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This is a blog all about PDC darts. I am Jamie Barron and I am 18 years old from Yorkshire, England. This blog will contain posts about my experience and opinion of anything darts related as well as debates, player profiles and tournament reviews. I am writing this blog in order to share my opinions but also because I study A-Level Media and want to possibly pursue a career in journalism.

Previously at www.jambosdarts.blog.co.uk until 18/01/2015

Friday 30 January 2015

Premier League 2015

Image taken from http://www.live-darts.com/category/darts-news/premier-league-darts-2015-fixture-list-201501090001/
(credit: PDC/Betway)
If there wasn't enough drama at the latest World Championship Final, Barry Hearn made the decision to name the Premier League 2015 lineup immediately after Gary Anderson lifted the trophy. With more players than ever staking a claim for a place this year, the PDC and Sky Sports had a very difficult decision on their hands. A decision I think they got wrong.

Many of you agree with me. Since moving to Blogger I have ran a poll (down the right hand side of your page) to see if people are happy with the Premier League lineup and 44% of you have answered 'No'. I urge you to please read this article, hear my views and cast a vote yourselves!

Before the announcement came, I had thought carefully about who should be picked and I based my choices on entertainment, form and their overall results in 2014. In all honesty it was a mixture between what I thought was correct and who I wanted to see battle it our every Thursday night.



To expand, the top 4 on my list are the automatic choices for the Premier League due to their top 4 world ranking. Then the next 6 are written in order of who I thought deserved a Premier League spot the most.

Clearly, the defending champion Raymond Van Barneveld was a must pick to come back and defend his crown and I felt the same about Peter Wright who has had a consistent year. His wacky hairstyles and antics are sure to pull in the crowds once more. There was controversy last year when James Wade missed out on the Premier League but I backed that decision as I hoped it would give him the motivation to recapture his form and rediscover his love for the game. He has been able to do this over the last year and therefore again definitely deserves a place in the Premier League. In contrast, a year ago I definitely wouldn't have predicted Stephen Bunting would have been considered for the Premier League. The Peter Griffen look-a-like however has proven his critics wrong in a breakthrough year and was even able to show his class in defeat against Raymond Van Barneveld in the World Championships. My next choice was Robert Thornton and I thought Thornton thoroughly deserved a Premier League place after another consistent year in which he has won 3 Players Championships Qualifiers as well as contributing to one of the best matches of the year at the World Grand Prix where both him and James Wade hit 9 darters in the double start format. Finally, I would have picked Terry Jenkins as the last player to make up the cut as he would have been a very popular choice amongst fans and fellow professionals. He also had a successful 2014, reaching two more major finals and I think he deserved to be back in the Premier League after a 3 year absence. 

Aside from the 10 players I finally chose for my ultimate Premier League lineup 2015, Dave Chisnall, Mervyn King, Kim Huybrechts and Vincent Van Der Voort also came into consideration but in the end I expected them to miss out. When choosing the Premier League Lineup, I believe it is incredibly important to choose players based on 2014 as a whole and not the drama of the World Championships, therefore I think these players just came up short.

All in all, 2014 has been a fantastic year for many players and darts continues to go from strength to strength. As per usual, at the PDC Annual Awards, the new World Champion took home the majority of the honours and deservedly so. You will hopefully all agree that it was fantastic to witness Gary Anderson's rise back to become world champion after dropping out of the world's top 16 in 2012. When looking back across the whole year and at all of 2014's event winners, it is clear to see that it was one of the most unpredictable years we've had. Out of the 10 major events credited in the PDC World Championships programme, there were six different winners and in addition to that, there were 12 other Pro Tour champions. The three most successful players of the year were Michael Van Gerwen with 11 victories, Gary Anderson with 8 and Phil Taylor with 7.


Looking back to the Premier League 2015 now and the official lineup of players taking part in this years competition is shown below and I was very shocked at the players included...

I correctly predicted eight of the ten players who would get the call to take part but I was very surprised at Dave Chisnall and Kim Huybrechts' inclusion. Mr Chisnall has always stuck me as a nearly man and that has definitely been the case this year. Although he reached a major final at the Grand Slam, this was the only major talking point for 'Chizzy' in 2014. In 2015 therefore, he will be out to prove his critics wrong and improve on his 7th place Premier League finish last year.

