Snakebite roared back with five legs on the spin to claim a point and go 6-3 up, with the killer blow being a superb 161 checkout in leg eight on the Wade throw.

The Machine kept his chances of a draw alive by winning leg 10, but Wright sealed the victory with a 15 dart leg on throw to win 7-4.

Van Gerwen’s four leg burst is crucial Michael van Gerwen 7 Adrian Lewis 4 Michael van Gerwen climbed into the Betway Premier League top four with a thrilling 7-4 win over previously-unbeaten Adrian Lewis.

The headline encounter in week three of the tournament began with MVG in red hot form, as he won in 13 and 12 darts to open up a 2-0 lead.

Lewis fought back immediately by breaking the van Gerwen throw in leg three, and then held to level the match at 2-2.

Legs five and six both went with throw as the match looked to be heading for a 6-6 draw, before Jackpot broke the Dutchman’s throw with a sublime 11 darter.

However, that would prove to be

as good as it got for the two-time world champion, as MVG won four legs on the spin to claim an impressive 7-4 victory.

After breaking back in leg eight with a 14 darter, the world number one held to move 5-4 up and then came the crucial moment when Lewis missed a dart at double 16 to level up at 5-5.

The 2013 Premier League winner stepped in to finish off an 11 dart leg to go 6-4 up, before holding throw in 14 darts to end the Stoke thrower’s winning start to the 2016 campaign.

“I really enjoyed the game,” van Gerwen said. “It was a really important game for both of us and I think I played well.

“I did enough to make sure my confidence keeps running.”

Bully Boy gets off the mark Dave Chisnall 6 Michael Smith 6 Michael Smith picked up his first point in the Betway Premier League as he drew 6-6 with Dave Chisnall last night.

Bully Boy had lost the first three

matches of his debut season in the Premier League, but ended that run with a share of the spoils against Chizzy in Dublin.

Early on it looked like Smith was on course for another defeat, as Chisnall raced into a 2-0 lead with 15 and 11 dart legs, before the

Premier League new boy responded by winning the next three legs in 14, 15 and 13 darts.

In a back and forth encounter Chizzy then went 4-3 up, before Smith broke throw in the 11th leg to go 6-5 up. Chisnall then hit back with an 11 darter to grab a point.

Darts Weekly Friday 19 February 2016

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Taylor marches on as holder Anderson remains pointless Phil Taylor 7 Gary Anderson 4 Phil Taylor made it back-to-back wins in the Betway Premier League with a 7-4 victory over defending champion Gary Anderson in Dublin last night.

The six-time Premier League champion won four of the last five legs to beat Anderson in the competition for the first time since

2012, and leaves the Flying Scotsman without a point from two games.

After the first seven legs all went with throw, Taylor produced the first break in leg eight before Anderson responded by breaking back with a 12 darter.

The Power then broke again in leg 10 to secure at least a point, with the victory sealed with an 18 darter on throw in the 11th leg.

Barney edges past the Thorn Robert Thornton 5 Raymond van Barneveld 7 Robert Thornton endured a losing return to action as he was edged out 7-5 by Raymond van Barneveld at the 3Arena last night.

The Thorn was back on Betway

Premier League duty after missing last week through illness, and came close to snatching a share of the spoils against Barney.

Van Barneveld made a flying start with a 116 checkout giving him an early break, before Thornton hit back by taking out

145 to reduce Barney’s lead to 3-2.

A 153 checkout in leg eight gave the Dutchman a 5-3 lead, with the Thorn hanging on in the 11th leg by hitting double 10 to force van Barneveld to throw for the match.

The 2014 champion defied a match dart to win 7-5.

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Friday 19 February 2016 Darts Weekly

BBC deal shows how far the PDC has progressed under the leadership of Hearn Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER It was an announcement which no one could have predicted. Last week the Professional Darts Corporation revealed they would be staging its first tournament live on the BBC later this year.

The Champions League of Darts will see the top eight players in the PDC do battle over two days at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff in September, with every dart being shown live on BBC2.

While the deal will see the PDC break new ground and be seen by a new audience, the knock-on effect was the broadcaster’s decision subsequently not to renew its contract with the British Darts Organisation.

The BBC has screened the BDO’s World Championship every year since its inception in 1978, but has now turned its attention to its rival organisation, the PDC. In an exclusive interview with Darts Weekly after we went to press last week, PDC chairman Barry Hearn talked us through the deal as well as what the future might hold for the BDO. “The BBC, you have to understand, are probably the most loyal broadcaster out there,” Hearn said. “They stick with things and they’ve stayed ever so loyal to the BDO for over 30 years.

