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BDO World Darts Championship

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BDO World Professional Darts Championship
Founded1978
First season1978
Ceased2020
Organising bodyBDO category Major
WDF category Major
CountryEngland
Venue(s)Indigo at The O2, London (2020)
Lakeside, Frimley Green (1986–2019)
Jollees, Stoke-on-Trent (1979–1985)
Heart of the Midlands, Nottingham (1978)
Last
champion(s)		Wales Wayne Warren (men's)
Japan Mikuru Suzuki (women's)
Republic of Ireland Keane Barry (youth)
(2020)
TV partner(s)Eurosport
Tournament formatSets

The BDO World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and held annually from 1978 to 2020.

The championship 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 to 2019, it was held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey. In 2020, the tournament was held at Indigo, part of the O2 entertainment district in London.[1]

It was the only World Darts Championship until the 1993 split in darts, when 16 players, among them seven former champions, left the BDO and set up a rival darts circuit under the auspices of the World Darts Council (later the Professional Darts Corporation). The WDC/PDC staged its own annual World Championship from 1994 onwards.

From its inception, the tournament was sponsored by Embassy cigarettes, a branch of Imperial Tobacco, and was thus often colloquially known as the Embassy.[2][3] After the ban on tobacco advertising in the UK, the event was sponsored by its venue, the Lakeside Country Club, from 2004 onwards.[4] The final edition, in 2020, was unable to find a sponsor.[5]

After the collapse of the British Darts Organisation in September 2020,[6] the World Darts Federation announced plans to launch the WDF World Darts Championship,[7] which took place for the first time in 2022.

History

[edit]

The World Darts Championship was the brainchild of Mike Watterson, a sports promoter who had created the UK Snooker Championship and moved the World Snooker Championship to the Crucible Theatre in 1977.[8][9] Watterson came up with the idea whilst sitting in a barber's chair waiting for a haircut. John Lowe, a friend of Watterson, convinced him that such an event would be easy to stage and suggested contacting Olly Croft, head of the British Darts Organisation, to run it.[8]

The inaugural event was staged at the Heart of the Midlands club in Nottingham. Embassy cigarettes, which also sponsored the World Snooker Championship, put up the £10,500 prize fund and it would be broadcast on BBC2.[8] Ten top players (Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Leighton Rees, Rab Smith, Alan Evans, Stefan Lord, Tim Brown, Bobby Semple, Nicky Virachkul and Barry Atkinson) were invited, with the remaining places going to qualifiers.[8] The first tournament used the legs format for its matches, but from 1979 onwards Watterson introduced the sets and legs format, which has been used in darts ever since.[9] It was won by Rees, who beat Lowe in the final.

In 1983, Keith Deller, a 23-year-old qualifier from Ipswich, beat the world's top three players back-to-back: John Lowe (world no. 3) in the quarter-final; reigning champion and World No. 2 Jocky Wilson in the semi-final, before an epic deciding set win against World no. 1 Eric Bristow in the final, to produce one of the greatest upsets in the sport's history.

In 1990 Singaporean (then-representing the USA) player Paul Lim hit the tournament's only 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 Phil Taylor 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. Van Barneveld then repeated the same final set scoreline the following year against Ronnie Baxter.

In the final in 2007 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.

In 2019, Glen Durrant became the second player to win three consecutive BDO Men's World Championships after Eric Bristow between 1984 and 1986, while Mikuru Suzuki became the first Asian world darts champion in any form.