Kim Huybrechts will be a Premier League debutant this year and I have got to say I was astounded the PDC chose him to take part. I've never had anything against Huybrechts as a player but I never truly expected the PDC to pick a player outside the top 16 to take part in such a prestigious event. To put this decision into perspective, the final major tournament before the Premier League begins is the Unibet Masters, a great warm up tournament for the Premier League. However, Huybrechts has not qualified for this competition.

If Kim Huybrechts had been the Sky wildcard I would have been less surprised. They may have chosen him for his antics and to witness the Phil Taylor rivalry. However, I personally do not see how he deserves a spot over Robert Thornton. Despite an excellent win, including a 9 darter, against Michael Van Gerwen to reach the Grand Slam semi final, this is the only major semi final he reached all year. Furthermore, neither him nor Dave Chisnall have won a PDC Event this year whereas Robert Thornton has won three. Robert Thornton has had a solid year and his performance at the World Championships was impeccable where he didn't lose a set until the quarter finals. Even when he was eliminated by Michael Van Gerwen, he put up a fantastic performance, averaging over 100 and coming back from 3:0 down. I believe Thornton can feel very hard done by and since he has never been relegated from the Premier League, I thought he deserved another shot to prove his worth.

It's now less than a week to go until the Premier League begins in Leeds and before then we've got the Unibet Masters to enjoy first this weekend. Despite not being fully happy with the Premier League lineup, I still believe it will be an incredible tournament and of course many of the World's best players are still taking part. Unfortunately, due to other commitments this year, I will not be able to write weekly reviews. I will still try and write every month however and discuss any controversial moments! So to conclude, I am going to finish off with the fixtures for Leeds on Thursday, including a World Championship Final rematch, along with my predictions for the tournament.

Week 1 - Leeds - Fixtures 

Dave Chisnall vs Peter Wright
Raymond Van Barneveld vs Adrian Lewis
Kim Huybrechts vs Michael Van Gerwen
Gary Anderson vs Phil Taylor
Stephen Bunting vs James Wade

Predictions

Premier League Champion = Gary Anderson
Final 4 = Gary Anderson, Michael Van Gerwen, Phil Taylor and Stephen Bunting
Relegated = Dave Chisnall and Kim Huybrechts



Sunday 18 January 2015

Welcome to Blogger!

It is with great pleasure that I can finally share with you my new blog website. After hours of work and market research, I have decided to permanently move my blog to this new page. For anyone unaware, I currently write www.jambosdarts.blog.co.uk but as of today (18/01/2015), my blog has moved to this new site (www.jambosdarts.blogspot.co.uk)

I began writing this blog just over a year ago and in that time my blog has grown, culminating in over 20,000 views. Therefore, I was hesitant to move my site incase I lost my regular readers but I felt I had to keep trying to improve the blog and the next step was to improve its layout.

There is many reasons why I have chosen to move to Blogger. These include that: it gives me more control over layout and fonts; it allows me to understand my readers better and it allows me to upload photos and videos to my posts. I have added all my blog articles over to this new page but I am not going to edit them or add images to old posts. In the future you can look forward to more images to support my writing.

I have worked hard creating this new layout but design has never been my strong point so I would really appreciate your comments on the layout, colours, fonts etc, plus anything else you think would be helpful on my blog. Notable additions include the links in my description; the translate tool down the right hand side; the button to follow me on Twitter and the poll.  

I would like to thank you for your support over the last year and if you want to continue subscribing to my blog or start subscribing, please enter your email address in the subscribe box on the right hand side. I have not had any professional help creating this new page and all my articles are solely mine, without the help of a proof reader. This is what makes any feedback so valuable to me so please contact me on Twitter or via my email (jambosdarts@gmail.com) if you have any comments about my work.

