Pub Olympics - Darts

Pub Olympics Darts

Get your pub involved by clicking here http://www.caudwellcharity.com/events.aspx and raise money for an amazing cause as the Caudwell Children's Charity are behind all of this.

There may even be regional finals and a British Pub Darts Olympian!!

The first pilot nights up in Stoke have been a huge success so keep your eye open at a Pub near you and do your bit for charity.

Practice like a Pro with Dennis

Interview with Dennis Priestley By Rob Morrison 6/03/2007


What is your current practise routine for the Holsten Premier League?
I'm practicing 1½ hours per day at the moment. One of my practice games is called 32. You start with a score 32 and throw three darts at double one. You take how many times you hit it and add that score to 32. Example if you hit 1 double one you now have 34 points. If you miss all three darts you take the value of that off the current score. So if you were on double one and missed you would have 30 points. You continue through every double on the board including bull to see how many points you can score. If you reach zero then the game is over.

What's the best score you have had?
I can't quite remember, it would be the high 600's or maybe more.
What other games are you playing? We then practise trebles, starting at ten with three arrows scoring as high as possible, then continuing through to twenties and try to get 1000 points.

Wow, do you score 1000 points regularly?
Actually no, in fact my best score is in the high 900's. I've told Barney about the game and to try and get over 1000 and let me know. Note 1485 points would be a perfect game. Then we play 14 games of 501 followed by doubles around the board, but with a twist. You throw one dart at every double in order. Any that you miss you must start with in your next combination. The person to hit every double including the bull wins!

So technically you could be throwing 1 and bull to finish?
Yes

Have you got any tips you would share with Dart Players wanting to improve?
Practise is the biggest tip possible to share. Spending more time with you balance, rhythm stance so you're ready for the matches.

Is there anybody or anything that you fear at the moment?
Big snakes or the occasional crocodile. I imagine you mean dart players Rob, and no not really.

Do you think you could win the Holsten Premier League?
Of course I think I can win. I know I'm going to improve with all the practise I'm putting in every week. It's actually a great advantage for the 8 of us.

Do you have any rituals before appearing on TV like eating certain meals or wearing any good luck charms?
Not really, I do eat chocolate or a banana ½ an hour before my match.

What are the stage conditions like heat wise in the Premier League?
Haven't found it to be a problem, Rob. In fact I've been pleasantly surprised and the new shirt helps as well.
What are your objectives for this year? I'd like to appear in as many TV finals as possible this year and win some for a change!

What is your current motivator?
I want to show people that I can still throw darts!

What are you doing these days to keep focused?
I'm not doing anything different; I'm just more determined. You've got to be getting results, I used to be half hearted when showing up to tournaments.

Holsten Premier League Darts - Night Seven

WORLD CHAMPION Raymond van Barneveld suffered a second defeat of the 2007 Holsten Premier League Darts as he went down 8-4 to Dennis Priestley on Thursday.

The Dutchman was making his first appearance at Blackpool's famous Winter Gardens, but never settled against the 56-year-old Yorkshireman.

Priestley took out finishes of 124 and 120 in the match, and won six of the final eight legs to settle further into second place in the table.

He remains just a point behind Phil Taylor, whose incredible unbeaten streak in the tournament continued with his 8-1 win over Colin Lloyd.

Terry Jenkins sits third, moving above van Barneveld with a sensational 8-1 rout of Adrian Lewis.

Roland Scholten saw his top four hopes increase with an 8-2 win over Peter Manley, hitting two ton-plus finishes and averaging over 97.

Holsten Premier League Darts
Night Seven, Winter Gardens, Blackpool
Terry Jenkins 8-1 Adrian Lewis
Roland Scholten 8-2 Peter Manley
Dennis Priestley 8-4 Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor 8-1 Colin Lloyd

ADRIAN LEWIS 1-8 TERRY JENKINS

TERRY JENKINS condemned Adrian Lewis to a fourth successive Holsten Premier League Darts defeat with an 8-1 romp at the Winter Gardens.

Lewis was looking to arrest his recent run of poor form and keep tabs on in-form Jenkins, who began the night in fourth place.

However, Lewis never recovered from a slow start, with Jenkins roaring into a 4-0 lead.

He took the opening leg with a pressure 116 finish after Lewis landed a maximum to leave 32.

Double top and double ten gave Jenkins the next two legs, and he extended the lead to 4-0 before Lewis hit back with a 65 finish on double ten to get off the mark.

Two more double top finishes put Jenkins 6-1 up, and he took the next two legs to power over the finish line and inflict another heavy defeat on the 22-year-old.

"I'm really pleased with that," said Jenkins. "I needed that win after opening the game to below me by a couple of points and I didn't want to let it slip.

"I knew if I could win I'd move on to nine points.

"In the first leg, it was a killer blow for him and I knew I had to get a good lead on him. He's a young player and he can start thinking about it, so you have to make it count.

"I had to keep on hitting the doubles and I concentrated on winning the legs with my darts and then trying to get them against the throw."

ROLAND SCHOLTEN 8-2 PETER MANLEY

ROLAND SCHOLTEN grabbed his second win of the 2007 Holsten Premier League Darts with a fine 8-2 win over Peter Manley.

The Dutchman had lost heavily to Raymond van Barneveld a week ago in Aberdeen, but bounced back in style.

Although he led only 3-2 after the first five legs, a run of five in a row saw him punish Manley misses and take the win.

Manley was off-target on the bullseye to steal the opening leg against the darts, with Scholten taking out double ten before seeing his opponent take out 121 on the bull to win leg two.

Double 12 gave Scholten the next leg and he took out a superb 138 finish in leg four to break Manley's throw and move 3-1 up.

Manley landed a second 180 of the game in leg five before hitting straight back on double top.

But he wasted the chance to win leg six, after opening with five successive treble 20s but missing two darts at double top before a two-dart 96 sent Scholten into the break 4-2 up.

It proved a crucial moment, with Scholten taking the first leg after the restart and then finishing on 102 against the throw to lead 6-2.

He held his throw to take the ninth leg, and took out double four with his second dart to seal victory after Manley missed double top to stay in the contest.

"Peter didn't perform as he can do but I was happy with how I played," said Scholten, who averaged over 97.

"I know I can do more still and hopefully I can do next week against Phil Taylor - it's about time I beat him!

"I'm getting back to my best form and hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be fully confident and back to how I know I can play.

"I've still got the feeling I will qualify for the semi-finals."

RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD 4-8 DENNIS PRIESTLEY

WORLD CHAMPION Raymond van Barneveld suffered his second defeat of the 2007 Holsten Premier League Darts, with Dennis Priestley taking out the Dutchman 8-4 in Blackpool.

Van Barneveld bounced back from a defeat to Phil Taylor with a superb 8-1 win over Roland Scholten a week ago, but never settled against Priestley.

The 56-year-old Yorkshireman regained his finishing touch following his first defeat of the competition in Aberdeen seven days earlier to take a notable scalp.

Having previously drawn with Phil Taylor, Priestley moved onto 11 points and a step closer to securing his play-off berth with a famous triumph.

The opening four legs went with the throw before Priestley took out a crucial 124 finish on double 11 in leg five to break the throw - after van Barneveld leg 61 with a maximum.