“Their contract with the BDO was a very inexpensive sports rights deal for the BBC, so for that reason and coupled with their loyalty they stuck with it, and to be fair it did good numbers.

“But they all know darts is hot at the moment. It’s burning hot everywhere around the world right now. In my 42 years in this business I’ve never seen a sport like this explode at this level.

“I thought snooker in the 1980s was the biggest thing I was ever going to see. I thought boxing in

the 1990s, nothing gets close to it.

“The BBC want to show the very best and clearly they weren’t showing the very best, so I had a phone call from their head of sport to say ‘we’re not going to renew our BDO contract.’

“And at the same time ‘we’d like some darts. If you can come up with a world class event, we’ll come up with enough money to get it done’ and they did.”

Following the BetVictor World Matchplay in July, the top eight players on the PDC Order of Merit will be split into two groups of four to contest the BBC event.

After the completion of a roundrobin phase, the top two players from each group will progress to the semi finals, with £100,000 on offer to the eventual winner.

The total prize fund for the tournament is not yet known, but the hefty winner’s cheque suggests how serious both parties are about this new partnership.

“I think it’s a great compliment

"There’s a lot of people who don’t have Sky so this deal is a brilliant move” to the PDC that the BBC made this move,” Hearn said.

“I always got frustrated with the number of people I’d bump into on the street and I would ask them if they watched the darts, and their answer would be ‘yeah that Lakeside’s not bad is it?’

“There’s a lot of people out there who don’t subscribe to Sky and I think this deal is a brilliant move.

“The BBC will put this on with no red button. We’re going to get complete coverage, every dart for 16 hours on BBC 2, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon and Sunday night.

“We’re going to get a fresh looking team. We’re going to be in an arena which is going to be sold

out for every session with over 4,000 people, and we’re going to produce something for people who have never seen the PDC. “Hopefully they’ll enjoy what they see and if they want to see more they’ve got to tune into ITV and subscribe to Sky. “It’s good for everybody. The BBC gets a world class event and other broadcasters get the best advert for darts they can have.

“The perception of darts is so important when you’re talking to potential sponsors and broadcasters around the world, and the perception of the BBC still has a lot of clout on a global scale.”

All the talk away from the oche at the Lakeside Country Club last month revolved around whether the BBC would be renewing their contract with the BDO. As Scott Waites lifted his second world title no contract had been

Darts Weekly Friday 19 February 2016

5 On the rise: PDC chairman Barry Hearn has helped get the organisation its first deal with the BBC PICTURE: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

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signed, and many thought that the darts would be dropped as the broadcaster aims to cut down on its rights for sports events.

However, in what could turn out to be a fatal turn of events, the BBC has jumped ship with the PDC which leaves the BDO’s World Championship still without a television deal for next year.

“There is a place for the BDO,” Hearn admits. “There’s no question about that.

“But it has had the look of ‘The Wheeltappers and Shunters Club’ from the 1970s for too long.

“Today’s market is much younger than we’ve ever seen and it’s more mixed. There’s more women and more kids in the family enclosure.

“You have to move with the times and you have to show people that a sport has moved on, because nothing stays the same.

“In the digital media world we

live in its Facebook, Twitter, social networks are so important.

“Sport has to be entertainment these days, it’s not just sport. It has to be a mixture with personalities and that’s really why the PDC has exploded so much in the last 10 years.

“Sadly the BDO hasn’t and whilst

"I’m not criticising the BDO at all. I’m just saying they’ve had their time” there were many games that were good and there were many players who put on entertaining shows, most of them have moved over to the PDC. “In the same way a footballer would like to move from the Championship to the Premier League, it’s natural progression.

“I’m not criticising the BDO at all. I’m just saying they’ve had their time and the look of that show was irrelevant to today’s market.”

In late 2009, Hearn made an offer of a million pounds to buy the BDO in a bid to end the split between the two organisations.

In light of the BDO’s loss of television rights for its premier event, some rumours have circulated suggesting the two codes could be closer to coming together in the near future.

It is a rumour which Hearn quickly dismissed when asked if recent events may conjure up new discussions between the two.

“I offered them a way out a few years ago and they were quite disdainful,” he said.

“I don’t know what I was doing even giving them a way out to be honest because the game was over then.

“There will be no merger however. We’ve got one of the most fascinating, successful businesses that I could ever dream of, why on earth would I want to saddle myself with the BDO? “They are out of time. Now don’t get me wrong, they will find another broadcaster because darts at a level is attractive to broadcasters.

