Darts was left with 'just' one World Championship following the demise of the BDO but from next year there will be four different versions staged.
The PDC will stage their World Championship, as usual, across Christmas and New Year (Dec 15-Jan 3) but the World Darts Federation have announced they would bring a World Championship back to the sport's spiritual 'home' - the Lakeside - from January 1-9, broadcast by Eurosport.
There will be a star-studded World Senior Championship staged in February 2022 at the Circus Tavern, featuring the likes of Phil Taylor, Keith Deller, Martin Adams, John Lowe, Ted Hankey, John Part and the last ever BDO champion Wayne Warren, who currently holds the Modern Amateur Darts (MAD) world title 'belt'.
MAD are also planning to launch their inaugural World Championship event from December 1-4, 2022.
Here, Sporting Life columnist, former major winner and leading pundit Paul Nicholson, who is also an executive director of MAD, shares his thoughts on what will be an extraordinary winter for darts.
A new era
When the BDO capitulated we obviously all thought the WDF would take control of the World Championship, especially because they’ve got some new faces at the helm and people who know what they’re doing.
But now, when we get to 2022, we’re going to have a situation a bit like boxing in terms of the number of world titles up for grabs!
In the amateur game we’re going to have the inaugural Modern Amateur Darts World Championship (Dec 1-4), the World Seniors (February) and the WDF World Championship (Jan 1-9).
But why would you start the latter on New Year’s Day to clash with the climax of the PDC World Darts Championship! The WDF should really leave that time slot alone and follow on shortly afterwards just like the BDO World Championship used to do.
Even though it’s not meant this way, that time slot comes across as confrontational and that’s not what this sport needs at the moment.
Is staging it at Lakeside a good idea? I’m 50:50. I wasn’t keen on the BDO World Championship moving from the Lakeside but I’m not sure going back to the original home is the best way to begin a new era. Having said that, from a darts fans view, where else would grab the attention like Lakeside?
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This current situation feels like this and I really hope it doesn’t end up being a carbon copy of what we saw before with a different board. Another way of looking at it potentially though, is doing it better with the history of events like the world masters protected and done properly, so again, there are two ways of looking at things.
The WDF finally stepping up
The WDF had allowed the BDO to run the world championship for a very long time and the only time you really got to see their banner prominently was when the World Cup used to come along every four years, and via some other world renowned tournaments.
They’ve obviously always been there but have taken more of an overseeing role and let the BDO run some major events.
However, your casual darts fan may view this situation as the organisation picking up the scraps from the BDO World Championship and putting it back together similar to what we used to know.
Now they are suddenly at the forefront, they have the opportunity to freshen things up rather than be the BDO World Championship reincarnated.
They are trying to stand up – and I’m sure they are capable of delivering - but we really need more information at the moment because they haven’t released too much apart from the dates, the venue and the fact it’s on Eurosport.
At the moment there’s more questions than answers, but at this stage that’s ok, as there is still a long time until this world championship is to be held.
What about MAD?
When the Modern Amateur Darts organisation launched last year, many felt they were the saviour of the amateur game.
That said, I do believe there’s more than enough infrastructure in darts for both organisations to exist and run alongside each other brilliantly. But in our sport, there’s too much history of confrontation and segregation, and I suppose that worries me a little.
Even when I’ve travelled around the world for many years, there’s still this ‘us and them’ attitude about the PDC and BDO, which dates back to 1993! We should have moved on from that a long time ago.
I’m therefore worried about the same situation escalating in the amateur game, especially when there’s already been a bit of jostling to see who can put their World Championship on first.
I’m an executive director of MAD so clearly I’m fully in support of it. But what I don’t want is two feuding organisations on two sides of the table shouting at each other. It would be bad for everyone involved, especially the players.
I have friends who were hit hard by the original split. Some were banned from tournaments and representing their county, they felt left out and financially they were worse off.
The PDC won’t have any of it either – they’ll wash their hands of both of organisations if it gets catty.
How many can you enter?
At the moment, it appears as if a player could enter both World Championships – not to mention the World Seniors next February if you’re old enough!
Wayne Warren currently holds the MAD world belt and was also the last Lakeside champion. If he goes on to win the MAD World Championship and the WDF version do we suddenly refer to him as the undisputed amateur champion?!
If he went on to win the World Seniors as well he’d have more belts than Anthony Joshua!
It could get very confusing to the public about how much these titles mean and which is the most ‘official’, so to speak.
At the moment MAD are putting on events in places where they can, they release the details of how to enter on their website and you can then go and book your place.
The WDF will eventually release details of which events you can play and how to get ranking points to qualify for the big tournaments, including the World Championship.
To be classed as an amateur the only requirement is to not have a PDC Tour Card. I’d even say to the likes of Kevin Painter and Robert Thornton that they’re not professional darts players anymore.
So, even legends like those two are eligible for these other world titles if they wanted to compete in them – but they don’t know how to qualify in the WDF version yet. I’m sure that time will come.
With MAD, it’s simple. You just have to compete in their events and there’s a whole list of them for all to see. The organisation is far from the finished article yet and everyone understands it’s a long-term project, but at least everyone knows where they stand if they want to get involved.
Will they be televised?
The WDF appear to have a deal with Eurosport to screen their World Championship, which is encouraging news for darts fans.
MAD haven’t got one yet so only time will tell on that front but let’s hope we don’t have a situation in the future when they are both battling each other for TV rights. I have faith in Steve Brown and the team, and I also feel different platforms will need to be utilised to appeal to different age groups and audiences.
Collaboration
The key for the amateur game thriving is for the WDF and MAD to get round the table and help each other. There are other factions around the world such as Darts Australia so who are they going to go behind? Or will they run through both?
Although we don’t want division, allowing players to enter everything across different organisations could also be confusing so there needs to be a structure and rules which don’t cause conflict yet lets everyone know where they stand.
If it was me, I’d put the MAD and WDF world championships together – unifying them before they have a chance to be split. That would prevent the vibe of players, fans and officials siding with one over the other.
There needs to be clarity for the whole world of darts and if there is, we could have a very bright future for the amateur game. But division like the past could destroy the start of a new era.
I am behind the people who are doing this hard work, and I know for the future of the game they will make the right choices.