In 2020 the tournament was staged at the Indigo at The O2 in London. It was the first BDO World Darts Championship not held at the Lakeside Country Club since 1985. Wayne Warren became the oldest player ever to win a world title. It was also the last World Darts Championship organised by the BDO before the collapse of the company.[6] The World Darts Federation announced plans to launch the WDF World Championship.[7]

Final results and statistics

[edit]
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 Heart of the Midlands Club,
Nottingham 		Embassy
1979 England John Lowe 87.42 5 – 0 sets Wales Leighton Rees 76.62 £15,000 £4,500 £2,000 Jollees,
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[10] £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) 94.35 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[11] £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
2017 England Glen Durrant 93.48 7 – 3 Netherlands Danny Noppert 93.30 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000
2018 England Glen Durrant (2) 93.97 7 – 6 England Mark McGeeney 86.31 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000
2019 England Glen Durrant (3) 95.19 7 – 3 England Scott Waites 91.38 £300,000 £100,000 £35,000
2020 Wales Wayne Warren 93.72 7 – 4 Wales Jim Williams 94.53 £164,000 £23,000 £10,000 Indigo at The O2, London BDO

Finalists

[edit]
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 Glen Durrant 3 0
England Scott Waites 2 1
England Ted Hankey 2 1
England Phil Taylor 2 0
Scotland Jocky Wilson 2 0
Wales Richie Burnett 1 2
Wales Leighton Rees 1 1
Wales Wayne Warren 1 0
England Stephen Bunting 1 0
England Scott Mitchell 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
Netherlands Danny Noppert 0 1
England Mark McGeeney 0 1
Wales Jim Williams 0 1

Nine-dart finish

[edit]
Player Year (+Round) Method Opponent Result
Singapore Paul Lim 1990, 2nd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Republic of Ireland Jack McKenna 3–2

Averages

[edit]

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.[citation needed]

Since the BDO Championship started in 1978, there have been 21 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 was not until Phil Taylor's semi-final of 1990 that another player managed a 100 average. Raymond van Barneveld has achieved the feat six times.[12]

Ten highest BDO World Championship one-match averages[13]
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
103.83 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2004, Quarter-Final England John Walton 5–1
102.63 England Dennis Priestley 1993, Last 32 Scotland Jocky Wilson 3–0
101.67 England Mervyn King 2002, Quarter-Final Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 5–3
101.55 England Ted Hankey 1998, Last 32 Australia Wayne Weening 3–0
101.40 Finland Marko Pusa 2001, Last 16 England Jez Porter 3–1
101.28 England Martin Adams 2002, Quarter-Final England Wayne Jones 5–1
101.10 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2002, Quarter-Final England Mervyn King 3–5
100.92 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2005, Last 16 Scotland Mike Veitch 3–1
100.92 England Glen Durrant 2018, Quarter-Final Wales Jim Williams 5–4
100.83 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2002, Last 32 England Bobby George 3–1
Five highest losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
101.10 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2002, Quarter-Final England Mervyn King 3–5
100.29 England Keith Deller 1985, Quarter-Final England John Lowe 2–4
99.87 England Glen Durrant 2015, Semi-Final England Martin Adams 5–6
99.57 Czech Republic Karel Sedláček 2015, Last 32 England Glen Durrant 1–3
99.45 England Robbie Widdows 1999, Last 32 England Kevin Painter 0–3
Different players with a 100+ match average - updated 6/5/18
Player Total Highest Av. Year (+ Round)
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 6 103.83 2004, Quarter-Final
England Martin Adams 3 101.28 2002, Quarter-Final
England Ted Hankey 2 101.55 1998, Last 32
England Dennis Priestley 1 102.63 1993, Last 32
England Mervyn King 1 101.67 2002, Quarter-Final
Finland Marko Pusa 1 101.40 2001, Last 32
England Glen Durrant 1 100.92 2018, Quarter-Final
England Phil Taylor 1 100.80 1990, Semi-Final
England Darryl Fitton 1 100.71 2008, Last 16
England Stephen Bunting 1 100.65 2014, Last 16
England John Walton 1 100.62 2001, Last 32
England Keith Deller 1 100.29 1985, Quarter-Final
England Chris Mason 1 100.02 2000, Last 32
Five highest tournament averages (min 3 matches)
Average Player Year
100.88 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2002
97.96 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2004
97.62 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2003
97.49 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2005
97.42 England Glen Durrant 2015

Women's Championship

[edit]

The women's World Championship started at the 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 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:[14]