Van Barneveld saw the chance to break back in the next leg evaporate when he missed double 18, with Priestley landing a tricky double 19 to go into the break 4-2 up.

The Dutchman hit back with a 15-darter but a 120 "Shanghai" finish and then double five against the throw put Priestley 6-3 up.

The tenth leg proved pivotal in the outcome of the match, with a van Barneveld 180 leaving him 76 and Priestley's 177 setting up a 42 finish - only for both to suffer double trouble.

The Dutchman eventually missed nine darts at the double before Priestley one a double one shoot-out to ensure at least a draw.

Van Barneveld stayed in the hunt with a 64 finish, but wasted three darts at the double in leg 12 before Priestley took out double ten for the win.

"I'm obviously delighted to get the win but I didn't feel I played all that well," said Priestley. "It was a real contrast from last week, when I scored well but couldn't finish.

"I kept my nerves intact this week and it is such a big thing for us each week to get the two points.

"Perhaps I've been lucky but I'll take it!"

PHIL TAYLOR 8-1 COLIN LLOYD

PHIL TAYLOR stormed past Colin Lloyd to remain unbeaten in the Holsten Premier League Darts with an 8-1 victory in Blackpool.

Taylor has won eight World Matchplay titles on the Winter Gardens stage, and showed some of his best darts in sweeping Lloyd aside.

The tone was set when he won the opening leg despite Lloyd missing double four darts to go ahead, with two double 16 finishes putting Taylor 2-0 up.

Lloyd broke Taylor's throw to take leg three, but paid for another miss in the next as the defending champion went 3-1 up.

He took the next two, including a clinical 13-darter, to lead by four legs at the break and took two more to go 7-1 up and ensure at least one point.

But a comeback was never likely, despite a third maximum of the match from Lloyd in the next, as Taylor sealed the win and grabbed a £1,000 bonus for the night's highest finish with a superb 170 checkout.

"Colin missed a few doubles and let me in and I feel sorry for him, he's a great player," said Taylor.

"I had to pounce and I'm pleased with my display. I'm getting back to my best."

ENDS

Pub-goer Prince Charles is new darts champion

By Caroline Davies of the Daily Telegraph

The Prince of Wales yesterday threw his support behind the Save Our Darts campaign highlighted by The Daily Telegraph to prevent the demise of the game.
Waving a set of darts, he told publicans at a reception at Clarence House: "I'm doing my best to keep the darts tradition going."
His comments follow a survey revealing that the game is under threat from the rise of the gastropub, where leather sofas are more likely than darts areas.
Prince Charles was celebrating his Pub is the Hub campaign set up five years ago to encourage initiatives to save the rural pub.
At least three rural pubs a week were disappearing, and in urban areas that figure was as high as 10, he said. Some, he added, were reinventing themselves as "gastropubs - whatever that is - and which I have only just discovered seem to be threatening the future of pub darts".
"It's a rather a worry," he added, brandishing his darts before his 200-strong audience. "I was given these the other day. And I have to say I'm getting rather good at darts," he joked. "Except my younger son is a great deal better. I'll leave you to guess why."
The Pub is the Hub initiative aims is to keep villages thriving by using pubs for the "co-location" of other threatened services - for example post offices. In other cases the initiative has helped villagers band together to buy their local.
One example is the Church House Inn in Bollington, Cheshire, where a dozen regulars stumped up £5,000 each to take on the lease. It has diversified to such an extent that the local vicar holds services there on main feast days.
Prince Charles, it seems, has tried his hand at darts before.
"He joined our darts team, albeit just for one game," said Bryan Pearson, one of several regulars who saved the Dyke's End pub in the Cambridgeshire village of Reach.
The prince, meanwhile, pledged to keep his hand in. "I promise to visit some more of your premises in the future," he told the landlords, "thus allowing me to have a go on some of your dartboards".

Geromino gastropub darts challenge

Storey from Morning Advertiser written By Lucy Britner

A leading gastropub operator has hit back at claims that gastropubs are responsible for the demise of darts playing.
Geronimo Inns boss Rupert Clevely has challenged Phil 'The Power' Taylor - the face of the 'Save Our Darts' campaign - to a darts competition.
Clevely, who runs the 17 strong food-led pubco, said: “We’ve nothing against the principles behind the Save Our Darts campaign but we are a little put out at the suggestion that the sole reason for the decline of this pastime is because of establishments like ours. Just because a pub has great food and smart design doesn’t mean that it can’t have a personality. We’ve chosen the Black Swan as the location for the match to re-enforce our point as it’s one of a number of our pubs that already houses a dartboard.”
The challenge comes in response to recent research by online bookmakers Blue Square that suggests the decline of darts playing in the UK was linked to the rise of the gastropub.
The Black Swan, in Ockham, Surrey, will hold a head to head darts match between Clevely and Taylor, should Taylor accept the offer. Clevely plans to play Taylor in a best of three set match and in the interests of fairness - Taylor will be forced to throw either blindfolded or left handed.
For every leg Taylor wins, Clevely will be forced to introduce a dartboard to one his pubs that doesn’t currently have one, for a minimum of one month. For every leg Clevely wins, Taylor will have to donate sports equipment to a children’s charity of his choice, on the proviso that it is any sport other than darts.
HRH Prince Charles, who has pledged his support for the Save Our Darts initiative, will receive an invitation to attend, though organisers suspect his busy schedule may prevent him from accepting.
For more information click http://www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/ or http://www.saveourdarts.com/

Fordham on the mend

Storey from This is Local London

DARTS champion Andy Fordham is reportedly recovering well after a minor stroke.
A message posted on his website says the star has suffered slight muscle wastage in the leg and his speech is slightly affected following the stroke.
The 45-year-old former publican of The Rose in Dartford is said to have lost weight.
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He is also planning to return to competitive darts tournaments, the website reports.
It reads: "After losing a considerable amount of weight and undergoing medical treatments, he has received a much-needed kick-start to a healthier lifestyle, which medical professionals insist he must maintain in order to remain fit.
"He would once again like to thank the thousands of fans and well-wishers for the get-well messages he has received and looks forward to playing competitive darts again very soon."
Mr Fordham, known as The Viking, spent three weeks in hospital following the stroke last month.

Premier League Matches

The Premier League bandwagon moves on to Aberdeen this Thursday and the intensity levels are growing week by week as the stakes get higher to be in the top 4 to go on to the finals.

PHIL TAYLOR v ADRIAN LEWIS
Phil Taylor has started this campaign quite slowly, but that could be put down to a few drastic lifestyle changes that he has followed. Now that he has settled into this routine it would seem that he is back to his best and firing on all cylinders. Adrian Lewis has struggled to find his top gear in this years Holsten Premier League and so he has a huge battle on his hands tomorrow night. Taylor should win this one if he doesn't drop his guard 8 -5.

ROLAND SCHOLTEN v RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD
Barney and Roland go back together many years and each knows the others game inside out, as they have also won several pairs titles together. Sid Wadell commented that he thought Barney was "Knackered" as he has been flying back and forth to Holland and this may explain a slight drop in his form last week. However not many a betting man would go against him and he should take this one 8 -6.

