Premier League Darts
| Premier League | |
|---|---|
| Tournament information | |
| Venue | Various |
| Location | Various |
| Country | United Kingdom and Ireland |
| Established | 2005 |
| Organisation(s) | PDC |
| Format | Legs |
| Prize fund | £550,000 (2014) |
| Month(s) Played | February – May |
| Current champion(s) | |
 Michael van Gerwen | |
The Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which launched on January 20, 2005 on Sky Sports. The league is now played weekly from February to May, having originally started as a fortnightly fixture. The tournament originally featured seven players and now sees ten of the biggest names from the PDC circuit competing in a double round-robin format, with matches held across the United Kingdom and Ireland at different venues. The top four players in the PDC Order of Merit are joined by six wild card selections to make up the ten-man field.
The previous sponsors are Whyte & Mackay who succeeded Holsten having signed a three-year contract to support the event in October 2007.[1] The prize fund will rise from £265,000 to £340,000 in 2008 – with the guaranteed minimum of £20,000 (previously £15,000) for each player that qualifies. The winner currently receives £125,000.
Phil Taylor has dominated this event, winning six of the nine competitions to date. He went unbeaten throughout the first three seasons before James Wade ended his 44 match run in the first match of the 2008 season. A new champion was to be crowned after Mervyn King defeated him in the 2009 semi-finals. Wade defeated King 13–8 in the final, to pick up the £125,000 first prize. Phil Taylor defeated James Wade the following season to claim his 5th title in the competition in 2010, however he was defeated in the semi-final of the 2011 tournament, allowing Gary Anderson to become champion in his debut season by defeating Adrian Lewis in a repeat of the world championship final earlier that year. Phil Taylor reclaimed the title the following year & is the defending champion, after defeating Simon Whitlock in the 2012 final.
Television Coverage
The matches have been broadcast on Thursday nights on Sky Sports since the tournament inception. Originally the league alternated with Premier League Snooker one week and Premier League Darts the next. From 2006, the snooker moved to late autumn – giving the Premier League darts a straight weekly run in the spring.
American sports channel OLN aired the 2006 Premier League Darts season on a slight delay, in August 2006.
German sports channel DSF (Deutsches Sport Fernsehen) has broadcast many matches of the past two years live on TV and gives coverages of a selection of matches.
The PDC announced in January 2007 that the contract with Sky Television for coverage of the Premier League had been extended to 2010.
In the Netherlands, the 2011 Premier League Darts was broadcast on RTL7 and will continue to do so until 2013.
Sponsorship
The tournament has had four title sponsors since it was formed in 2005. They are 888.com (2005, 2011), Holsten (2006–2007), Whyte and Mackay (2008–2010) and McCoy's Crisps (2012–present).
Finals
| Year | Final | Tournament | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-Up | Best of | Venue | Sponsor | Prize-pool | Players | Venues | |
| 2005 |  Phil Taylor |
16–4 | Colin Lloyd |
31 legs | G-Mex, Manchester | 888.com | £150,000 | 7 | 11 |
| 2006 | Phil Taylor (101.41) |
16–6 | Roland Scholten (92.01) |
Plymouth Pavilions | Holsten | £167,500 | |||
| 2007 | Phil Taylor (99.20) |
16–6 | Terry Jenkins (90.81) |
The Brighton Centre | £265,000 | 8 | 15 | ||
| 2008 | Phil Taylor (108.36) |
16–8 | James Wade (100.14) |
Cardiff International Arena | Whyte & Mackay | £340,000 | |||
| 2009 | James Wade (90.38) |
13–8 | Mervyn King (85.83) |
25 legs | Wembley Arena | £405,000 | |||
| 2010 | Phil Taylor (111.67) |
10–8 | James Wade (100.08) |
19 legs | £410,000 | ||||
| 2011 |  Gary Anderson (94.67) |
10–4 | Adrian Lewis (85.75) |
888.com | |||||
| 2012 | Phil Taylor (97.08) |
10–7 |  Simon Whitlock (95.32) |
The O2, London | McCoy's Crisps | £450,000 | |||
| 2013 | Michael van Gerwen (103.29) |
10–8 | Phil Taylor (104.10) |
£520,000 | 10 | ||||
| 2014 | Betway | £550,000 | 16 | ||||||
Tournament records
- Most titles: 6 – Phil Taylor
- Longest unbeaten run: 44 matches – Phil Taylor (2005–2008)
- Biggest victories (league stage): 11–1 Phil Taylor v Wayne Mardle (2005), 11–1 Phil Taylor v Peter Manley (2005).
- Biggest victories (playoff stages): 16–4 Phil Taylor v Colin Lloyd (2005 final)
- Whitewashes (since removal of "dead" legs in 2006): Colin Lloyd 8–0 Terry Jenkins (2007), Phil Taylor 8–0 Wayne Mardle (2008), James Wade 8-0 Simon Whitlock (2012), Michael van Gerwen 7-0 Phil Taylor (2014)
- Most 180's in a single match - 11 Gary Anderson v Simon Whitlock (2011).[2][3]
- Highest average: 117.35 - Phil Taylor (2012)
Appearances
Since the tournament made its debut in 2005, Phil Taylor has been the only player to appear in every Premier League competition. From 2005 until the 2010 tournament, the top six players in the PDC Order of Merit after the PDC World Darts Championship automatically qualified, with one wildcard (2005 and 2006) and two wildcards (2007–2010) chosen by either the PDC or Sky Sports. From the 2011 tournament, only the top four in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualified, with four wildcards (2011 and 2012) chosen by both the PDC and Sky Sports. In 2013, the tournament grew from eight players to ten, with the top four players in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualifying and six other players chosen on the basis of their performance in the past year or in earlier editions of the Premier League.
In 2014, Peter Wright, and Dave Chisnall were the latest players to make their Premier League debuts.
| Appearances | Player | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Phil Taylor | 2005–present | |
| 9 | Raymond van Barneveld | 2006–present | |
| 7 | Adrian Lewis | 2007–2008 2010–present |
Made a guest appearance in 2009 |
| 6 | James Wade | 2008–2013 | |
| 5 | Terry Jenkins | 2007–2011 | |
| Simon Whitlock | 2010–present | ||
| 4 | Peter Manley | 2005–2008 | |
| Wayne Mardle | 2005–2006 2008–2009 |
||
| Gary Anderson | 2011–present | Made a guest appearance in 2009 | |
| 3 | Colin Lloyd | 2005–2007 | |
| Roland Scholten | 2005–2007 | ||
| John Part | 2005 2008–2009 |
||
| 2 | Ronnie Baxter | 2006 2010 |
|
| Mervyn King | 2009–2010 | ||
| Andy Hamilton | 2012–2013 | ||
| Michael van Gerwen | 2013–present | ||
| Wes Newton | 2013–present | ||
| Robert Thornton | 2013–present | Made a guest appearance in 2009 | |
| 1 | Mark Dudbridge | 2005 | |
| Dennis Priestley | 2007 | Made a guest appearance in 2009 | |
| Jelle Klaasen | 2009 | ||
| Mark Webster | 2011 | Made a guest appearance in 2009 | |
| Kevin Painter | 2012 | ||
| Dave Chisnall | 2014–present | ||
| Peter Wright | 2014–present |
References
- ↑ Whyte & Mackay to sponsor Premier League planetdarts.tv
- ↑ "888.com Premier League Darts - Night 11". PDC. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ↑ http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/sports-latest/2011/04/22/premier-league-super-scot-gary-anderson-breaks-180-record-during-demolition-of-simon-whitlock-86908-23078799/
External links
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