“I would think there’s three likely possibilities for them. BT I’m not sure about because I don’t think they would want to be seen to be showing poor standard in comparison to their rivals Sky. “Eurosport is quite possible because darts in Europe is getting huge. They may look at the BDO and go ‘well at least we can get some darts on and it won’t cost us a lot of money.’

“Maybe Channel 4 might look and think it’s quite quaint to go back to the old days.

“They will find someone but clearly they’ve lost the most significant one with the BBC.”

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Friday 19 February 2016 Darts Weekly

Five things we learned from the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters The PDC European Tour returned at the weekend with the Dutch Darts Masters in Venray. Alex Moss picks up the main talking points…

1. MVG determined to beat 2015 achievements in 2016 Michael van Gerwen picked up 18 trophies on the PDC tour last year.

We’re only into the middle of February and MVG has already picked up the winner’s cheque in three tournaments so far in 2016.

After such a dominant year on the circuit in 2015, some critics questioned whether van Gerwen would be able to replicate those achievements in 2016.

Based on the start he has made to the new season, the question is not whether he can match last year’s 18 trophy haul, but whether he can better it?

MVG was in imperious form in the final of the Dutch Masters on Sunday, averaging over 112 to beat Daryl Gurney 6-2 and make it a hat-trick of titles in his home nation. Will he return next year having surpassed the 18 trophy tally in 2016?

2. Gurney is starting to show his full potential Although the final against van Gerwen proved to be a step too far, Daryl Gurney was the breakout star of this year’s Dutch Masters.

The Northern Irishman reached his first European Tour final at the weekend and did it the hard way, beating Premier League stars Peter Wright and Adrian Lewis along the way.

Gurney averaged 105.18 as he came back from 4-1 down to beat Wright 6-4 in the last 16, and then backed up that performance by beating Lewis by the same scoreline in the quarter finals.

Again it was a ton plus average which won the game for Gurney, 106.84 was his average after beating Lewis in a game which also

of set six, before Anderson reeled off three straight legs to level the match once again.

Jackpot's jittery finishing in the seventh set proved costly as the defending champion moved into a 4-3 lead, and another whitewash set then gave Anderson a two-set cushion for the first time.

Lewis fought back in set nine, with a 121 checkout securing him the set in consecutive legs.

But Anderson then returned the favour in the 10th set to move to within one set of victory.

Jackpot would not give up and responded by taking the 11th set 3-0 to close the gap back to one

Vincent van der Voort on Tuesday night, and has set up an intriguing quarter-final clash with James Wade this afternoon.

The Machine has also only lost one set so far in the competition, despite having yet to show his best darts in wins over John Michael, Wes Newton and Jamie Caven.

With Wade yet to get over the semi-final hurdle at the World Championship, and with either Norris or Klaasen awaiting the winner tomorrow night, you feel that this is a big game for him.

Although Anderson has the far superior record against Wade, with

saw him hit a staggering nine 180s.

This won’t be the last final he gets to in 2016.

success has come during his time in the BDO, where he won the World Masters, International Darts League and Zuiderduin Masters, as well as reaching two Lakeside finals.

During his stint in the PDC he has reached four major finals, and you could argue he should have perhaps won them all.

King turns 50 this year and from his display at the Dutch Masters, there is clearly plenty of bark left in him yet.

A classy win over the world champion Gary Anderson in the second round set King on his way to the semi finals, but only after coming from 5-0 down to beat Benito van de Pas 6-5 in the quarter finals.

3. Glasses do the trick for Whitlock There was a new look for Simon Whitlock at the weekend, as the Aussie wore glasses while playing darts for the first time in front of the cameras.

It has been a tough few years for the wizard, as the two-time world finalist has slipped down to 18th in the rankings and also lost his Premier League place.

Whitlock followed in the footsteps of Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld by trying out the glasses, and based on his performances in Venray they look to have helped him.

A 100.51 average saw him edge past Ian White 6-4 in the second round, and after beating Jelle Klaasen 6-3 in the last 16, he eventually lost out 6-3 to Mensur Suljovic in the quarter finals.

4. Plenty of fight left in King When Mervyn King decides to put his darts down and call an end to his career, the tributes will all say he should have achieved more.

The majority of the King’s

5. Van de Pas is not the finished article yet Benito van de Pas will still be wondering how he did not at least reach the semi finals of this year’s Dutch Masters.