DENNIS PRIESTLEY v PETER MANLEY
Dennis suffered a rare 5 - 0 loss at the hands of Phil Taylor on Sunday in the Blue Square regional finals, but this won't dent the Evergreen Priestley confidence and he should go on to beat a struggling Manley by 8- 6.

COLIN LLOYD v TERRY JENKINS
Jenkins is in the middle of a great run of form, and he has the utmost respect from fellow professionals as being up there with the best in the world. With Colin Lloyd struggling to find any real winning form he will need to be on his best performance to stomp the raging bull, and so Jenkins should take this one 8 -5.

Millers Arms Reach last 32

Storey from Hastings Today

THE Millers Arms darts team can consider itself to be among the leading 32 pub sides in the country.
The Ore-based outfit reached the second round of the 64-strong finals in the Holsten National Pub Darts Championship last weekend. George Noble, who entered the line-up and runs the Winchelsea Road pub, said: "They were pig sick because they were so close, but it was extremely good to be there. Hopefully we can get back into it next year and do a bit better. "The Millers safely negotiated their first test at The Belfry on Saturday by a 5-3 scoreline against the Buckingham-based New Inn.
The Millers, who scooped £100 for their efforts, won three matches at the Southern and London Regional Final in addition to a trio of two-legged local ties just to reach the finals of an event entered by thousands of teams from all over the country.

Charity Marathon

Arley players on the oche for charity darts marathon
By Richard Vernalls Kidderminster Times

PEOPLE are being urged to lend support to a sponsored charity darts marathon.
The Harbour Inn, Arley, is hosting a ten hour fund-raiser in aid of Severn Area Rescue Association - SARA - and the County Air Ambulance, this Saturday, from 12noon until 10pm.
Co-organsier and pub licensee, Sandra Cooke, said: "The lads from the darts team and a few of the customers will be trying to see how many bullseyes they can hit.
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"And we're always trying to do a bit for charity."
The Station Bank pub, by Arley bridge, will host the rotation of 15 darts players, at the oche, aiming to beat a 614 bullseye total set in ten hours, by Stourport's Stagborough Arms pub team.
People are welcome to spectate and give money towards organisers' £1,000 target.

BBC Press Release

Storey by Mark Barden http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/darts/6413319.stm

Adams cautious about Grand Slam

Lakeside Champion Martin Adams will only face players from across the darts divide in a new event if sanctioned by the British Darts Organisation.
The Professional Darts Corporation is planning a 'Grand Slam' in November featuring stars from both camps.
Adams told BBC Sport: "My loyalty is to the BDO, but as long as it is happy I don't see why I couldn't take part.
"If I did, if shouldn't be construed by anyone as me joining the PDC because that is something I would never do."
Adams, 50, won his first world crown in a thrilling final against Phill Nixon at Frimley Green in January.
He said: "The BDO gave me the chance to be world champion and I want to go back to the Lakeside next year and win the title again.
"I'm also very proud to captain England, and that's another reason why my commitment is to the BDO.

"The PDC have made initial contact with me about the Grand Slam event but, as the BDO have said, nothing has been finalised yet."
Adams admitted the appetite is there among darts fans for a tournament which brings the best players from both camps together.
"People are always telling me they would love to see it happen, so I'm sure it would be very popular," he said.
"The split in darts happened 15 years ago and I believe time is a great healer, but we'll have to wait and see what happens."
Relations between the two sides took a turn for the worse recently when the PDC recruited several big names from its rival.
Adams, meanwhile, is enjoying his reign as world champion, playing exhibitions all over the country.
He also recently led England to a comprehensive victory in the Six Nations Cup in the Netherlands.
"I'm certainly getting more people recognising me since winning the world title," he added.
"Mind you, that might be because I'm driving around in a van with 'Wolfie' plastered across it!"

Taylor Wins Blue Square UK Open

Photgraph Chris Sargeant/PDPA

PHIL TAYLOR won his second Regional Final of the 2007 Blue Square UK Open with a 2-0 win over Wayne Mardle.

He had to battle past Darren Richardson, Martyn Turner, Andy Jenkins and Alan Tabern to reach the last eight, before heading to Wembley on Sunday.

He beat Dennis Priestley in the quarter-finals, defeated Colin Lloyd in straight sets in the semis and backed that up with a 2-0 win in the final.

Biggest Ever Crowd

The fifth night of the 2007 Holsten Premier League Darts was staged in front of a PDC record crowd of over 5,200 at the Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield.

Barneveld does his bit for Charity

By Daniel Owens Courtesy of Northampton Chronicle

DUTCH darts master Raymond van Barneveld hada quick game with Carlsberg employees at the brewery's Northampton HQ.
The five-time world champion, who beat Taylor to clinch his first PDC title last year, stopped off at the brewery's social club last night as part of a fundraiser for Cynthia Spencer Hospice. Staff paid £2 each for a ticket, with all the entrants put into a draw to earn the chance to play against the big Dutchman. Carlsberg spokeswoman Wendy Norwood said: "It was fantastic to get Barney down here for the night, especially on the eve of his game with Phil Taylor. All the staff were really excited when they heard he was in town, it's a great chance for them to get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play one-on-one against a world champion."The 39-year-old was joined at the Northampton brewery by legendary darts commentator Sid Waddell and referee Russ Bray, who helped co-host the evening. Van Barneveld is due to meet Phil 'The Power' Taylor at Sheffield tonight in darts premier league. It's the first time he has faced Taylor since their epic world final last year.He said: "The last 12 months have been amazing for me.
I never thought I would progress so far so soon. People were always telling me I could beat Phil and it took a while for me to believe that but now that I have, I am so much more relaxed."Barney took up darts in 1984 in a back room of a pub owned by his father in The Hague, Netherlands. His first darting idol was Eric Bristow and he spent hours watching his heroes compete in televised tournaments.He said: "I used to watch every tournament on the TV, I loved it. One day someone saw me play and invited me to play in a tournament. I went along, did ok and haven't looked back since."

Dennis Priestley Top of the League

Dennis Priestlety V Colin Lloyd
Dennis Priestley continued his awesome assault on last nights Premier League when he beat Colin Lloyd by 8 – 5 and stayed top of the tree.
The Menace spotted with a new sponsor in Winmau, was not on top form for the high scores and had a lower average than Lloyd.
However, as he said in the interview after his big finishes were crucial and without them Lloyd who played very well again would have won.

Adrian Lewis V Roland Scholten
No one needed a win more than Roland Scholten and he had a tough battle against Adrian Lewis. Lewis started very slowly and Scholten was soon 4 – 1 up. However, Lewis stormed back into the game at 5 – 4 up, but the flying Dutchman nearly hit a perfect nine darter to get him back in the match, and kept his momentum to go on and win 8 -5 for his first win in the Premier League.

Terry Jenkins V Peter Manley
Seen by some as the pre-match warm up for Taylor & Barneveld, this game erupted to life with Manley hitting 6 perfect darts, and the legs traded with throw all the way to 6 all. The crowd got being this intense game with both players trying to prove a point.
However, Manley was the first to lose his throw and Jenkins held his throw to close out a great game 8 -6.

