Guest Post...Edward Wade's Champions League Preview

After my lengthy absence from the world of darts reporting, I am delighted to now present a new article. I have had a busy few months with a trip to Australia in March as well as working towards my A Levels and going to university in September. This has meant I have taken a short break from reporting but I hope to be back with monthly posts from the July onwards.

In the meantime, Edward Wade has kindly stepped in with a guest post about the greatly anticipated Champions League of Darts. Hopefully the first of many posts on Jambosdarts, Edward has a strong journalistic style and will hopefully keep all of us informed (Including myself!) about everything we need to know about darts this summer.  

BBC Deal For Champions League Darts with Unibet

With Unibet confirming that they will be the main sponsor for the PDC Darts Champions League in September. This means the event will be broadcast live on the BBC, directly from the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.

The Champions League will take place on 24 and September 25 in Cardiff. The players will play one match per group session on Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. The top two players from each group will compete on Sunday in the decisive semi-finals and finals. The games will be played in a round robin format with the top two players from each group going through to the knockout semi-finals and then the final. There is a staggering £100,000 first prize available for the eventual winner.

Through this sponsorship of the Champions League, Unibet extend their existing sponsorship of the European Championship and the Masters, in what is yet another ground breaking deal in 2016. Darts has always been a popular sport, but for people who do not have the luxury of Sky TV it has been exceedingly difficult to view the top professionals. The BBC already shows the BDO, but this new coverage will give all fans an opportunity to see their heroes.

‘’The BBC has a long history of broadcasting darts but this will be the start of an exciting new era’’ said PDC Chariman Barry Hearn.

It should also be a brilliant opportunity to get more people involved in the game. Currently very low brow in terms of participation it should be a great chance entice younger viewers with the joy of the game.

‘’Darts has always had wide appeal and it is great that audiences will get the chance to see all the action from the world’s top players live on BBC Two and across our platforms’’ said Barbara Slater, the Director of BBC Sport

In terms of increased popularity, it could potentially mean even bigger things for the sport in general, with more coverage and bigger crowds it could result in even more darts events being covered live.

Participants are not yet known, but with hits like Van Gerwen, Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis it will be fascinating to see just who might have the best chance of winning.  

The chance to see top quality Darts players live isn’t something every fan gets the opportunity to do. However, with the international stars taking to the stand it will be brilliant to see just how many treble twenties we get to see firsthand!

"The Unibet Champions League of Darts is a real showpiece for the Professional Darts Corporation and the extensive BBC broadcast the darts will reach a large audience of passionate sports fans," said Chris Watson Unibet. "We are pleased to promote to be involved as headline sponsor for such a spectacular darts event and our support for the PDC."

For Darts fans it will be a fantastic opportunity to fall even further in love with the game. Most supporters of the game, (including myself) don’t get to watch enough darts, because of the lack of coverage. With BBC coverage, it should also mean more support live in Cardiff, which will only enhance the fantastic Darts atmosphere, which is genuinely like no other sport.

The Greatest Event in the World!

To see all my photos and watch my videos from my night at the Ally Pally please go to https://www.dropshots.com/Jambosdarts2016/albums/504578

(Comment if you are unable to see these!)

I feel absolutely honoured that I had the opportunity to attend the Alexandra Palace again this year and it was even better than last time. What a tournament. What a sport we have in front of us to delight millions of people around the world. All we do is throw an arrow at a sectioned board but it is more than that. The excitement is incredible and the talent is undoubted. How much better can it get? 

I read a few weeks ago how the World Championships at the Ally Pally has this overwhelming power to keep drawing you back to watch the event and after visiting two years on the bounce I can confirm this is true. I want to go back more than ever and see what Christmas 2016 has to offer.

In contrast to last year, this time around I had bought tickets for the Quarter Finals and in particular the Evening Session. This meant I watched throughout the tournament, passionately cheering on my favourite players in the hope that I would get the chance to watch them play. Therefore I was delighted to watch the last night of darts in 2015 to discover arguably my favourite player, Peter Wright, had made it to face my mother's favourite in Adrian Lewis. This only added to my excitement before travelling down to London early New Year's Day morning. 

The night began through getting the London Underground to Wood Green and following a flock of chickens up the hill to the Palace which is simply mesmerising as soon as it is in sight. Lighting up the top of the hill, it provides views across London with an electric atmosphere. Heightened security checks this year meant entrance to the Palace took slightly longer but once inside the invigorating passion ahead of another night of darts was unavoidable.

'Darts is my religion and the Ally Pally is my church' is a phrase often written on darts memorabilia and it is now firmly established as the home of PDC Darts. The Alexandra Palace has a long history from originally being named after the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, who married Prince Edward in 1863.Then, in the 20th Century it became home to the BBC despite being damaged during the Second World War. However, as the home of the World Championship it is now as famous as ever and I firmly believe it is an absolute perfect fit for the most perfect tournament. 

