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Professional Darts Corporation

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The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation, established in the United Kingdom during 1992 which split from the officially-recognised British Darts Organisation. Barry Hearn, a long-time established sports promoter is its current chairman.

Its events are televised by the Sky Sports satellite television channel primarily to viewers in Great Britain and Ireland, with countries including Australia, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa and United States also broadcasting coverage.

The Corporation developed and holds several championship competitions including its own annual World Professional Darts Championship.

History

Professionally, darts in Britain had haemorrhaged sponsors and declined from the television screens leaving the yearly British Darts Organisation (BDO) World Championship (commonly referred to as The Embassy or more recently as the Lakeside) as the only televised event.

Some of the players felt that not enough was being done to encourage new sponsors into their sport and television coverage should be greater than just one event a year. As a result, 16 professional players, among them Bob Anderson (darts player), Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Phil Taylor, and Jocky Wilson, left to form their own darts organisation originally named the World Darts Council (WDC) in January 1992.

This caused a great spilt in the game of darts and initially any member of the new organisation was excluded from all British Darts Organisation events. A protracted legal process between the two bodies ensued before an out-of-court settlement was reached some years later in the form of the Tomlin Order.

The World Darts Council had to drop the World description from its name, thus creating the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in 1997.

Standing

Opinion is split as to which is the most prestigious title to win. The prize money is far greater in the PDC World Championship and the field contains probably more than half of the best players in the world. However the British Darts Organisation title has been in existence since 1978 and is arguably better known to the UK public due to its coverage on the BBC. In terms of numbers of TV viewers in the UK the BDO final usually attracts 3 to 4 million viewers, whereas the PDC final (broadcast only on pay to view Sky Sports channels) attracts just under 1 million viewers.

Nevertheless, a good number professionals such as Ronnie Baxter, Roland Scholten, Richie Burnett, Wayne Mardle, Chris Mason, Kevin Painter and more recently Raymond van Barneveld have switched to the Professional Darts Corporation. The PDC event has been dominated by Phil "The Power" Taylor, probably the best player of all time who has amassed an incredible 13 world championship titles to date (11 in the PDC, with 2 in the BDO before the split).

Television coverage

Following its first televised event in 1992 (the Lada UK Masters on Anglia Television), satellite broadcaster Sky Sports signed a deal to exclusively cover three PDC tournaments each year. To capitalise on its investment, the channel introduced a number of new techniques to make the coverage more interesting for armchair fans.

Unlike the British Darts Organisation, whose events are covered via the general entertainment BBC Two channel, Sky's dedicated sports channel allowed the PDC matches to be covered in their entirety. Over ten hours per day of live darting action on Sky Sports is not uncommon. The British Darts Organisation's events were more limited to selected matches and highlights, although in recent years the BBC has increased its interactive TV coverage allowing viewers to see many more events live.

Currently Sky Sports broadcast six tournaments live each year, whereas the BBC only broadcast two.

Cameras

Sky Sports introduced more cameras to cover the sport, and many of these innovations have been copied by other broadcasters.

Unique flight cams show the trajectory of the dart through the air in slow motion to sometimes surprising results. A tiny camera would also be inserted into the dartboard itself beside the number 16 - one of the most common doubles - that would show the darts being thrown towards the board. Sky Sports would even go as far as having a player cam; a tiny camera was fitted to Dennis Priestley's shirt to capture his view of the action while playing!

Elsewhere, floating video cameras would capture the action of the watching crowds. Crowds would become far more animated and vocal, similar to a football atmosphere whilst holding up humorous placards regarding the players. Some supporters even wear face paint or dress up as their favourite player via their trademark attire or customary nickname.

The players' wives would be focus for the camera also, as they cheered or screeched on their husbands. In January 2005, Sky One commissioned a programme entitled Darts Players Wives, primarily focusing on the wives and their relationships.

Commentators

Long-time BBC darts commentator Sid Waddell switched allegiances to Sky, bringing his own unique brand of commentary to the game. John Gwynne and Dave Lanning are the other commentators who have covered all PDC events from the inaugural 1992 competition, with Stuart Pyke joining the team in 2003.

Oddly, regular Professional Darts Corporation player John Part currently provides commentary for the BDO World Championship covered by the BBC. However, in later years, as he progressed further in the PDC event (winning it in 2003), he still joins the BBC coverage midway through the PDC event because the tournaments often overlap each other.

Image

The PDC sought to attract a younger audience of both sexes for darts. Through the years, it was not uncommon to see politicians, musicians, football players, boxers and other sporting personalities attending their events. The British Darts Organisation would subsequently seek to emulate most of these innovations.

