World Darts

Now we have to wait almost a year to do it all over again at the Alexandra Palace and yes, it will definitely be back at the Ally Pally for the 2009 tournament.

Close to 35,000 fans packed the grand old arena over 12 days of dazzling darts, shocks and surprises, the fairytale story of Kirk Shepherd and of course, ultimately a third World Championship title for John Part.

The verdict from everyone is an unrivalled success and Darts has been catapulted to new levels and the sport continues to grow and grow, as the bar keeps being raised.

John Part didn’t have much time to celebrate his famous victory, because he was booked on an early flight back to Canada! He travels around 160,000 miles a year to play darts but his winner’s cheque of £100,000 will help to clock up more air miles!

His win has clinched him a wildcard spot in the 2008 Premier League, so he now has to sort out several more flights to the UK for the 14-night bonanza, which starts in Glasgow at the end of this month.

Part may well decide to base himself in the UK for the duration to help with his preparation and cut back on the travelling but he deserved his win and a place in the darting history books.

He joins an exclusive club of darts legends who have won the World Championship three times…..he will now be mentioned in the same breath as Taylor, Barney, Bristow and Lowe.

Kirk Shepherd now has a huge decision to make…..his life-changing run to the final will change his life forever and the £50,000 prize money he has received may well now persuade him to give up the day job – as a sheet metal worker in Ramsgate. It’s amazing to think that it would take him nearly six years in the factory to earn what he was paid for reaching the World Championship Final.

His achievement also means he has rocketed from No.142 in the PDC Order of Merit up to No.22 in the world rankings!

The Ally Pally was a huge hit and they are now hopeful of agreeing a long-term deal with the PDC to host the tournament for many years to come.

How about this for a statistic…..over the course of the event, they sold over 300,000 pints of Courage Best and lager!! 300,000 pints of beer…..they always said darts was thirsty work!

Around 150 people were employed during the World Championship at the Alexendra Palace from catering staff to bar staff, security and cleaners. It was a massive logistical exercise and went off very smoothly.

It was good to see some England cricket stars down at the darts….opening batsman Alastair Cook sat in the commentary box for a while with me and Sid and loved every minute of it!

So, the countdown is now under way to December 2008 and the 16th PDC World Championship…..can Part defend his title, will Taylor and Barney rediscover their touch or will we have a new name on the trophy?

These questions and many more will be answered same time, same place at the 2008/2009 World Championship.