 

In the build up to the darts, the good spirit and gentlemanly nature of the game was present despite the drinks flowing. Legends of the game Eric Bristow and Keith Deller kindly signed our programme and the security inside the arena were in the spirit of the night, handing out the hats and scorecards to fans and dogs alike. (Yes there was a real life dog in the arena!)

As we took our seats I was delighted to discover they were just as good as last year even if I had been concerned by the layout change to incorporate an extra 500 fans into the arena. We were sat in the family stand to the right of the stage and the best fancy dress I witnessed has to go to the German lady dressed as Little Red Riding Hood to our left with her boyfriend as the Big Bad Wolf! It was incredibly refreshing to witness the large range of fancy dress and the diversity of nationalities amongst the crowd. The German representation was in full force in particular and there were even a few German songs on the night. I have seen many bloggers, commentators and tweeters criticise the PDC crowd in the past but I think it is incredible for the game, while I was present they remained respectful to the players throughout and were in good spirits throughout the night.

The darts action kicked off with Michael Smith vs Raymond Van Barneveld and although I expected this to be the weaker of the two matches, it was completely mesmerising throughout. As the crowd got behind the dutch favourite with regular eruptions of 'Barney Army!', his comeback surged on as he completed a comeback 5:4 victory and created a goosebumps moment for me with his powerful celebration. One of the key changes I have had personally throughout this competition is my love for Van Barneveld which has grown stronger with each win. Although I had wanted to see Van Gerwen on my visit to the Palace, I found myself cheering on 'Barney' in his historic last 16 tie with the World Number 1. Don't get me wrong, I have always had the upmost respect for what Van Barneveld has achieved in this game but it wasn't until this tournament where his skill, composure and gentlemanly nature was there to see that he has become one of my favourite players in the world.

Between the matches on the night, a quick trip to the toilet proved to be one of the most stressful moments of the night! Standstill surrounded the entrance and exit to the toilet as hundreds of men screamed 'There's Only One Phil Taylor...' at the top of their voices. I am all for a bit of a sing-a-long but the great man hadn't even made it to the quarter finals this year and I was anxious to make it back to my seat for my favourite two walk ons in darts! Thankfully, I achieved this with around 30 seconds to spare and I wasn't disappointed as Peter Wright jumped his way along to our side of the stage. Although this match wasn't as thrilling for the audience, it was still incredibly high quality and I loved seeing two of my favourite players on the big stage. Unfortunately as a Peter Wright fan I was disappointed at his 5.2 defeat but my mother went home happy and so did the fans we met all the way back in the hotel chanting 'da da da da Adrian Lewis!' up until their stop!

Reflecting on the whole tournament now and I truly believe it is the best world championships in my living memory. Gary Anderson may not have had to overcome Taylor and Van Gerwen this time around but he thoroughly deserves to be two time World Champion and threw some exceptional darts throughout. It is incredible to read that he struggles so badly with his eyesight and maybe even more incredible to some people that a tee-totaller is now two time world darts champion! This win for Gary Anderson now puts him up there with the darting greats and just as it seemed like darts was getting easier to predict with Van Gerwen sweeping the floor through much of 2015, this reminded us that we never know what to expect. We got first round shocks, another 9 darter and astonishingly close games with the Van Gerwen-Van Barneveld and Chisnall-Wright games being amongst the best ever seen on the Ally Pally stage.

It may be argued that we have seen darts offer up this drama and entertainment on previous occasions but a real unique talking point of this years tournament was the performance of Phil Taylor. The 16 time world champion appeared noticeably out of character throughout his time in the competition from his first post match interview in particular and it really was no shock when Jelle Klaasen knocked him out. There have been questions for years about how long the legend of our game will continue and these questions are now stronger than ever before. I've learnt from previous mistakes that it's always risky to say Taylor can't win another major tournament but I do very much doubt whether it can be achieved.

Penultimately, the Premier League Lineup was announced straight after the Sid Waddell Trophy had been presented and I hope you are pleased to know I am actually happy this year! I am excited to see what these 10 players have to offer and very surprised that there isn't a more unpredictable wildcard this year. As a Thornton fan I am delighted to see him back in and by picking the top 10 players in the World Rankings it makes for a much fairer decision. I was surprised however to see the early odds for the tournament pitting Gary Anderson as third favourite coming back as defending champion and back to back world champion! This only shows what a competitive field of players we have today but I feel that Van Gerwen has something to prove again. Despite everything he has achieved in the game, he hasn't won the Premier League for 3 years now and the same will be said heading into the World Championships next winter respectively.