Thank you very much

Coming Soon to Jambo's Darts Blog
My View on The Premier League Line Up 2015
The Definitive Darts Coaching Manual (David Kirby) -  Review

Saturday 17 January 2015

1 Year Anniversary!

1 year ago today was the day I started this blog and I wanted to say thank you for all your support. Last night I reached 20,000 page views on this blog and that is double my aim for the year! I appreciate and save all of your comments and praise and I never believed 1 year ago that I would still be writing this blog with 4 other websites sharing my articles. I hope to continue writing this blog for the foreseeable future. Thank You. 
Coming Soon on Jambos Darts Blog
My View on The Premier League Line Up
*This blog will also be moving to Blogger in the near future*

Thursday 8 January 2015

Gary the Champion of the World

Gary Anderson is the new PDC World Champion! He can no longer be referred to as the best person never to win the World Championship after a stunning tournament and a scintillating final. On Sunday the 4th January, Anderson flew into the record books as the first Scotsman since Jocky Wilson in 1989 to win the prestigious price. It was a very popular result. 
Cast your mind back to last year’s Premier League and if you remember, I wasn’t very successful with my predictions! However, if theres one thing to learn from this last year it’s if at first you don’t succeed, then try and try again! That’s what I did. In September, I picked Gary Anderson as a Player to Watch and predicted: “I am very confident that Anderson will continue his form and he is definitely capable of a huge major success.”. I also picked Stephen Bunting as a Player to Watch and after reaching the Quarter Finals, he has now been included for this years Premier League. My final success comes from my World Championship Preview when I said that “if I was a betting man, I would probably put my money on the in form Gary Anderson”. 
Enough of my boasting now and lets rewind all the way back to the 18th of December when Keegan Brown kicked off the World Championship with a victory over three times world champion John Part. As I’ve already written a ‘First Round Round Up’, I won’t go into the opening games again but they were filled with shocks as Simon Whitlock, Justin Pipe and Wes Newton all exited the competition.
Into the second round and Prince Harry attended the event as the surprises continued. Benito Van De Pas and Cristo Reyes, both unseeded players, knocked out the 8th seed Dave Chisnall and former World Championship finalist Kevin Painter respectively. Van De Pas described the victory as the best win of his life and Reyes became the first Spaniard ever in the Last 16 as he came from 3:1 to knock out ‘The Artist’. Meanwhile, another notable match was when Raymond Van Barneveld scraped past (4:3) Jamie Caven, who must be one of the unluckiest players in darts! This result was also a repeat of when the players met in the same round the year before. Other dramatic contests included Kim Huybrechts defeating Ian White 4:3 and Stephen Bunting thrashing James Wade 4:1. However, neither of these matches are memorable by their darts but by their drama that our sport now brings. Huybrechts’ wild celebrations throughout the game caused debate which led to Phil Taylor warning him that “He isn’t going to jump around the stage against me. If he does then there will be trouble”. It was the opposite case in the other match as the losing player, James Wade, caused controversy with his somewhat pathetic post match handshake and his post match interview in which he referred to Bunting as an “okay darts player” who he made “look very good”. In fairness to Wade however, the interview was taken immediately after a disappointing loss and he has since apologised, calling his outburst due to “sour grapes”. Finally in this round, the to be World Champion Gary Anderson overcame a major scare against former BDO World Champion Jelle Klaasen. Both players averaged over 100 in the match but despite being two sets down after the fourth set, Anderson showed his mental strength and class to overcome the dutchman and win 4:3. 
As the tournament continued the shocks dried up but this was not to the expense of the entertainment. Michael Van Gerwen overcame a potentially tricky encounter 4:1 against Terry Jenkins and Robert Thornton won his third match in a row without losing a set as he beat Benito Van De Pas 4:0. In the eagerly anticipated clash between Kim Huybrechts and Phil Taylor, Huybrechts led three times before Taylor fought back to earn a place in the quarter finals with a 4:3 win. Huybrechts ignored Taylor’s advice of toning down the celebrations during the match which probably worked to his disadvantage. Taylor’s stare when Huybrechts celebrated was deafening and we all know that you don’t want to play Taylor when he’s angry! However, we all know this match wasn’t the highlight of the round. Instead the highlight was the match between Adrian Lewis and Raymond Van Barneveld which I stated in my ‘First Round Round Up’ would ‘be the greatest third round game ever seen if both players recreate their first round form’. In a match which Lewis appeared to dominate, Van Barneveld showed resistance we rarely see from him to hang in the match and eventually take it 4:3. The highlight of the match and arguably the tournament was Lewis’ 9 darter which ended up being the only perfect finish in the tournament. As like all 9 darters it was incredible to watch as the crowd went wild with the final double 12. I watched it live on SkySports with my mother whose favourite player is Lewis. When he hit the double we immediately joined in with the ‘Oh Adrian Lewis!’ chant before the commentator stated that “if you’re not on the edge of your seat, you have slipped down the sofa and spilt your coffee!”. This was ironic as in the midst of our celebrations, Mum got red wine on our white sofa! This really was one of the greatest third round game ever seen. 
