I’m writing this between sessions on quarter-finals day at the World Darts Championship, from the second referees hut backstage at Alexandra Palace. I’ve not long finished refereeing the quarter-final between Gary Anderson and Justin Hood – what a run to the quarters from Justin who for sure has established himself as a firm fan favourite going forward, and as for Gary, the legend just keeps rolling on! It was a match made extra special for me because the corporals of the BFSAI who invited me to the Falkland Islands were in the crowd for today with all their special signs that you may have noticed! All dressed up as penguins! It was amazing to see them all again today.
After three and a half weeks it feels a bit strange to say the tournament will be over in two days time. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet but it’s been yet another incredible World Championships and for sure the best is yet to come as we discover who will be taking home the first ever £1million winnings from a darts tournament. If the first half of the tournament was very busy, things have been a bit easier post-Christmas as we only worked for four days before another break, where myself and a few of us went to see Moulin Rouge in the Piccadilly Theatre. Oh my god, guys, if you haven’t been to see it, do it! It was mind-blowing. I laughed, I cried, honestly it was incredible and everybody else said the same. The best show I think I’ve ever seen. It was a really nice way once again to just relax and switch off from the darts.
Elsewhere it’s been really busy with the podcast (yes I’m back onto that again!). Thank you all once again for all your support of it. There are two new episodes going out in quick succession, one on January 3rd, the day of the world final, and one on January 5th so keep your eyes peeled for those! So many people have come up to me this World Championships to say they’ve been listening to the podcasts while they’ve been practicing or while they’ve been driving or at work so I can’t thank everybody enough. The number of YouTube subscribers have doubled since the new series started so if you haven’t done so yet, what’s the matter with you?! DO IT!!!! NOW!!!!!!!
It was a pleasure to be able to call in the first ever 1000th 180 in a major darts tournament. It was sheer luck that I managed to be on stage for that but it’s a moment I’m definitely chuffed about. One of the most defining aspects of a referee is their 180 call and their ability to shout a maximum so to be able to call in a ‘historic’ 180 like that definitely ranks as one of my career highlights. I said online that it’s a testament to how good these players are that we’ve managed to achieve 1000 maximums and some people have replied to say that it helps when the field’s increased by 32 players, but when you think about it, we only managed it with a handful of games to go which shows that it’s not easy. I remember watching the 2007 World Championships at the Circus Tavern and the late greats Sid Waddell, John Gwynne and Dave Lanning were celebrating 500 180s at the World Championships. Now, 19 years on from that, we’ve seen 1000 180s and yes, some of that will be down to an increased field, but I believe it’s much more to do with the standard and depth of standard improving and improving year on year which has enabled us to get to this position now. What’s next? 2000 180s?! The way these players are improving, maybe we actually shouldn’t rule that out!
This will be the last blog I write before the World Championship finishes so I’d like to end it by paying tribute to George Noble and John McDonald, who will be refereeing and MC’ing this year’s World Final respectively before bowing out at the very top of the sport. George was my refereeing inspiration. After making his debut at the BDO Lakeside World Championships in 1994, he’s gone on to have an outstanding career in both the BDO and the PDC (after he defected to the PDC in 2007). His voice, his rhythm, his authority, the way he dealt with whatever was put in front of him, was always spot on. One of, if not the best, darts referee the sport has ever seen. John McDonald has been one of sports top MCs for more than two decades and has played a huge part in the PDC’s growth as a sport and its ever increasing popularity with the fans right across the world. An iconic voice and an iconic style, and he’s also used his position in darts to do wonderful work for our armed forces which he cares passionately about and I’ve been lucky enough to share a small part of that journey with him. It’s been a privilege to share the last ten years with both of them, and I wish them all the best for the future. Just like with Russ Bray, darts will not be the same without them, but I, along with the whole darting world wish them all the best in their retirement and good luck with all their future projects.