Phil Taylor V Raymond Van Barneveld
The biggest game since Januaries PDC World Championships was not to disappoint, as Phil Taylor staged a comeback similar to Barneys against him in the World Final to win 8-6.
Barneveld came out of the blocks with his usual effortless grace and punished Taylor who looked by far the more unsettled of the two, and Barneveld found himself 5 -1 up with the crowd hysterically chanting “Easy Easy”.
However, someone must have given Taylor a dam good slap back stage as he came out with fire in his eyes to stage an unbelievable comeback as he trotted off 5 straight legs with no reply from the cool Dutchman.
With Barney on the ropes and haemorrhaging legs he was left a daunting 116 that he took to level the game at 6 a piece with his throw to come.
However, with darts at double top to guarantee a draw at worse, he missed, and the rest as they say is history as Taylor nailed double 16, held his throw and won the match 8 -6.

Barney and Taylor go head to head

Tonight’s Premier League sees Phil Taylor pitted against Raymond Van Barneveld in the largest hyped game since the PDC World Championship final in January.
Since moving over form the PDC Barney has proved to be more than just a thorn in Phil’s side, but rather he’s knocked him over kicked him where it hurts and taken his crown as the Worlds best Dart Player.
Phil Taylor starts tonight’s game as the bookies underdog for what seems like the first time since Maggie Thatcher was in power, it’s actually 17 years, and so it will be great to see how Taylor handles this different perspective as he many not be used to so many people doubting his arm.
However, you do get the feeling that like Tiger Woods when he made massive swing changes and went backwards that Phil Taylor knows what he is doing and aims to take his darts to another level.
Having lost 2 stone is as many months Taylor’s fitness regime is thought to be one of the reasons why he’s lost his form, but he’s very happy at feeling fitter and sharper and like all legendary Sportsmen has set himself a target and that’s to get the big one back in January 2008.
Tonight’s game will be full of emotion and Barney is well liked on these shores, and so it could well be an awesome 7 all draw.

Adrian Lewis v Roland Scholten
After suffering a hammering at the hands of Dennis Priestley last week Adrian Lewis will have spent all week practicing to make sure he regains his momentum in the Premier League, and perhaps more importantly his credibility in the top circle of the Worlds best players.
This game will be a sticky one for Adrian and it all depends on what game the good natured Dutch Arrowman turns up with, but Adrian should take this one 8 -4.

Dennis Priestley v Colin Lloyd
What can be said about Dennis comeback that hasn’t already been said? Not much so put simply he’s playing better now than he ever has and following rumors that he’s been chased by several major Dart companies to sign him up he’s hot property.
This game will be a tussle for him as the ever smiling Lloyd will not let Dennis pace put him off. You can expect this one to go all the way, but in front of a home crowd Dennis may just get his nose over the line at 8 – 6.

Terry Jenkins v Peter Manley
After last week’s performances, these players have very different motivations to win.
Manley has to prove he’s still worthy of the league and not an also ran, and Jenkins needs to prove he’s right up there with the best.
Hopefully Manley will step up to the plate and prove to be handful for the inform Jenkins, but you just can’t see the level headed Jenkins losing this one and he should win by 8 – 6.

Newcastle footballers in darts premier league

It seems that the growth of darts has no bounds, and new Premier Leagues are springing up everywhere.
Several of The Newcastle football Team have got so into playing darts that they have developed their very own premier League.
In a report by Steve Brenner of Sun Newspaper he wrote that:

STEVE HARPER has revealed Newcastle’s secret weapon — darts.
"The Toon have gone arrows crazy as Glenn Roeder’s men hunt for UEFA Cup glory as well as trying to sneak into the Premiership top six.
Winger James ‘Machine Gun’ Milner is the Phil Taylor of St James’ Park, with keeper Harper seeded second.
Harper, who travels to Wigan today, said: “I took the dartboard to Belgium. James is the reigning champion but we have a Premier League now. There are eight of us.
“We’ve even started coming into training early to play. It’s good for team spirit — it’s really good banter.”

Maybe there could be an angle for a Premier Football Darts Premier League with each of the Top 8 clubs putting their best darter forward to pair with the current 8 Pro's in a yearly event?

Priestly in action at home

Dennis Priestly will be taking the stage in his home Town this Thursday to maintain his number 1 position on top of The Premier League.
One of the most popular dart players ever, you can never under estimate Dennis determination and really affable qualities as once your toe to toe with the veteran dart legend there is only one thing on his mind.
Dennis faces Colin Lloyd and this should be a great game for all those local Sheffield fans.

Peter Manley helping Charity

Peter Manley was up in Sunderland to open the new Betfred Shop.
The idea is that Peter will travel all over the UK opening the Betfred new stores while letting all comers have a chance of playing against him.
Manley also helped raise £150 for the Grace House Hospice when Betfred offered to convert the points scored by the 44-year-old and Echo reporter Ross Robertson into pounds.
The charity is close to his heart – in all his televised games he wears a pendant in memory of Roker schoolboy Peter Lane, 13, who died in a rope swing accident at Galley's Gill four years ago.
He has helped Peter's mum, Julie Reay, 42, of Roker Avenue, raise £40,000 for a computer and games room at the Grace House children's hospice to be built in Pallion.
Modest Manley added: "I just wear the badge. The family does all the hard work and does a great job raising lots of money."
Storey from Sunderland Today

Six Nations Darts

ENGLAND WIN THE SIX NATIONS CUP –
AT DARTS NOT RUGBY!

The England darts team, captained by MARTIN ADAMS, the reigning Lakeside World Professional Darts Champion, did what their rugby counterparts failed to do by winning the Six Nations Cup with a clean-sweep of victories.

Having beaten Wales 15-10 and The Netherlands 14-11 in the Group stages, they were victorious 13-10 conquers of Scotland in the Semi-Final, and then comprehensively beat The Netherlands 13-7 in the Final to become 2007 Six Nations Cup Champions.

The Six Nations Cup was played in Veldhoven, The Netherlands over the weekend of February 24th and 25th.

Full results:

GROUP A:

ENGLAND 15-10 WALES
WALES 11-14 NETHERLANDS
NETHERLANDS 11-14 ENGLAND

GROUP B:

N.IRELAND 11-14 SCOTLAND
SCOTLAND 12-13 REP OF IRELAND
REP.IRE 14-11 N.IRELAND

SEMI-FINALS:

REP.IRE 5-13 NETHERLANDS
ENGLAND 13-10 SCOTLAND

5TH PLACE PLAY-OFF:

WALES 13-8 N.IRELAND


FINAL:

ENGLAND 13-7 NETHERLANDS

Dennis Destroy's Lewis

The premier League Darts lived up too all its billed hype last night with possibly the best game ever seen since the event started.

Colin Lloyd V Roland Scholten
Colin Lloyd stuck to is guns and got his first win of the Premier League against Roland Scholten. Scholten opened up with back to back maximums and you had the feeling that it may not be Colin’s night. However the ever smiling popular Lloyd went about his usual business and got a well earned win by 8 – 5.

