Darts returns to the Palace of the arrows

Storey From Sportingo

With the popularity of the PDC’s Premier League tournament continuing to grow, Thursday sees the return of big-time darts to London’s 'Ally Pally'.
Almost 3,000 darts spectators and aficionados will pack themselves into the traditional home of the people's sport. Yet, even though the tournament has established a respected footing in its own right, this gathering will serve as an ample dry run for the World Championships in December.

Last month, the Professional Darts Council (PDC) announced the decision to move the venue of their flagship tournament from the Circus Tavern in Purfleet to the ‘Ally Pally’. Although the cramped Tavern has served the World Championship well in its previous 14 years of existence, circumstances have called for change - and a return to the venue that ignited the British public’s love affair with a traditional pub game.

Alexandra Palace hosted the News of the World Individual Darts Championship from 1963-77. Although the tournament had existed in various forms since 1923, these years in particular saw a boom in national interest for darts. Back then, the title was the most sought-after in the game and affectionately labelled: ‘The championship every darts player wants to win’.

The punters knew this, too, and the finals regularly saw 13,000-plus crowds, many of them darts players themselves. This was truly a game played by the populous, in ‘the people’s palace’.I ronically, the increasing popularity of the game, which saw an influx of sponsorship for more tournaments, was merely a precursor for the subsequent demise of darting interest which would later see the game’s top players form their own professional association.

After more than a decade of rival associations bickering and trying to establish themselves as the true flagship of the game, darts is once again on the up. Although the British Darts Organisation (BDO) has justified claims to being the grass roots of darts, the PDC has recently reinvigorated British interest.

Whether it being through injection of talent from abroad, most notably the Netherlands, or the increased TV coverage, there are two contributing factors that cannot be under-estimated - one being the Premier League Darts tournament, which has seen the game return to sold-out arenas. The other is the PDC persuading BDO king Raymond van Barneveld to switch allegiance, thus giving the sport a viable challenger to Phil Taylor and his autonomous grip as the world’s best player. The public, mesmerised at seeing these two titans of tungsten collide, have forced the hand of the PDC and the venue of the World Championships. Alexandra Palace can fit 300 per cent more spectators than the Circus Tavern for every session, boosting the prize money on offer from £600,000 to £1m in the space of just two years.

Some say that moving the event will ruin the atmosphere, lacking a unique ingredient only the claustrophobic Tavern can produce. Some say that the new venue will be half-empty for most of the sessions. Personally, I just can’t see it.

I’ve always found the Circus Tavern crowd a rambunctious lot, anyway, lacking the respect of the (more sedate) spectators at the Lakeside World Championships (BDO). The crowds for the Premier League Darts tournament have only reinforced this, on a larger scale. It’s fair to say that the atmosphere will be the same at the Ally Pally and the top players are used to it.

Half-empty seats? The Dutch crowds will see to that anomaly. The PDC have secured all but a few of their top maestros and you’d expect to see an influx of orange that has graced Lakeside for the past decade. The Circus Tavern is hardly an accessible place for those outside of the immediate area, so the move only opens up the potential attendance from further afield, especially to those ‘up north’.

The 2006 World Championship final between Taylor and van Barneveld set new standards. It was the first final to witness a pay TV audience of over a million, the first final where both players finished with a three-dart average over 100, and the first championship where one man achieved over fifty 180s (van Barneveld). You can hardly fault the people regaining interest in their game. The times certainly are a-changing and this week’s event gives us an insight in what to expect come Christmas.

Will the move to the huge Ally Pally be beneficial for darts?

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