Reigning World Champion Michael Van Gerwen then kicked off the quarter finals with a 5:2 win over the in form Robert Thornton. Van Gerwen stormed into a 3:0 lead in the game before Thornton threw some of the best darts of his life to bring the game back to 3:2. But in the end Van Gerwen proved too strong for the Scot as he triumphed with a 105 average as against Thornton’s 101. Next up was an all Scottish tie between Peter Wright and Gary Anderson and the most impressive thing Wright did in this match was getting the cheerleaders involved in his walk on! Anderson eased past Wright 5:1 with a 102 average. On the second night of the quarter finals, Phil Taylor looked like he was going to ease past dutchman Vincent Van Der Voort when he went 2:0 ahead but after Van Der Voort upped his game massively, he turned the tables to go 3:2 ahead. Then in the sixth set, when Van Der Voort was unable to finish 96, Taylor was able to level the match at 3:3. It was then the 16 time World Champion who won the last two sets to win the match 5:3. Finally, arguably the best match of the quarter finals was between Stephen Bunting and Raymond Van Barneveld. In a match where the players were never separated by more than 1 set, it was finally won by Van Barneved on double 20. Despite the loss, Bunting’s performance and his first year in the PDC have been a major success and this was summed up by Van Barneveld’s incredible post match interview which brought tears to the Liverpudlian’s eyes!
These results meant the semi final line up was identical to earlier this year in the Premier League but this time there were opposite winners. I was lucky enough to be in the Ally Pally for these matches (see ‘My Day at the Darts’ post) and the best match was clearly between Michael Van Gerwen and Gary Anderson. Anderson was ruthless on his doubles throughout, especially the double 20, and despite Van Gerwen fighting back to 3:3 midway through the contest, It wasn’t enough to keep up with The Flying Scotsman who glided into his second ever World Championship Final with a 6:3 victory. The other semi final contained one of the greatest rivalries the sport has ever produced. The beginning of the match was tight and cagey but after winning four sets on the bounce and hitting seven perfect darts on two separate occasions, Taylor won the match 6:2. This meant Taylor still has his unbelievable run in tact, that he has never lost a World Championship semi final. 
Going into the final, predictably Taylor was the slight favourite but Anderson thrived off being the underdog as the pair competed in what was probably the best World Championship final since 2007. It certainly wasn’t the best quality final we have ever seen with Anderson ‘only’ averaging 97 but it was highly dramatic and it came down to a test of bottle as Taylor was made to pay for missed doubles. To start the match, both players traded sets before Anderson won two sets to lead 3:1. But then similarly to in his semi final, he proceeded this by losing the next two as Taylor won 6 legs in a row. Taylor then went ahead in the match 4:3 before Anderson levelled to set up a best of 5 sets shootout. The ninth set then provided the main talking point from the game when incredibly Anderson hit two treble 20’s with his first two darts before the third one joined them and knocked them all out! This only intensified the criticism the darts boards have received throughout the tournament. However, Anderson did not let this or shout-outs from the crowd affect him as he came from two legs down in the set to take it 3:2. As he then won the next set also, he thought the finish line was in sight but Taylor again fought back and left the game on a knife edge at 6:6. A nervy final set was anticipated but Anderson looked calm throughout as he won the set 3:0 and hit the double 12 to become the new PDC World Champion. He then picked up the Sid Waddell trophy and £250,000 in prize money. 
Looking back on the whole tournament has been fascinating and I think it has only substantiated my beliefs that this was the best World Championships we have ever seen! Over 50,000 people attended the Ally Pally throughout the tournament and over 1.7 million people watched the final on Sky Sports. Sky Sports figures represented a 25% increase on last year as record viewing figures were also recorded in Netherlands and Germany. It really has been incredible and before the tournament started, Anderson stated his belief that “every dog has its day and hopefully mine is soon”. It was his day. It was his tournament. It was his time.

