News of the World Darts Championship

News of the World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Venue Various (see here)
Location London
Country England
Established 1927
Format Legs
Final Year 1997
Final champion(s)
England Phil Taylor
England Linda Jones

The News of the World Individual Darts Championship was one of the first major organised darts competitions, which began in 1927. It became England's first national darts competition from 1947 until its demise in 1990. There was also a brief revival of the event in 1996/97, but it is now discontinued.

Before the tournament was established, darts competitions were held in various forms around the England – often as friendly matches between pubs. After World War I, pub breweries began arranging darts leagues which began to sow the seeds for the establishment of a national darts competition. The tournament was noted for using an 8 ft oche rather than the regulation 7 ft 9 ¼ inches. One of these competitions was held in Hythe Street, Dartford, Kent in 1927. The competition was sponsored by a local Brewery, C.N Kidd & Sons Ltd.

Origins

The tournament was first organised in the 1927/28 season thanks to the help of the staff on the News of the World newspaper and other volunteers, who helped set up the competition. William Jewiss won the 1927 darts challenge cup sponsored by News of the World and C.N Kidd & Sons brewery in Dartford.

There were around 1,000 entries in the first event, which was held in the Metropolitan area of London. The tournament then began to expand around the different counties in England. By 1938/39 there were six different regional events – London & South England, Wales, Lancashire & Cheshire, Yorkshire, the North of England and the Midland Counties.

The total entrants in the competition in 1938/39 was in excess of 280,000. Enormous interest was created that year by the London and South of England championship. A record crowd of 14,534 spectators filled the Royal Agricultural Hall, London in May to witness the final between Jim Pike (representing the Windmill Club, Southwark) and Marmaduke Brecon (Jolly Sailor, Hanworth, Middlesex). Brecon ran out the winner by two games to one.

There was, however no national champion of the event until after World War II. It was revived as a national competition in 1947/48, and continued to be described as ‘the championship every dart player wants to win’ until its demise in the 1990s.

Demise

The News of the World was the first nationally televised darts event as ITV broadcast the championship from 1970 onwards (with the exception of the 1986 event which wasn't broadcast due to a technician's strike).

But as quickly as darts tournaments began to appear on television throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, the bubble burst and competitions such as the British Professional Championship, the British Open, the British Gold Cup and the team World Cup event had all disappeared from the screens by 1988.

No reason was ever given for its cancellation, but television coverage of the sport continued to decline to such an extent that it possibly came as no surprise that the News of the World Championship also ended in 1990. As it happened, 1990 was also the first year that separate competitions were held for men and women.

After the tournament ended, it left the World Professional Championship as the only televised tournament. This situation left some players frustrated by the lack of opportunity to make a living, that within two years they formed their own organisation to start up their own tournaments (see main article: Professional Darts Corporation).

Brief revival

The News of the World Championship made a one-year reappearance in the 1996/97 season, when Sky Sports and the News of the World resurrected the competition.

In his autobiography, Phil Taylor says that his mentor, Eric Bristow always mocked him for never having won the competition and that it was the tournament that everyone wanted to win.

Taylor put the record straight by beating Ian White 2–0 in the final in June 1997, collecting the News of the World Big D Trophy, a cheque for £42,000 and a set of Unicorn golden darts. Following his victory, which also saw him take out the then England captain Martin Adams 2–1 in the semi finals, Taylor was quoted as saying "I've won five world titles – but this one means everything".

However, the overall response to the competition was disappointing and the News of the World decided against running it again. The tournament remains discontinued.

Tournament winners

The tournament was arranged on a regional basis from 1927 until 1939. The National Championship began in 1947–48.[1]

Women

Multiple winners

No player has ever won the national title three times, seven players managed two wins each.

Venues

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References

  1. ↑ "News of the World Champions". Darts 501. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Planet Darts | Latest News | Newsdesk | Newsdesk | Taylor Goes Back To The Future!". Pdc.tv. Retrieved 2012-07-26.

External links