The 23-year-old broke into the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit last year, and an all-Dutch semi final against van Gerwen looked on the cards as he raced into a 5-0 lead against King, but he missed 10 match darts before going out 6-5.

Darts Weekly Friday 19 February 2016

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Impressive Noppert sails to victory in the Scottish Open Danny Noppert produced an excellent performance as he averaged over 100 to beat Dean Reynolds 6-0 and win the Scottish Open title.

The young Dutchman came through a field of more than 1,000 players at the Normandy Cosmopolitan Hotel in Renfrew at the weekend to pick up his first big title in the BDO. Noppert saw off two-time Lakeside champion Ted Hankey in the semi finals, with a 99.36 average helping him beat the Count 5-1 on Sunday evening.

The recent Dutch Open finalist took that form into the final, where he averaged 100.20 as he whitewashed Reynolds 6-0 to take home the £3,000 winner’s cheque.

After comfortably holding his throw in the first leg, Noppert posted two 14 dart legs to go 3-0 up and then took out a matchwinning 130 checkout on the bull to go 4-0 in front.

A 13 dart leg on his throw moved

in style

him to within one of victory, which he secured in the next leg by taking out 76 to be crowned champion.

Noppert was in good form as he dropped just one leg on route to the last 64, recording whitewash wins over David Hamilton, Bob McGovern and David Kiltie before beating Glen McGrandle 3-1.

The 26-year-old then picked up 4-1 victories against Dafydd Edwards, Neil Duff and Shaun Carroll, with a 5-0 triumph over Dave Parletti securing his place in the semi finals.

Elsewhere, Lorraine Winstanley reeled off three legs in a row to beat Deta Hedman 5-3 and win the Scottish Open Ladies title.

With the first five legs having all gone with throw, Hedman threatened the first break when she left 60, but Winstanley checked out 134 on double 16 to keep the final on throw.

Winstanley then won the next two legs to win her second Scottish Open and also end her 10 month

Champion: Danny Noppert trophy drought in the BDO. Earlier in the day, Glen Durrant and Martin Atkins beat Stephen Lennon and Michael Meaney 3-1 to win the Men’s Pairs title.

Claire Brooklin and Anne Marie Swindells edged out Hedman and Rachel Brooks 3-0 to lift the Ladies Pairs trophy.

Database PDC DUTCH DARTS MASTERS (legs) (Evenementenhal, Venray) Last 48 - Z Lerchbacher 5-6 J Richardson, R Edhouse 6-4 M Schindler, P Milford 5-6 R van Eijden, A Welge 0-6 J Lewis, K Thomas 6-3 J Dekker, D Van den Bergh 5-6 J Henderson, M De Decker 2-6 S Whitlock, R Green 4-6 R-J Rodriguez, K Painter 6-5 J Caven, J Artut 5-6 D Gurney, R Harrington 6-5 D Pallett, J Michael 0-6 S Bunting, D van Duijvenbode 3-6 G Price, M King 6-3 R Baxter, M Webster 6-2 J Wattimena, R Evans 5-6 D Petersen.

Last 32 - J Pipe 6-5 J Lewis, T Jenkins 6-1 J Richardson, B Dolan 4-6 D Gurney, M Suljovic 6-1 R-J Rodriguez, I White 4-6 S Whitlock, D Chisnall 6-3 K Thomas, J Wade 6-3 R Harrington, J Klaasen 6-4 K Painter, K Huybrechts 2-6 D Petersen, M Smith 6-3 G Price, M van Gerwen 6-3 J Henderson, G Anderson 4-6 M King, B van de Pas 6-2 M Webster, A Lewis 6-1 R van Eijden, P Wright 6-4 S Bunting.

Last 16 - M van Gerwen 6-3 J Pipe, D Chisnall 6-2 R Edhouse, D Petersen 2-6 M King, J Wade 1-6 B van de Pas, M Smith 5-6 M Suljovic, S Whitlock 6-3 J Klaasen, A Lewis 6-2 T Jenkins, P Wright 4-6 D

Gurney. Quarter finals - M van Gerwen 6-3 D Chisnall, M King 6-5 B van de Pas, M Suljovic 6-3 S Whitlock, A Lewis 4-6 D Gurney. Semi finals - M van Gerwen 6-2 M King, M Suljovic 1-6 D Gurney.

Final - M van Gerwen 6-2 D Gurney.

PDC CORAL UK OPEN RILEYS AMATEUR QUALIFIERS Sheffield - D Layden. South Benfleet S Rose.