Players would enter matches with their own signature theme music whilst flanked by security men and female valets down to the oche. A "big-time" atmosphere was also created by using smoke machines and pyrotechnics during these sometimes elaborate entrances, similar to that used in boxing or wrestling.

At the oche, players would only sip iced water during matches. Though this was intended to further the game's image which had been tarnished by players' reputation for consuming large quantities of alcohol, the water was however required to prevent dehydration. With the many lights and tightly-compressed crowds, temperatures would be measured at over 100 degree fahrenheit during some games.

Inside the venues, action would be relayed via giant video screens for the large crowds. The BDO now has also video screens, while maintaining their traditional "light boards" of lightbulbs, showing where each dart lands for the benefit of the crowd.

Nicknames

A few darts players always had their own nicknames but it was now customary for every player on the Professional Darts Corporation circuit to acquire a sobriquet. This was likely to create a new generation of characters with which its audience could identify.

Jamie Harvey from Scotland became "Bravedart" - a play on words from Mel Gibson's Braveheart film. Sky Sports even filmed vignettes where a kilt wearing Jamie had his face painted blue and ran through woods throwing his darts whilst looking menacing.

As the only player to wear a shirt, tie and waistcoat whilst playing, Rod Harrington's "Prince of Style" tag appeared apt

Though originally from the BDO circuit, Wayne Mardle is known as "Hawaii Five-O-One" due to his colourful Hawaiian shirts (a play on words on Hawaii Five-O and the starting score in a leg of darts).

Bob Anderson, now living in Clevedon in Somerset, is known as The Limestone Cowboy, after the limestone hills of Wiltshire where Bob used to live, and the fact that he enjoys Country and Western music. This was once taken even further, with Anderson once riding to the stage on a horse.Bob Anderson's Official Website

Tournaments

The Professional Darts Corporation currently has increased its annual televised tournaments to six different events: The Premier League, Las Vegas Desert Classic, UK Open, World Grand Prix, World Championship and World Matchplay are all covered live via Sky Sports.

UK Open

The UK Open (nicknamed The FA Cup of darts due to te fact that the minnows can come up against the big boys) is an innovative event where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, 128 players compete live in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. Since 2003, the UK Open has been broadcast in June each year from the Reebok Stadium, in Bolton. Phil Taylor beat Shayne Burgess in the inaugural final. Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld won the tournament in 2006, the first ever ranking tournament with the PDC in which he has played. He beat Barrie Bates 13-7 in the final, and had knocked out Phil Taylor 11-10 en route in arguably one of the greatest darts matches in the sport's history.

Tournament Wins (2003-2006)
2 Phil Taylor (2003, 2005)
1 Roland Scholten (2004)
1 Raymond van Barneveld (2006)

Las Vegas Desert Classic

The MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada is the setting for the "Las Vegas Desert Classic" each July (In 2006 it moved to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino however, in the hopes of using its large Mandalay Bay Events Center). As the largest darts tournament ever held stateside, it carries a total prize purse of $120,000. Initially transmitted live but in later years with recorded broadcasts in the United States by Fox Sports World (before it became Fox Soccer Channel and eventually stopped covering non-soccer events), it furthers the PDC's aim to develop a world darts circuit. Phil Taylor won the first ever title beating Ronnie Baxter in the final of 2002.

Tournament Wins (2002-2006)
3 Phil Taylor (2002, 2004, 2005)
1 Peter Manley (2003)
1 John Part (2006)

World Matchplay

See Main Article: World Matchplay (Darts)

Crowds exceeding 2,000 in number assemble at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool each July to follow the "World Matchplay". Matches are contested over legs rather than sets, presenting the prospect of some surprising results and upsets. Larry Butler beat Dennis Priestley to become the first winner in 1994.

Tournament Wins (1994-2005)
7 Phil Taylor (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
2 Rod Harrington (1998, 1999)
1 Larry Butler (1994)
1 Peter Evison (1996)
1 Colin Lloyd (2005)

World Grand Prix

After several different venues, the quick fire World Grand Prix styled tournament now takes place each October in Dublin. This tournament has shorter opening rounds and players must commence and finish each leg on a double including the option of the bull. In 1998, Phil Taylor won his first Grand Prix title, beating Rod Harrington in the final. The event replaced the earlier World Pairs tournament which was also played from several venues.

Tournament Wins (1998-2005)
6 Phil Taylor (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005)
1 Alan Warriner (2001)
1 Colin Lloyd (2004)

World Championship

The World Championship is the biggest of the tournaments, held at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet since 1994, beginning in late December and finishing in early January. It boasts the largest prize fund of any darts competition, currently at £500,000 in total with £100,000 for the winner. Dennis Priestley won the inaugural competition.