Finally, although I am excited about the Premier League again, my greatest love in darts will continue to be the World Championships at the Ally Pally and I am already counting down the days until the tournament returns. I may only be 17 but have been lucky enough to travel to various cities across the world including Rome, Los Angeles and Las Vegas but London is definitely my favourite. There is nowhere else I would prefer to go to watch the darts. I have simply seen the greatest city, the greatest tournament and the greatest entertainment in the world and I beg all of you to get your tickets for the darts. 

It's December Again!...

Image From: http://africanleadership.co.uk/blog/?p=5027

Many months have passed and thousands of darts have been thrown since my last article back in the middle of summer. Now the dark nights have set in, the gloves are out and we are getting ready for The World Championships again! In my four month sabbatical from airing my darting views, I have had the busiest months of my life through keeping on top of my A Level Studies and applying for university. It is strange to imagine that this time next year, all being well, I will be at university in a big new city. However, what I have discovered in these last few months is that I am ready for this challenge but whatever happens, I always come back to darts.

Image From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2075370/Phil-Taylor-eases-round-darts-world-championships.html

Unfortunately I haven't been able to watch as much darts as I would have liked in the second half of 2015 but I have been consistently taking to the dartboard myself. You may remember I mentioned playing on WebcamDarts online previously and in September this year I was offered the opportunity to join a darts league. Being able to play consistently has developed my game as although my averages haven't particularly improved, my competitive match skills have. I have just completed my last game in the league and am probably going to finish in second place after winning 8 out of 10 matches. Playing in the league has been thoroughly enjoyable and after only winning 2 football matches this season has given me the opportunity for some success! As this season is nearly finished, if anyone wants to get involved next season go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/591097500994100/
or if you are interested in playing WebcamDarts to get some game experience go to https://www.webcamdarts.com, I couldn't recommend it enough.

Image From: https://www.webcamdarts.com

While on the topic of amateur darts, I am also interested to hear if anyone watched the recent darts series, 'One Hundred and Eighty' on Sky1. Although slightly cliche at points, I thought Davina McCall and Andrew Flintoff did a great job of presenting with Flintoff's passion for darts exciting to see. Featuring two professional darts players on each episode, watching this programme would be another recommendation this Christmas time.

Image From: http://www.sky.com/tv/show/one-hundred-and-eighty

Back onto the professional game now and last time I wrote for you it was the dawn of the World Matchplay. I ended that article saying I wouldn't back against Gary Anderson winning the Triple Crown but almost from the moment I uploaded that article, Michael Van Gerwen has taken the darting world by storm. The World Matchplay appeared to be the trophy he had always desired after tearfully losing to Phil Taylor in the 2014 tournament and since he beat James Wade 18:12 this time around, it appears to have driven him on even more to assert his power. Van Gerwen is seemingly easing to victories right now and is streets ahead of his rivals heading into the biggest tournament of the year. Mighty Mike had a dream November, winning all four of the main tournaments including the Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals.

Image From: http://www.sportinglife.com/darts/news/article/10310/10052950/michael-van-gerwen-wins-european-darts-championship

The only man to have stopped Van Gerwen on this incredible major run is Robert Thornton who in the Grand Prix Final beat the Dutchman 5:4. Thornton has had a very solid year since being dropped from the Premier League however, rising to number 6 in the PDC Order of Merit and hopefully with a strong World Championship performance, he can't be left out again.

Image From: http://ezegroup.com/thornton-on-top-of-the-world-after-grand-prix-glory/

Another two men who have grabbed some of the headlines away from Michael Van Gerwen in the last few months were BDO players Andy Fordham and Martin Adams. After everything Fordham has been through it was fantastic to see the big man back on the big stage hitting a 180 with his first three darts. It may be unusual to see the BDO players get such a positive reaction from a PDC crowd but these two players had the character to light up the tournament. Off the oche they also provided talking points with there war of words with Phil Taylor and Peter Wright respectively. Adams made it the further out of these two players before being knocked out by Kim Huybrechts in an exhilarating second round match which finished 10:9 to the Belgian. I have personally never been a supporter of any campaigns to try and merge the two rival darting organisations but after this tournament a part of me was starting to change its mind.

Image From: https://joshsdartistry.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/fairytale-grand-slam-appearance-for-fordham/

Image From: http://www.pdc.tv/photos/article/jx1sami134z612cl6c7bcb4o2/title/singha-2015-grand-slam-of-darts

All in all however it has undoubtedly been Van Gerwen's autumn and anyone backing any other player for the World Championships would be a brave man. After relinquishing his crown to Gary Anderson last year, I believe he will become a two time world champion. I have got my tickets, I am ready to go and now the darts will do the talking.