World Darts Championship 2009

[turk]

It's embarassing also to hear the scores announcer on the BDO trying to shout 41 or 26 in a funny voice. check it out

[Niall Quinn]

'Is the hurricane in a similar type situation?'

Who cares if he is ... he's the hatefulest bastard you could ever wish to meet who now spends his time selling his autograph for a £5 to buy drink or tolerating the company of star-struck arseholes (usually english tourists) in Belfast city centre pubs as long as they buy all the drink...

For some reason I recently read "The Hurricane: The Turbulent Life & Times of Alex Higgins" and it was pretty stunning stuff. I used to follow Higgins as a youngster and kind of admired his 'feck it all' attitude, but reading about his life in painful detail was pretty distrubing. If the elements of consistency are what defines a being, then I think it's fair to say that Higgins was / is a complete ****. He seemed to run on a sort of Gatsby-esque pursuit of cheap thrills, one of which appeared to be in the making of life miserable for all around him. I think it was Ted Lowe who said it best: "the only people who like Alex Higgins are the people who've never met him".

[thewobbler]

I stronly disagree.  Look at those who have moved over in the last year who were big players in the BDO- eg Merv King, Klaasen, van Gerwen- they dont make any real impact in the PDC.  Better standard at the Ally Pally, and also better presented.

They make the same impact on the PDC as longstanding PDC players, i.e. second fiddle to Phil Taylor.

Every player who has won the PDC world title came from the BDO ranks.

[carnaross]

I stronly disagree.  Look at those who have moved over in the last year who were big players in the BDO- eg Merv King, Klaasen, van Gerwen- they dont make any real impact in the PDC.  Better standard at the Ally Pally, and also better presented.

They make the same impact on the PDC as longstanding PDC players, i.e. second fiddle to Phil Taylor.

Every player who has won the PDC world title came from the BDO ranks.

Of course the PDC world title winners all came from the BDO - which other organisation would afford them the wherewithal to develop their skills. The BDO has always had the infrastructure, youth, pub leagues, super leagues, county and internationals, although the internationals are slowly going by the wayside as players are allowed to make their own living on the exhibition circuit. What infrastructure has the PDC? Without the likes of Sky and, more especially Ladbrokes, throwing a pile of money at the PDC, it would have died long ago. Even the Tote got in the act at Ally Pally - watch out for other bookmakers getting involved now they are allowed to advertise, which, incidentally, I thought they couldn't do prior to the 9pm watershed?

[imtommygunn]

There are ones that have won the BDO one that have had absolutely no impact on the PDC one though. e.g. ones like Burnett etc. Once you took Barneveld out of the BDO you could now say that if the best BDO player went into PDC they'd be about the 7th or 8th best player there.

Part and Barney in the last few years have made the impact.

PDC is just bankrolled by sky / mass advertising etc hence everyone wanting to go there. Everyone will come from BDO because it has, like people say here, the infrastructure in place. Unless they get similar advertising / TV deals to the PDC they'll not be able to compete. To do that they'd have to get to hell away from the BBC.

You could analogise the PDC to the premier league over the last 5/10 years. It's all about the here and now and not the future. While it has the BDO as a conveyor belt it will be alright though. The premier league will be alright too, the foreign countries will just keep providing the players...

[red hander]

'For some reason I recently read "The Hurricane: The Turbulent Life & Times of Alex Higgins" and it was pretty stunning stuff. I used to follow Higgins as a youngster and kind of admired his 'feck it all' attitude, but reading about his life in painful detail was pretty distrubing. If the elements of consistency are what defines a being, then I think it's fair to say that Higgins was / is a complete ****. He seemed to run on a sort of Gatsby-esque pursuit of cheap thrills, one of which appeared to be in the making of life miserable for all around him. I think it was Ted Lowe who said it best: "the only people who like Alex Higgins are the people who've never met him".'

NQ, even people who consider themselves 'friends' of Higgins will tell you he's a cuntbubble ... this is the man who had to hand over his winnings from his first world title by way of compensation to Dennis Taylor (a supreme arsehole BTW, according to Coalisland people) after threatening to have him shot by the UDA...  Higgins is an utter, utter sc**bag ... i've witnessed it

[bennydorano]

Mark Webster beat Simon whitlock in the BDO final tonight 6-4, I'd dare say their stats would be as good if not better than anything the PDC had to offer this year, the standard from the QF's on in the BDO tournament was excellent.

[whyarerefssobad]

the score was 7 5 very good match

[Muzz]

Websters average in the first 3 sets was 107.  This would have beaten anyone in the PDC this year.  Webster is an amazing player winning 3 tournaments this year.  He would easily make it in the PDC. 

Another reason why the PDC has the better darts throwers overall is becasue the players dont have to do part-time jobs.  Alot of the guys throwing with the BDO do not have the funds behind them to quit their full-time jobs.  Hence less practice. 

Its just a shame that Webster will be tied to the BDO for at least another year.  AFAIK the champion has it written in his contract he has to come back to defend the title? 

[thewobbler]

I don't see why "it's a shame that Webster will be tied to the BDO for another year". As BennyDorano pointed out, the standard from the quarter-finals onwards was at least as good in this tournament as it was in the PDC.

[Muzz]

Its a shame as I think Webster could be even better.  Yes the PDC was poor this year.  I will be the first to admit.  If Webster could quit his plumbing job and concentrate on his darts as well as playing overall better players week in week out in the Premier League of darts instead of playing exhibitions around the country he could be immense.

Its just my opinion.

[Rav67]

The final was excellent and a better standard than the PDC final.  Webster is an excellent darts player, maybe not this year but he will eventually switch to the PDC.  Beacuse of Sky televising the events and packaging the sport better, there is more money and glamour in the PDC events and this will inevitably tempt him at some point.  He'll also want to test himself against Taylor before he is past it, and Barney.

[Aerlik]

Bring back Leighton Rees and Bobby George!!  What was the name of the County Antrim man who played a few times in the World Championship in the '80s.  He was from Dervock or Bushmills or Stranocum?

[Muzz]

Its just a shame that Webster will be tied to the BDO for at least another year.  AFAIK the champion has it written in his contract he has to come back to defend the title? 

I don't think that's the case, because it was known that Barney was going to the PDC before the BDO World Championship when Klassen beat him in the final, and it was the same last year with Klassen, King and Van Gerwin - it was known they where PDC bound before the event.

In terms of the current BDO batch of players, Webster, Wolfie and Gary Anderson (despite his first round exit) would probably be in the top 16 in the PDC but after that it's thin enough. Whitlock's not bad, but there's the touch of the Kirk Shepard about him and I wouldn't be convinced of him making the Semis next year.

Wasnt there uproar though when Klassen won and then switched allegiance?  I would have to agree on Webster and Anderson but as for Wolfie I doubt he has the class.  Then again I really dont like the man.  Don't know why just cant stand him.

[thewobbler]

Woflie is a steady 85 to 88 average man. Wouldn't win him a PDC title, but realistically there aren't too many players in either version who are that consistent.

Whitlock averaged around 90 for the tournament Onion Bag. That would put him in the top 8 in PDC darts surely.

The biggest difference between the two tournaments (Taylor aside) is the first round. The Lakeside's first round is full of players who have no or next to no experience of throwing under that sort of pressure and a lot of them turn to quivering wrecks. Most of the PDC boys are used to Sky's cameras prodding around when they're throwing. Once you get into the last 16, things really start to level up.