Dennis Priestly V Adrian Lewis
What more can be said about Darts Renaissance man? At 56 the no nonsense Yorkshire man showed just what it was to grind a win out by the joint best ever margin 8 -1.
Lewis looked like a Rabbit in the headlights as he struggled to adapt his game to the purposeful style of Priestley.
Although not spectacular averages it was a true sporting spectacular as the determined Priestly pounced on every opportunity and wrapped the game up with consummate ease.
The score does not reflect the state of play in Lewis’s game in anyway, just another stage in the learning curve for him to conquer before he becomes the best player in the World.

Phil Taylor V Peter Manley
Phil Taylor took a step back towards his unbeatable style by dishing out another hammering of Peter Manley by 8-2.
The game lacked any real fizz as Manley just seemed to lay down and it resembled more of an exhibition game where some random punter from the pub got up to take his turn.
Manley is better than that and he knows it, and it would be great if he could get some teeth in the real big games as he has the ability to beat anyone and really get the crowd going.

Raymond Van Barneveld V Terry Jenkins
There is not much more can be said for this absolutely perfect match between two fantastic players both at the peak of their games which ended 7 a piece.
Terry Jenkins arrived on stage with a spring in his step and a steely determination in his eye and it didn’t take him long to establish a 4-1 lead over a shell shocked Barney.
However, as has been the case all year Barney sprung back to life with a 170 out shot to level the game.
The standard of the darts was amazing with both players around 108 averages and trading 12 & 13 darters per set.
This match was worthy of any World Championship final and cements the over looked Terry Jenkins reputation as one of the best players in the World.

Grand Slam of Darts

It seems that the bridge between the 2 rival bodies of darts is taking a step closer to unification. Barry Hearn has announced a new event that will include the top stars of the BDO & WDF Darts world system to compete with the top players from the PDC.

The event is scheduled to go ahead in November and will be staged in Wolverhampton at the Civic centre.

The prize fund is a mouth watering £250,000 purse.

However, more than the money and which code has the best players the bottom line is that both codes Professional Dart Players all play the same game under the same rules and codes of conduct and it will be amazing for the darts public to see a totally new mix of matches and with it hopefully some really passionate head to heads.
This Grand Slam event will be the closest World Darts has had to as real World Championship in over 14 years.
The prize fund structure goes down to the first round players and inclusion in this event will guarantee at least £3,000.

Winner £60,000

Runner Up £30,000

Semi Finalists £15,000

Quarter Finalists £10,000

2nd Round losers £5,250

1st Round Losers £3,000

The 32 players will be chosen from the winners of the major dart events around the world and the relative ranking systems.

Taylor, Mason & Naish Fined

Chris Mason, Phil Taylor & Steve Naish have all been fined by the DRA following their actions at the recent 2006 Ladbrokes World Championships.
Chris Mason & Phil Taylor had a heated exchange during their match and Chris received a £750 fine for his unsportsmanlike conduct during the match and Taylor got a £400 fine for bad language during a televised interview.
Steve Naish was also fined £300 for behaving in a dangerous manner following his defeat to Waynand Havenga.

Premier League Week 4

With the Premier League moving to the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle there is a huge swathe of darts fans on the East Coast.
Colin Lloyd v Roland Scholten
Colin Lloyd cannot surely keep playing as well as he has and lose again, and so Colin should run out a close winner in this one with a huge English crowd behind him.
Adrian Lewis v Dennis Priestley
With both these players in arguably the best form of their lives this will be a humdinger of a game and Adrian Lewis must adapt the pace of his game to deal with Priestly. If he can this one will go to the wire and the old head from Sheffield may just sneak it.
Peter Manley v Phil Taylor
Manley has shown some green shoots of recovery out in Holland, but his latest hammering at the hands of Barney would be enough to dent the confidence of anyone, and so if Phil Taylor settles into his usual canter he should take this game.
Terry Jenkins v Raymond van Barneveld
Jenkins has showed over the passed 6 months that he really is becoming a big game player, and you can clearly see that he enjoys every minute on stage, which is going to need to when playing the Dutch Robot Barney. Taking nothing away from Jenkins he may not yet have the fire power to deal with Barneveld and so Barney should win this encounter.

Barry Hearn hints at PDC Venue move

In a recent interview with the BBC Barry Hearn turned up the temperature in the bitter row between the PDC & the BDO by saying that he wishes "they would pack up and sell to me - I could change the face of grass roots darts".
However, putting the playground action aside for one minute a change in venue to hold a larger audience would be a great thing for darts, as it may get back towards the old News of the World days when as many as 15,000 Darts fans would go to see the finals.
Professional Darts has so much competition from other sports and any drive to make it a mainline sport is a welcome one, especially if it helps in the bid to get Darts recognised as an Olympic Sport.

Peter Manley Gets New Main Line Sponsor

Peter Manley picked up a new mainline sponsor from Chris Sedgeman Scaffolding.
It is great to see the growth in player sponsorship from outside of the Darts industry as it shows that darts is already reaching a wider audience and is seen as a key marketing tool for several businesses.

Nixy loses to 13 year Whizz Kid

Report Courtesy of the Sunderland Echo:
http://www.sunderlandtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2054272&SectionID=1107

DARTS daft David Worthington, 13, hit the bull's-eye when he beat world championship finalist Phill Nixon in a one-off challenge.
To thank his North East supporters, the County Durham ace Nixy is touring workingmen's clubs taking on all-comers in exhibition matches. But he hadn't bargained on dead-eye shot David who left the Lakeside World Championship Finalist in his wake with a display of magic darts.
In their match Nixon started on 501 and David on 301. Nixon, a 50-year-old dad-of-eight from Ferryhill, was stuck on 164 when his teenage opponent hit the decisive double 10 to claim victory.
Seaham School of Technology pupil David, who dreams of being a darts player when he grows up, was shaking with nerves when he went head-to-head with his idol.

Welsh Darts Premier Qualifiers

Welsh Darts Premier (Qualifiers)
17th March Doors open 10.00 am
Toe the oche 12.00 prompt registartion closes at 11.30am
Entrance fee £10.00
3 Players will qualify on the day to play the bottom 3 players from last years league in a first to 7 legs.
Winners will then be included into 07/08 League.
The Prize for winning the Premier League is £1000.00 plus the opportunity to play a player in the top ten in the World BDO or PDC.
First to 18 legs worth about £250.00 to £500.00
Every point won in league is worth £3.00 and every 180 is worth £3.00.
http://www.welshdarts.co.uk/

Pub Fundraisers on Target

Report Courtesy of Bedford Today:
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=543&ArticleID=2051228

It's time to raise your glasses to a Dunstable pub which has been raising charity cash from events including a 12-hour darts marathon. The Sportsman, in Katherine Drive, collected £300 for Cancer Research UK from a Christmas raffle. And that's on top of the £1,800 raised for the charity by a 12-hour dartathon involving the pub darts team and other customers.
Darts team member Dave Chapman, 45, of Evelyn Road, said that the players decided to support the charity because cancer affects the lives of so many people.
To find out more about Cancer Research UK, visit www.cancerresearchuk.org or call your local fundraising office via 08701 602040.

Barneveld batters Manley

Peter Manley was on the back of a royal hiding from the Dutch darts terminator Raymond Van Barneveld as he went down 7-0 in the final of the Keuken Concurrent World Masters.

Manley had been playing amazing darts all week, and had beaten Van Barneveld 5-3 earlier in the week.