PDC BETWAY PREMIER LEAGUE (legs) (3Arena, Dublin) Week three - P Wright 7-4 J Wade, D Chisnall 6-6 M Smith, P Taylor 7-4 G Anderson, M van Gerwen 7-4 A Lewis, R Thornton 5-7 R van Barneveld.

BDO SCOTTISH OPEN (legs) (Normandy Cosmopolitan Hotel, Renfrew) Last 32 - G Durrant 4-1 I Gleeson, B Kirk 2-4 M Razma, K Thoburn 1-4 D Carr, C Whitehead 4-2 P Jennings, J Williams 4-2 C Menzies, T Gregory 4-3 R Edwards, D Reynolds 4-3 E Hyslop, C Thompson 0-4

W Harms, J Hughes 4-0 J Eyre, T O’Shea 2-4 D Harbour, E Callander 1-4 T Hankey, M Meaney 2-4 S Mitchell, M McGeeney 3-4 S Carroll, D Noppert 4-1 N Duff, S Douglas 1-4 M Atkins, D Parletti 4-0 M Adams.

Last 16 - G Durrant 3-4 M Razma, D Carr 4-3 C Whitehead, J Williams 4-2 T Gregory, D Reynolds 4-2 W Harms, J Hughes 4-2 D Harbour, T Hankey 4-1 S Mitchell, S Carroll 1-4 D Noppert, M Atkins 2-4 D Parletti. Quarter finals - M Razma 2-5 D Carr, J Williams 1-5 D Reynolds, J Hughes 1-5 T Hankey, D Noppert 5-0 D Parletti. Semi finals - D Carr 1-5 D Reynolds, T Hankey 1-5 D Noppert.

Final - D Reynolds 0-6 D Noppert.

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Friday 19 February 2016 Darts Weekly

ANDREW DEVONSHIRE DARTS WRITER

Is there such a thing as the perfect dart?

Every dart player has their own distinctive throw. There are no two players that throw exactly in the same way, yet many of the players throw a very similar dart.

That dart more often than not tends to be a fairly long, slim barrel. Are these darts then the perfect darts to use?

If you want to hit a lot of 180s then yes, of course a slimmer barrel is going to aid this, with the potential of closer grouping of the darts.

If we look at players who use a thicker, shorter barrel then it’s obvious they do not hit as many 180s, but probably more 140s and they may well be more consistent.

They may also have a straighter throw because they have more grip of the dart, with it being shaped.

An example of a player who used this set up is John Lowe. John still throws the same thick barrelled dart on the exhibition circuit, and having studied his throw I found that he was one of the straightest throwers of a dart.

It’s no surprise that another very straight thrower is Steve Beaton, who again uses a thicker barrel.

So, when deliberating what type and style of dart to use, do you go for the possibility of hitting bigger scores, notably 180s, and put up with the odd stray or loose dart.

Or do you go for a thicker dart which is shaped for grip and have a more consistent throw, but maybe not get the big high scores?

It’s a tough question. Many players these days are changing their darts. Some admittedly through new sponsorship deals with different darts manufacturers,

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watch an evening of the Premier

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but some are changing for the sake of it. Does this work?

It certainly seems to be working for Peter Wright. Snakebite has changed to completely different styles, including slim and thicker barrels.

He says his throw adjusts to different conditions. For example, he says its completely different playing a floor event than it is being up on the stage at a TV event, and Peter is probably the only dart player to take this into

Switching arrows: Peter Wright has changed his equipment many times over the last few years in the PDC

‘Taylor has moved to a more shaped and thicker dart in recent times’ consideration and adapt accordingly.

So this got me thinking: can a player throw any style of dart and be successful?

How would John Lowe get on throwing a slim dart along the lines of those that are currently being used by Dave Chisnall and Adrian Lewis?

They are two players who are regarded among the best 180

hitters in the game. It would definitely be interesting to witness.

Phil Taylor has himself moved from the slim dart he used when he first started out to a more shaped and thicker dart in recent times, and it hasn’t affected his throw or standard.

But then again, Phil is just a freak, in the nicest possible sense, on the dartboard!

With new technology moving at a rapid pace, we are now seeing different types of grip being added to the longer, slimmer barrelled darts.

This gives the player more chance of having a more consistent straight throw, while still being the most effective design to those allimportant, crowd pleasing 180s.

So, if there is such a thing as the perfect dart then surely these new style darts fall into that category.

But at the end of the day, you need that talent and dedication to get the very best out of your chosen arrow. Happy darting!