Monday 5 January 2015

My Day at the Darts

Saturday 3rd January 2015
William Hill World Championships Semi Finals
Alexandra Palace
Please view my photos and videos of the night at
http://www.dropshots.com/Jambosdarts/albums/485760
The night I had been waiting for since June was finally upon us. Since attending the Premier League in Newcastle in 2012, I have longed to attend the darts again but this time I wanted to go to the biggest event in our sport. If I thought the Premier League was good… this was incredible! Easily one of the best nights of my life. 
As London is probably my favourite city I have visited in the world, we decided to travel down to London the day before the event. This meant we were able to set off to the Ally Pally from Central London at around 5pm. My father and I made our way on the London Underground to Wood Green station before planning on getting the bus to the palace. However, after realising London buses didn’t accept cash, we decided we had to walk the estimated 20 minutes to our destination. Unsurprisingly with our sense of direction, this didn’t go to plan! After trailing through housing estates and asking numerous people for directions, we finally found the palace by following a group of dutch shirts and the 118 men! When we reached the palace though, it was magnificent as the grand building stood on the top of the hill looking over the rest of London. 
When we entered the Ally Pally we were greeted with the necessary security checks and a check for football shirts. We were then into the Great Hall (also known as the Fan Village) which contained numerous food stalls, bars, a William Hill guests area, a William Hill betting area (with the chance to win a car) and numerous darts boards. There was even the chance to have a go at ladder darts which Phil Taylor has excellently demonstrated during the TV breaks on Sky! While I was in the Fan Village, I caught a glimpse of the legend that is Eric Bristow and when I went to the toilet I was surrounded by Mr T and a man wearing a banana suit! The effort some fans put into their fancy dress was spectacular!
Luckily, after getting in touch with PDC Press Officer Dave Allen, he agreed that due to my blog and Dartoid’s World Column, he would be able to show me around backstage before the start of the matches. I would like to thank Dave very much for this tour and it was fantastic to see how the logistics of the evening work. After going behind the black curtain where Danny Murphy (ex footballer) was refused entry, I was taken to see the Press Room (walking past Keith Deller on the way) which contained many signed dart boards, a filming area for the PDC Youtube Programme ‘On the Wire’ and the prestigious Sid Waddell trophy locked away! Also inside, tables were lined up where working journalists from around the world, including China and the Netherlands, were situated. John Part, Wayne Mardle and Dan Dawson were also in the tent preparing for the evening. 
After leaving the Press Room, I walked along the route which players take to the stage and then I stood on the stage only 10 minutes before the first match begun! At this point, John Mcdonald was warming up the crowd that I was looking back upon. Finally on my tour I learnt that the camera men are strategically placed to capture the players celebrations as they turn to their family and also that there is ideas to possibly move the matches into the Great Hall in the future to increase the capacity to 4,500.
We then made our way to our seats just in time for the walk ons and I was delighted to find our seats, although in the stands, were as close to stage as possible. This meant we had an excellent view of the action and after watching it back, you can see me in the background when Gary Anderson is taking a drink! The crowd for the whole night was incredible and there was more atmosphere than at any football match I have attended (please watch the videos!). Luckily the crowd, which featured Jake Wood, Jan Vertongen and Matt Le Tissier, were very respectful and despite some criticism, they did pay attention to the darts! Even when 180 cards were confiscated, it was all in good humour as security guards provided new ones. 
I was also delighted with the results on the night but my father narrowly missed out on his bet which had Gary Anderson to beat Michael Van Gerwen 6:4 whereas it finished 6:3! There will be more information on the darts itself in my next post which will be a review of the whole tournament.
Finally, when leaving the Alexandra Palace, you may have thought the drama was over but while waiting for the bus back to Central London, a van pulled up with music blaring before a rapper jumped out and entertained the crowds! This was even funnier as I ended up dancing next to Chewbacca! Then when the bus turned up, the crowds poured in leading to the most congested bus journey I have ever experienced but I realised if I was going to get crushed to death, there is no better way to die than on a bus full of people chanting ‘Gary, Gary, Gary, Gary Anderson!’ 
Eventually we made it back to our hotel and I reflected on the great night I had and hoped that it would not be the last time I would see the greatest show on earth! 
Coming Soon
World Championship 2015 Review!
Premier League Line Up 2015
* I will also hopefully be moving this blog to blogger in the near future *