Manley could not hold a torch to Barney's power play and a very happy Van Barneveld said that this was quite possibly the best darts he had ever produced in a final.

However, all told it was a fantastic week of darts where the overall England V Holland match that was played inbetween the individual Championship was won by England.

Van Gerwin 9 Darter

Micheal Van Gerwin was in hot form at the recent Keuken Concurrent World Masters as he threw a superb 9 darter against Raymond Van Barneveld in the Semi Finals.
http://viralvids.web-log.nl/viralvids/2007/02/9_darter_nine_d.html
However, even this was not good enough to beat a very modest Raymond Van Barneveld, who could not praise his 17 year old opponent enough after winning by 6 -4.
Barneveld has said that he will need to improve on his fitness if he is to continue competing at the very top and it is interesting to see that Phil Taylor has also embarked on a fitness campaign.
Arguably the 2 best players in the World have seen that the younger guys are not carrying as much weight and can handle the extreme heat of the stage a little better.
Fitter looking Dart players is a great thing for them personally but maybe more so for the global image of darts that is still seen by many as a beer swilling pub game.

180 Things I hate about you

180 Things I hate about you is a fantastic screen printed Dartboard display in a London Gallery.

The Dartboards were designed by a collection of modern artists and provide a really nice alternative view on how to use dartboards as an expression.

So click the link: http://www.180thingsihate.co.uk/ and have a look at the Dartboards.

Do you think you could do any better?

Well interestingly if you do there is a way that you can consider launching your very own Digital dartboard range.

Checkout DartArt http://www.dart-art.com/ as they can put absolutely anything you like on dartboard.

Week 3 Premier League Darts

With week 3 of the Premier League played in front of a record 3500 crowd in Nottingham, the darts did not disappoint.
Phil Taylor restored some of his form to see off the Terry Jenkins in a game that had several high's and lows, but Taylor’s skill and experience paid off as he edged through 8 - 6.
Barneveld and Manley had a fantastic tussle (on the oche I'm glad to say) where Barneveld came from a leg down to earn a draw.
Manley has slowed his throwing down and it seems to be working for the big man, who continues in his rich vein of form.
Adrian Lewis again showed why he's tipped for big things when he raced out of the blocks against a shell shocked Colin Lloyd, and wrapped his match up 8 – 5. Colin is not playing badly at all and must be left scratching his head as he finds himself without a win in the Premier League.
However, storey of the night was ever green Dennis “The Menace” Priestley who is dispatching opponents with consummate ease.
Scholten was tipped by many to take this game but in the end did well not to be white washed by the Rip Roaring Northerner who won easily by 8 – 3.
The Premier League format is clearly what the paying dart punters want to see, and with the league moving up to Sheffield it will take a big darter to stop Priestley’s march at the top of the table in front of a home crowd.

Andy Fordham On The Mend

Andy Fordham is making a good recovery at home is overwhelmed at the support he has recieved from everyone who has sent him good luck wishes.
The Gentle Giant from Kent will be a big loss to the darts scene for a while but he has vowed to get back on his feet and make a come back.
All major International Sports needs the household legends to be competing and winning events, and Andy is no exception.
Andy is under no illusions and knows the road back will be a hard one and hopefully with a great deal of support he really can settle down to a more balanced lifestyle to get back doing what he loves most and playing great darts.

Premier Leauge Darts - Week 3

PHIL TAYLOR V TERRY JENKINS
Phil Taylor's game is off the pace and he may struggle against an in form Terry Jenkins who is looking to really make his mark as a World Class Darter.
According to Sky's legendary darts commentator, cat on acid Sid Waddell, Taylor is struggling with his grip and is not stacking the darts as he likes to.
Although probably technically correct it may also have something to do with the standard of darts rising by the prizes at stake.
Fellow Dart Professionals have adopted Taylor’s disciplined practice strategies to enable them to compete with him at his own game.
Whatever the outcome matches that can go either way are absolutely fantastic for darts viewers and the Taylor domination slipping away is no bad thing.

RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD v PETER MANLEY
A cracker as both players are larger than life on stage and can be very aggressive, however, Manley’s ability to finish the job off can sometimes be called into question and so Barney should take this one.

ADRIAN LEWIS v COLIN LLOYD
A very tough call on this match as Adrian Lewis is starting to mature towards the player that they said he would be, but is still needs to maintain his concentration throughout the entire match. Colin Lloyd has been on the back of some huge games over the passed few months and just seems to be getting the monkey off his back and should just be able to squeeze this one.

DENNIS PRIESTLEY v ROLAND SCHOLTEN
With Dennis back in the form of his life and a very deliberate throwing style he will be hard to beat, and should move passed Scholten if the form book holds.

Andy Fordham Update

Andy Fordham is recovering at home with the support of his wife Jenny and children Raymond and Emily, following a mild stroke.

Andy was taken ill during the 2007 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships in January and following hospitalisation had been making a steady recovery.

“Andy is one of the most popular players and personalities in darts”, says Olly Croft of the BDO, “and we all want to see him back where he belongs – on the oche playing the type of darts that earned him the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship title in 2004”.

“He is such a huge and well-loved character that he and the family not only have the support of the BDO, but also the worldwide support of everyone in darts.”

“Needless to say, we all wish him a speedy return to good health”.

England Darts Organiation Takes Flight

The England Darts Organisation (EDO) has formed in conjunction with the BDO as a restructuring of Darts in the UK from 2006.
The EDO has replaced the direct control of “BDO England” over English Darts and the International Teams and they have entered into a 5 year Agreement with Winmau as the exclusive dartboard supplier to the EDO.

The EDO was first originated to more clearly distinguish English Darts and the players and to standardise the Organisation to bring them in line with Wales, Scotland & Ireland – whose independence is similar to the original idea of the Home Nations. The EDO was created from several leading BDO officials who understand exactly what it takes to run a darts organisation in the best interests of its members. The EDO will represent England in all areas of the International Darts scene, signifying the EDO’s expansive view and freedom of thought to develop darts events further in England.

The agreement with the EDO and Winmau shows that the company has entrusted the EDO to simplify English Darts and the International Teams global identity. The EDO will be positioned to communicate Winmau®’s reputation for technically advanced equipment across darts events World Wide.

Ian Flack, Sales & Marketing Director, explained the changes, “From a darts business viewpoint the organisational change is very exciting – Winmau®’s global icons like Andy Fordham & Trina Gulliver, will now be able to represent the EDO and its values as a whole and we can further highlight our commitment to the sport of darts and the EDO.”

“We’ve also been surprised how quickly Dart players have adapted to the EDO as the governing body and their affection for Winmau equipment is as strong as ever”

Keukenconcurrent Masters of Darts

With the Keukenconcurrent Masters of Darts into the second days play only 3 players remain unbeaten.
That is Peter Manley, Mervyn King and Michael Van Gerwin.
Mervyn King followed up his impressive win over Lakeside World Champion 2006 Jelle Klassen with a stunning victory over this years PDC World Champion Raymond Van Barneveld by 4-2, and after trailing by 2 sets to 1.
Van Gerwin kept up his 100% record with a very cool display against Wayne Mardle in a match that contained nine 180's.

