From smoky nightclubs in the 1980s to sold-out arenas today, the sport keeps rising because it makes for compelling viewingForty years ago this month, at the height of darts’ first great tungsten rush, Jocky Wilson left Jollees nightclub in Stoke clutching a world title and a cheque for £6,500 – about £26,000 in today’s money. It is a measure of the sport’s renewed popularity that whoever lifts the PDC World Championship trophy on Monday night will pocket £500,000.And while the final ‘Oi, Oi, Ois’ are yet to ring out across Alexandra Palace, it is already safe to hail this year’s tournament as a vintage edition. When Michael Smith outpowered Jonny Clayton in a last 16 final-set tiebreak it was instantly...
After restrictions at Alexandra Palace in 2020, defending champion Price could face Fallon Sherrock in a tough drawIt is the little things that remind us Christmas is just around the corner. The songs on the radio, the plethora of Christmas jumpers … and the sight of thousands of lager-fuelled darts fans descending upon Alexandra Palace in north London for the start of the PDC World Darts Championship.Few moments on the sporting calendar signify the start of the festive period quite like the darts, and throughout the period of sport being played behind closed doors, few events felt quite as hollow as darts’ biggest tournament of the year did 12 months ago. Continue reading...
This week’s roundup also features Roma riffing on Barcelona’s pain, Hearts’ advert for a Lego bus and Jackman v Warne1) Grand National weekend makes it obligatory to begin with Red Rum. Here’s his lesser watched 1974 triumph, the second of three, when carrying top weight; he became the first horse since Reynoldstown in 1936 to win in consecutive years. In that classic vein, here’s Foinavon from 1967 and Aldaniti from 1981. And here’s AP McCoy recalling the 2010 race, which he won on Don’t Push It; it was his 15th attempt at so doing. Going back through the decades, here’s Comply Or Die winning in 2008, Earth Summit in 1998, Rhyme ‘N’ Reason in 1988 and Lucius in 1978, after...
Before the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards on Sunday celebrate the best of 2017, here are our anti-heroes from the sporting world this yearThe retiring Taylor’s last year on the PDC circuit has not been without incident. There has of course been sporting success, including a 16th World Matchplay title, but also controversy, much of it centred on the Grand Slam of Darts, where he lost in the semi-finals to Michael van Gerwen. During that match the players were seen in heated discussion as they left the stage for a break. Later the victor was asked what had happened, and recounted a frankly not enormously interesting conversation. “He came to me: ‘You shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do...
After almost three decades as the biggest name in darts, Phil Taylor will bring the curtain down on an eventful career after the world championshipsSoon there will be no more throat-rattling oneunrenahnnehhteees bellowed in his honour, or match-winning doubles boozily lauded by the loaded. Instead, after this year’s world darts championship, which begins on Thursday, the Power will finally turn out the lights.For almost three decades Phil Taylor has been as immutable as death and taxes. The first of his 16 world titles came in 1990, when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and with Alex Ferguson on the brink of getting sacked at Manchester United. It is not inconceivable that the last could come on New Year’s Day, with Taylor now...