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
2017 England Lisa Ashton (81.81) 3 – 0 Australia Corrine Hammond (73.53) £29,000
2018 England Lisa Ashton (89.80) 3 – 1 Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova (81.83) £29,000
2019 Japan Mikuru Suzuki (90.12) 3 – 0 England Lorraine Winstanley (78.82) £29,000
2020 Japan Mikuru Suzuki (83.39) 3 – 0 England Lisa Ashton (85.00) £20,500

Finalists

[edit]
Player 1st 2nd
England Trina Gulliver 10 2
England Lisa Ashton 4 2
Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova 3 1
Japan Mikuru Suzuki 2 0
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
Australia Corrine Hammond 0 1
England Lorraine Winstanley 0 1

Averages

[edit]
Ten highest BDO Women's World Championship one-match averages[15]
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
95.97 England Trina Gulliver 2006, Semi-Final England Clare Bywaters 2–0
94.92 England Trina Gulliver 2001, Semi-Final England Crissy Manley 2–0
90.24 England Trina Gulliver 2004, Semi-Final Netherlands Karin Krappen 2–0
90.18 England Lisa Ashton 2015, Quarter-Final England Trina Gulliver 2–0
90.12 Japan Mikuru Suzuki 2019, Final England Lorraine Winstanley 3–0
89.80 England Lisa Ashton 2018, Final Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova 3–1
89.67 England Fallon Sherrock 2019, Last 16 Australia Corrine Hammond 2–0
87.30 England Lisa Ashton 2015, Semi-Final Netherlands Sharon Prins 2–0
87.06 England Lisa Ashton 2017, Last 16 Netherlands Sharon Prins 2–0
87.03 England Trina Gulliver 2004, Final Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar 2–0
Five highest losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
86.46 Wales Rhian Griffiths 2017, Last 16 Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova 1–2
85.44 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar 2004, Final England Trina Gulliver 0–2
85.00 England Lisa Ashton 2020, Final Japan Mikuru Suzuki 0–3
83.76 England Fallon Sherrock 2015, Final England Lisa Ashton 1–3
82.95 Netherlands Francis Hoenselaar 2002, Final England Trina Gulliver 1–2
Five highest tournament averages (min 2 matches)
Average Player Year
89.45 England Trina Gulliver 2001
88.11 England Trina Gulliver 2004
85.61 England Lisa Ashton 2015
85.22 England Trina Gulliver 2006
83.86 England Lisa Ashton 2017

Youth Championship

[edit]
Year Champion (average in final) Sets Runner-up (average in final)
1986 England Mark Day 3 – 1 England Lee Woodrow
2015 Netherlands Colin Roelofs (76.41) 3 – 0 England Harry Ward (70.68)
2016 England Joshua Richardson (75.09) 3 – 2 Republic of Ireland Jordan Boyce (69.63)
2017 Netherlands Justin van Tergouw (88.20) 3 – 0 Scotland Nathan Girvan (74.55)
2018 Netherlands Justin van Tergouw (93.04) 3 – 1 Republic of Ireland Killian Heffernan (82.29)
2019 England Leighton Bennett (86.65) 3 – 0 Scotland Nathan Girvan (76.56)
2020 Republic of Ireland Keane Barry (90.54) 3 – 0 England Leighton Bennett (84.24)

Finalists

[edit]
Player 1st 2nd
Netherlands Justin van Tergouw 2 0
England Leighton Bennett 1 1
Netherlands Colin Roelofs 1 0
England Joshua Richardson 1 0
England Mark Day 1 0
Republic of Ireland Keane Barry 1 0
Scotland Nathan Girvan 0 2
England Harry Ward 0 1
Republic of Ireland Jordan Boyce 0 1
Republic of Ireland Killian Heffernan 0 1
England Lee Woodrow 0 1

Records

[edit]

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
Most finals: Eric Bristow 10. John Lowe appeared in eight finals and Raymond van Barneveld reached the final six times
Most appearances: Martin Adams 26. 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: Leighton Bennett 14 years 4 days (2020)
Oldest champion: Wayne Warren 57 years 219 days (2020)

Television coverage

[edit]

BBC Sport

[edit]