Night Two Results
Roland Scholten 1 - 3 Phil Taylor
Van Barneveld 2 - 3 Mervyn King
Michael Van Gerwin 3 -1 Wayne Mardle
Jelle Klassen 3 - 2 Colin Lloyd
Vincent Van Der Voort 2 - 3 Peter Manley

Barney Tops Premier League Darts

Raymond Van Barneveld heads the Premier League Darts table after an 8-6 win over Colin Lloyd in Wolverhampton.
The Dutchman's latest put him a point ahead of Dennis Priestley.
Priestley followed up his opening victory against Terry Jenkins with a draw against defending Premier League champion Phil Taylor.
Newcomers Jenkins and Adrian Lewis both gained their first wins in the event, beating Roland Scholten and Peter Manley, respectively.
Jenkins took the final four legs to come from 6-4 down against the Dutchman.
Lewis threw the night's best checkout of 164 in a run of six successive legs on his way to defeating Manley.

Premier League Darts

Holstein Premier League Darts
Wolverhampton

With the Second Premier League Darts underway there was another fantastic turnout for the event with the Darts fans in a real party mood, despite the efforts of the weather.

Results:

Colin Lloyd 6 V Raymond Van Barneveld 8
Roland Scholten 6 V Terry Jenkins 8
Phil Taylor 7 V Dennis Priestly 7
Peter Manley 4 V Adrian Lewis 8

King move causes huge darts row

Mervyn King's move from the British Darts Organisation to the Professional Darts Corporation has bought the huge divide between the 2 rival dart bodies to a head. King follows top dart players like Raymond van Barneveld, Jelle Klaasen and Michael van Gerwen across darts most acrimonious divide. BDO spokesman Robert Holmes told BBC Sport: "All the PDC are doing is buying and poaching players. It's the only way they can survive." But PDC chairman Barry Hearn responded: "'Poaching' is a silly, emotive word." Following the announcement of King's move on Tuesday, Holmes said: "We at the BDO wouldn't want to run a sport in that way - in fact we would not even describe the PDC as a sport. We look after the sport of darts - over 20,000 players of all abilities and of both sexes - and we have a system in place for producing quality players. "In effect, the PDC is just a private club of a few players and the only way they have got that far, and the only way they can survive, is by poaching our players." And Holmes insisted the BDO will not accept King and Klaasen's exits lightly, adding: "I'm personally very disappointed. "Mervyn has always said he would rather pack in darts than join the PDC and twice during the Lakeside World Championships I went on record to say as much. And now this - I'm stunned. "We are taking legal advice on his situation, as well as Klaasen's. As far as we're concerned it's a breach of contract. We'll be meeting with our lawyers this week to see what the next step will be." Hearn responded: "Mervyn King wants to play every week and earn decent money. Any player with ambition would be mad not to join the PDC. "You can't be a professional darts player with the BDO because there are so few events that pay money - decent money. "We've never bought a player, there are no restrictions on who plays whatsoever. None of our players have been paid to join us, what we offer them is a future." And Hearn was happy to admit that the BDO expects to welcome more players crossing the divide in the future. "There's a good case to say we need the BDO to survive," Hearn told BBC Sport. "They provide a conveyor-belt of talent. "We have 350 to 400 players worldwide, with the top 16, maybe top 32, making a good living. I feel the BDO put more into the sport than I do. "We want to take advantage of that and continue to be a part of it. We're the dream factory of darts." Holmes suggested the movement of players would not continue to be "one-way traffic" and claimed, "There are a lot of disillusioned players in the PDC." Hearn said: "I've not heard of more than one player going back but if they want to be a good pub player, the BDO is fabulous for them."They should go where they're happy. It's easier to play for Leyton Orient than in the Premiership."

Prince Charles Loses at Darts

Prince Charles knows how to have a good time at the bar but don't waste your time challenging him to play darts.
Britain's royal enjoyed a pint of ale and lost a game of darts when he visited an English bar on Monday.
The prince made an official visit to Britain's first cooperatively run public house, the Old Crown in Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria.
The bar became a cooperative after 150 villagers paid £2,000 each to buy a share in it.
The prince toured the Old Crown's own microbrewery where he tasted the dark porter ale, called "Great Cockup," which is brewed there.
Landlord Malcolm Hawksworth told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper. "He liked it in the brewery and asked for it in the pub."
The prince drank his pint before losing at darts, when he was challenged by pub regular Sally Richardson.

King controversy at centre of darts

Mervyn King was today threatened with legal action by the British Darts Organisation, after confirming he is switching to play on the rival Professional Darts Corporation circuit.
The former World Masters champion is following three top Dutch darts players belonging to the same management company - Michael van Gerwen, Jelle Klaasen and Vincent van der Voort - who also contested this year's Lakeside World Championship, before crossing the sport's bitter divide.
But apparently the 40-year-old is bound to the BDO under the terms of a contract he signed, stating that any player who reached the semi-finals at the Lakeside this year would return to contest the event in 2008. King was beaten in the last four by eventual champion Martin Adams.
Both players could now be the subject of legal action by the BDO.

King joins PDC circuit

Mervyn King has stunned the British Darts Organisation by joining the Professional Darts Corporation, despite insisting that he would not last month.
An angry King threatened to pull out of the Lakeside World Championship after refuting a link with the PDC circuit.
However the Norfolk player has now moved, joining Raymond van Barneveld and Jelle Klaasen in leaving the BDO.
"I'm looking to further my darts career and have noticed for a couple of years the strength in depth of the PDC," he said.
"I want to be a part of that and move forward with it in the coming years.
"It's a new challenge for me. It's a frightening prospect but an exciting one at the same time."
Great Yarmouth-based King reached the semi-finals of this year's Lakeside tournament and has twice lost in the final at Frimley Green, to Tony David in 2002 and Winmau's Andy Fordham two years later.
However, the 40-year-old is now expected to make his debut on the PDC Pro Tour in the Blue Square UK Open South-East Regional Final in London at the start of March.
PDC chairman Barry Hearn said: "We're delighted to welcome Mervyn into the PDC ranks. He is a quality player capable of winning major tournaments.
"He has proved by joining the PDC that he has the ambition and desire to compete against the best players in the world on the game's biggest stages."

Report by the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/darts/6335605.stm

REVIEW OF BETTING RULES

BRITISH DARTS ORGANISATION
ANNOUNCES REVIEW OF BETTING RULES

Following on from its signature last year of the DCMS sponsored Code of Practice on Integrity in Sports Betting, and in preparation for the coming into force later this year of the Gambling Act, which will liberalise the UK gambling market and so further encourage the upward trend in betting on sports such as darts, the BDO has today announced that it has instituted a root-and-branch review of its rules and regulations.

This has been done to ensure that the BDO follows best practice in relation to activities such as betting and the use of inside information by darts players.

It is a decision that reflects the commitment of the BDO, as the sport’s governing body, to do everything in its power to protect the integrity of the sport in the face of this increasing betting activity.

BDO Chairman, Dave Alderman, said: “The DCMS recognised last year that the liberalising effect of the Gambling Act would increase the risk of corrupt betting practices in relation to sports events, where gambling activity is already significant.