Phil Taylor has since dominated this tournament in particular and has continued to win an unprecedented number of major titles, bringing both him and the Professional Darts Corporation much media coverage.

World Championship results

1994: Dennis Priestley 6-1 Phil Taylor
1995: Phil Taylor 6-2 Rod Harrington
1996: Phil Taylor 6-4 Dennis Priestley
1997: Phil Taylor 6-3 Dennis Priestley
1998: Phil Taylor 6-0 Dennis Priestley
1999: Phil Taylor 6-2 Peter Manley
2000: Phil Taylor 7-3 Dennis Priestley
2001: Phil Taylor 7-0 John Part
2002: Phil Taylor 7-0 Peter Manley
2003: John Part 7-6 Phil Taylor
2004: Phil Taylor 7-6 Kevin Painter
2005: Phil Taylor 7-4 Mark Dudbridge
2006: Phil Taylor 7-0 Peter Manley

Other contests

Premier League Darts

Starting on January 20 2005, Sky Sports launched the fortnightly Premier League Darts television programme. For five months, seven of the biggest names from the PDC circuit compete in a league table, with matches held across the country at different venues. This is unlike anything that has been televised before.

Mark Dudbridge, Colin Lloyd, Peter Manley, Wayne Mardle, John Part, Roland Scholten and Phil Taylor were the participants in the first Premier League.

The second season of Premier League Darts began in February 2006, with Taylor, Lloyd, Mardle, Scholten and Manley joined by Ronnie Baxter and PDC new boy Raymond van Barneveld.

On 10 July 2006, the PDC announced that the Premier League will be bigger than ever with eight of the best darts players in the world competing and a total of £265,000 prize money. [1]

Premier League Finals - Results
2005 Phil Taylor 16-4 Colin Lloyd (in Manchester, sponsored by 888.com)
2006 Phil Taylor 16-6 Roland Scholten (in Plymouth, sponsored by Holsten)

Champion versus Champion

There have also been two head-to-head matches, bringing both respective world champions together in non-affiliated contests.

Billed as the Match Of The Century, Phil Taylor beat an out-of-sorts Raymond van Barneveld 21-10 at Wembley Conference Centre on November 7, 1999, to be crowned the first ever undisputed World Champion.

In a further Head-to-Head, on 21 November 2004 at the Circus Tavern, via the first ever darts Pay-Per-View on Sky Box Office, Phil Taylor once again prevailed after his opponent Andy Fordham had to retire during the match due to dehydration.

Unaccustomed to the PDC venue, the immense heat took its toll on the 30-stone (191 kg) Fordham. Phil Taylor was leading the match 5-2 in sets before it was unexpectedly abandoned.

Promotion versus Promotion

Taking place at the ExpoCenter in Hengelo, The Netherlands, starting February 7, 2005, the Masters of Darts event brought four top players from both darts circuits together for the ultimate confrontation.

The players were split into two groups, sharing it with only members of their affiliated organisation. Each player then vied against all players from the opposition, with one point awarded for winning a match. Following conclusion of the format, the winner of each respective group played the runner-up at the semi-final stage.

The Professional Darts Corporation pool consisted of Colin Lloyd, Wayne Mardle, Roland Scholten and Phil Taylor; whilst for the British Darts Organisation it was Tony David, Andy Fordham, Co Stompé and Raymond van Barneveld.

In a rematch of their unfinished 2004 head-to-head clash, Phil Taylor beat Andy Fordham convincingly in the final, 7-1, to be crowned the first Master of Darts. While beating the current British Darts Organisation world champion Raymond van Barneveld 4-0 and 5-2 along the way, the undefeated Taylor only lost 5 sets during the entire tournament.

This event was broadcast to viewers in The Netherlands via RTL 5. Surprisingly, no British broadcaster had agreed television coverage of this unique event.

World Series of Darts

In 2006, the PDC teamed up with American sports giant ESPN to promote and broadcast the World Series of Darts, an event that took the current Top 16 in the PDC rankings and pitted them against 16 American qualifiers in the first round of a knockout competition. Held at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, it carries a purse of $100,000 for a PDC champion and $1 million for an American champion.

However, no American was to win the million: 15 out of the 16 qualifiers crashed out in the first round, despite several of them putting up impressive fights. The only upset winner, John Kuczynski (who defeated John Part 6-5), lost in the second round to Wayne Mardle. The rest of the tournament became an all-British affair, with Phil Taylor beating Adrian Lewis 13-5 in the final match.

The tournament has drawn good ratings for ESPN (as a lead-in to its World Series of Poker coverage), a hopeful sign that the game of darts is starting to grow in the US.

Player roster

Current

Former

Players

Officials

Commentators

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