The tournament was broadcast in the UK by BBC Sport on television for nearly 40 years, from its inception in 1978 until the decision to drop the coverage after the 2016 tournament. The BBC's coverage was led by David Vine (1978), Peter Purves (1979–1983), Tony Gubba (1984–1990), David Icke (1989–1990), Eamonn Holmes (1991–1992), Dougie Donnelly (1993–1998), John Inverdale (2000) and Ray Stubbs (1999 and 2001–2009). Twice world finalist Bobby George was a pundit on the BBC's coverage from 1998. Colin Murray succeeded Stubbs as presenter from 2010–2016. Murray was assisted by Rob Walker.

Tony Green was the longest-serving member of the BBC commentary team, covering the event from the first championship in 1978 until the end of the BBC's coverage in 2016. As the BBC shared coverage and commentators from 2012 until 2016, Green was also heard on ESPN and BT Sport in later years. He only missed the event once during his 38-year career due to illness in 2011 and he was replaced by BBC Radio 5 Live's Vassos Alexander. Alexander then stayed in the commentary box every year until 2016.

The rest of the commentary team changed over the years with David Vine (1978), Sid Waddell (1978–1994), Tony Green (1978-2016), 1994 BDO world champion John Part (1995–2007) and David Croft who covered the tournament for 10 years on BBC TV and radio until 2012. He was replaced by Jim Proudfoot of talkSPORT in 2013, who went on to cover the tournament in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 with different broadcasters. John Rawling began commentating in 2014 with BBC/BT and was still part of the commentary team as coverage switched to Eurosport/Quest in 2019. The rest of the commentary team has included BDO players Bobby George, Martin Adams, Trina Gulliver, Tony O'Shea and Scott Mitchell.

For several years between 1989 and 2001, the Championship was often the only tournament shown on terrestrial television in the UK.

From 2005, viewers were able to see every dart live at the World Championship, when the BBC introduced interactive coverage on its BBC Red Button service.[16] From 2012, they began to reduce their coverage as they surrendered their exclusive coverage for the first time in the UK. ESPN took over the live broadcasting of the evening sessions,[17] although the BBC held on to exclusively live coverage of the final.

The BBC regained exclusive coverage for the 2014 tournament, but resumed a shared broadcasting agreement to cover the 2015 and 2016 events with BT who covered every evening session in the tournament. John Rawling, Vassos Alexander, Tony Green and George Riley provided the commentary for both broadcasters in 2015 and 2016 - Jim Proudfoot was an additional commentator in 2015.

The BBC contract expired after the 2016 final and they opted to drop the tournament, instead covering a new PDC tournament, the Champions League of Darts in September 2016. The free-to-air rights from 2017 were taken up by Channel 4.[18]

ESPN

[edit]

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.[19] 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.[19] 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.[19] Following the launch of BT Sport, which acquired all of ESPN's sporting rights, coverage was dropped from ESPN and the entire 2014 championship was shown exclusively live by the BBC.

BT Sport

[edit]

BT Sport covered the event between 2015 and 2018, first of all sharing broadcasting arrangements with the BBC in 2015 and 2016, then with Channel 4 in 2017 and 2018. They had exclusive live coverage of all the evening sessions, plus the second semi-final across their four years broadcasting the event. BT broadcast the final live in all four years of the coverage, although it was shared live coverage with their broadcast partners (BBC 2015-2016 and Channel 4 2017-2018)

BT Sport welcomed back Ray Stubbs as main host in 2015 and 2016, who returned to Lakeside coverage having fronted the BBC's coverage in 1999 and from 2001–2009 and also for ESPN (2012-2013). Stubbs hosted alongside 2-time champion Ted Hankey who returned to the BDO in 2014 but just missed out on a qualifying spot for Lakeside 2015. Roving reporters were Helen Skelton in 2015 and Reshmin Chowdhury in 2016. Commentators were shared by broadcasters during BT's four year coverage. John Rawling and Vassos Alexander broadcast commentary throughout BT's four-year coverage, Jim Proudfoot covered the event in 2015, 2017 and 2018. George Riley and Tony Green covered the event in 2015 and 2016, with Green retiring after the 2016 event, after the BBC ended their coverage.