“The DCMS also recognised that sports bodies would have a key role in keeping sport fair and crime-free in the face of those risks.

“The BDO is committed to playing its part in full, by ensuring that darts players participating in its events avoid any form of conduct that could undermine public confidence in the integrity of those events.

“The root-and-branch review announced today will ensure that our rules and regulations reflect best practice in this area.

“We look forward to engaging with the Gambling Commission on this and related topics when they publish their forthcoming Issues Paper relating to gambling and the sports sector.”

He also called upon the government to play its part in preserving the integrity of sport against corrupt betting practices, in two principal ways: (1) by requiring licensed gambling operators to share information about betting activity around sports events with the relevant sports bodies, such as the BDO; and (2) more fundamentally, by assisting in the creation of a mechanism to secure fair payment for betting companies’ use of the sporting product, to assist in financing both integrity efforts and the development of the sport more generally.

Alderman added: “The betting industry makes huge profits from sports betting, and it is only fair that it should pay something in return, particularly when sports bodies have to commit substantial resources to ensure that betting activity does not threaten the integrity of the sport.

“At several meetings with representatives of the Gambling Commission, we have stood with our counterparts at other sports bodies such as the FA, the LTA and the RFU in asking the Gambling Commission to ensure that these important issues are addressed within the new regulatory framework, and we are hopeful that that message has been heard and understood.”

Congratulations to Black Horse Inn - Shipston

FIVE darts teams who played a 24-hour marathon at the Black Horse Inn in Shipston raised £2,800 for local charities.
The money was presented to four charities at a ceremony at the Station Road pub.
Shipston Home Nursing and the Warwickshire and Northants Air Ambulance both received £1,000, the Friends of Ellen Badger Hospital received £500 and Shipston in Bloom was given £300.
The darts marathon, held in the summer, marked the silver jubilee of the annual fundraising event. Among the teams taking part was one representing the Air Ambulance and Shipston surgery.
There was also a fete, pig roast and disco.

Expected darts scores with Gaussian modelling

Simply put what is the best way to improve your darts scoring that has been scientifically proven?
Obviously the aim is to get the maximum score, but is aiming your darts at the triple twenty the bet way to go?
Clearly to the left and right of the triple twenty lay the numbers 1 & 5 that I’m sure feature heavily in many of us who play.
What we at Red Dragon Darts have done is to team up with a Statistical Mathematician who aims to prove the best way to go until your accuracy increases.
We aim to try and give every darts player a guide to their darts handicap and how you can measure this using a sigma value.
Once you know how good you are you should then know which area of the board will see you hit higher average scores and hence improve your darts scores, accuracy and confidence.
So stay tuned for the updates as we'll be crunching through the Mathematical Darts jargon to bring you some answers, some you may already know some you may not.

Durham acknowledge Nixon success

Lakeside World Darts runner-up Phill Nixon has been made an honorary member of Durham County Cricket Club.
Nixon enthralled a BBC TV audience which peaked at five million by coming back from the dead at 6-0 down against Martin Adams to pull level before narrowly losing 7-6.
The 50-year-old darts player from Ferryhill said: "The attention has been unbelievable since the final and being presented with this membership is fantastic.

Trina & Clare The Foxy Ladies

Winmau's Trina Gulliver and England Darts partner Clare Bywaters have both decided to try out the latest Red Dragon Darts Foxy Ladies after seeing them in the new brochure so we'll see how these Foxy Ladies get on with our Foxy Ladies.

PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS IN THE NETHERLANDS

The Dutch Darts Premier League (DDPL) will be launched this spring and the organisers have announced that the following eight players will compete in this years event.

Gary Anderson ( Scotland) Niels de Ruiter (Netherlands)
Martin Adams (England) Ted Hankey (England)
Darryl Fitton (England) Gary Robson (England)
Co Stompé (Netherlands) Phill Nixon (England)

The Dutch Darts Premier League will be played over five days at four different venues throughout the country. During the first four days of the tournament the participants will compete to reach the Grand Final. The Grand Final, which will be played at The Zenith in Venray, will feature the best four players of the competition. They will play in to Semi-Finals to decide who will play the Final.

Darts on TV

Rememeber you can watch all the latest darts from the Lakeside for free on the BBC Darts web link http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/darts/default.stm as it makes fantastic viewing.

Or just keep up with all the latest darts news in the press.

Dark Destroyer Darts

Take a look at these sleek black beauties shaped and designed by Red Dragon Darts for those who want some darts that are completely different.

Team Red Dragon Darts

Hex Darts - Are they the way forward?

Have you seen the new Hex Darts by Red Dragon Darts in the latest brochure?

They really are a break from the norm and were developed to give you the perfect grip stability whilst playing the best darts you can.

So if you know anyone who has these darts or have any comments about these reveloutionary darts then let us know.

Team Red Dragon Darts

Foxy Ladies By Red Dragon Darts

Red Dragon Darts have launched a massive amount of new darts in the 2007 Red Dragon Darts brochure.
One very notable inclusion for the Ladies, or those who are inclined, are the superb Foxy Ladies Darts so if you want to buy a set these superb darts please request a brochure on 01656 652121 0r click this link and fill in the details: Request a brochure.

Trina in Seventh Heaven

Winmau’s TRINA GULLIVER is in seventh heaven after being crowned BDO Darts Lakeside World Professional Women’s Champion for an incredible seventh time.

It means that she remains unbeaten on the famous Lakeside darts stage since the first Women’s World Championship was played in 2001 and has only lost 3 Sets at ‘the home of World Darts’.

She can also boast a unique double, because when Martin Adams was crowned 2007 BDO Lakeside World Darts Professional Men’s Champion, it meant that for the first time in the 30 year history of the BDO World Pro, the Men’s and Women’s England Dart Captains are reining BDO Lakeside World Darts Champions.

Darts World Championships 2007

Wolfie's World Champion Darts Van

Having been seen by 5 million BBC viewers in their epic 2007 BDO Lakeside World Darts Final, Martin Adams and Phil Nixon have quickly discovered that Lakeside finalists achieve instant fame.

As 2007 World Darts Champion Martin returned home to be met by TV crews and media, and his mobile phone was so hot that it needed constant re-charging and he almost lost his voice!

He was interviewed by Talksport, Radio Five Live, countless local radio stations and filmed for Anglia TV, BBC East, News 24 and Yorkshire TV in less than 24 hours! Sponsorship offers and hundreds of messages of congratulation will keep him busy for quite a while.

As for Phil Nixon, he returned to Ferryhill, Co.Durham as a new sporting hero. He had been in the local newspapers throughout Lakeside week, was nicknamed ‘The Ferryhill Flyer’ and even made the front pages.

He received so many calls on the long trip from the darts at Lakeside to Ferryhill that the battery in his mobile phone was quickly exhausted!

When he did get home he couldn’t get into his house because of TV crews, radio reporters and media camping on his lawn!

He’s also being given an official Civic Reception.

He and wife Suzanne have been offered Honorary Membership of Durham Cricket Club.

There is even a best-selling Nixy darts pizza in Ferryhill representing a dartboard.

And his inspirational route to the 2007 BDO Lakeside Darts World Final is such that he has even had an offer for his amazing story from a British film company!