Ray Stubbs left BT Sport for Talksport 2 during 2016, and was replaced by Matt Smith for the 2017 and 2018 events, with Chris Mason acting as their analyst.

Channel 4

[edit]

Channel 4 signed a two-year deal to cover the 2017 and 2018 championships, sharing the event with BT Sport. Their coverage was presented by Rob Walker, alongside PDC professional Paul Nicholson and BDO Ladies' player Deta Hedman. Bobby George presented features. Commentary was provided again from Jim Proudfoot, John Rawling & Vassos Alexander.

Eurosport and Quest

[edit]

Prior to the 2019 championship, the BDO secured a new 3-year deal with Eurosport with coverage being shown on both the broadcasters main subscription channel and free-to-air on Quest.[20] As with the previous years the afternoon sessions were shown free to air with Quest simulcasting Eurosport coverage with highlights of the evening sessions also being shown on Quest. Eurosport covered every session with both broadcasters showing the final live. The coverage was presented by Nat Coombs with Georgie Bingham also reporting on the event. Punditry and commentary for the tournament were provided by John Rawling, Chris Mason, Paul Nicholson, Martin Adams and Tony O'Shea. The Eurosport contract finished 1 year early due to the BDO going into liquidation in September 2020.

International coverage

[edit]

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.[21]

Viewing figures

[edit]

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

..
2015 2,000,000 [22]
2014 3,500,000 [23][24]
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

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Turner, Laura. "2020 World Professional Darts Championships - Venue Confirmation". British Darts Organisation. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  2. ^ "'THE EMBASSY' – THE TOURNAMENT THAT CHANGED DARTS FOREVER". patrickchaplin.com.
  3. ^ "Darts: Feeling good in game of change: Richard Edmondson reports from the World Championship on the upheaval facing darts". The Independent. 6 January 1993.
  4. ^ "Let's play darts". BBC. 29 December 2003.
  5. ^ "BDO World Championship prize fund decimated after puny ticket sales at new venue". The Metro. 30 December 2019.
  6. ^ a b "BDO era comes to an end as counties join UKDA". DartsNews.com. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Development of World Rankings Criteria For 2021 – WDF". World Darts Federation. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d Waddell, Dan (2017). We had some laughs. London: Corgi. pp. 114–116. ISBN 9780552172141.
  9. ^ a b Stead, Marcus (20 March 2019). "Mike Watterson obituary". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  10. ^ Prize fund included £52,000 bonus for Paul Lim's 9-dart finish
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Raymond van Barneveld 6 ton + averages". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  13. ^ dartsdatabase.co.uk Archived 19 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine; best winning averages
  14. ^ "Women's World Championship results". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  15. ^ dartsdatabase.co.uk Archived 20 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine; best winning averages
  16. ^ "Lakeside BDO Darts World Championship 2005 - review". 15 November 2006. Archived from the original on 15 November 2006.
  17. ^ BBC to split TV rights to darts coverage with ESPN guardian.co.uk
  18. ^ "Channel 4 takes over Darts coverage". www.a516digital.com. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  19. ^ a b c "ESPN and BBC collaborate to provide full coverage of Lakeside 2012 bdodarts.com". BDO Darts.
  20. ^ Menmuir, Ted (30 October 2018). "In time for Lakeside! BDO secures Eurosport as primary broadcaster". SBC News.
  21. ^ ROYAL CONGRATULATIONS FOR BARNEY World Darts Federation, January 2005
  22. ^ Matt, Monaghan. "INSIDE STORY: Charismatic players and rise in viewership makes darts a worldwide phenomenon". sport360.com. Sports 360, 1 June 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  23. ^ Devlin, Patricia (5 December 2015). "BBC gives BDO darts the boot after 40 years of coverage as budget cuts bite". Mirror Online. Reach. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  24. ^ Rumsby, Ben (19 January 2016). "BBC secures world snooker championship until 2019". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
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