I CANNOT emphasise enough how much the players love the Stan James World Matchplay tournament in Blackpool.
Admittedly if you’re KO’d in the first round it can be like any other, but the venue really is like no other. Playing in that Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens actually makes you feel good — even if the stage temperature is around a hundred degrees!
I can understand what footballers are saying when they go out on the hallowed Wembley turf or, for a Scotsman, to the Hampden Roar; and I know how a batsman feels when he walks out to the middle at Lord’s.
The Centre Court at Wimbledon, the Crucible in Sheffield and Twickenham are all great venues, too.For darts players, Blackpool is the same — the best there is! I’ve had the pleasure of reaching a final there. Semi-finals night and the night of the final itself are unforgettable occasions.
I almost made it to the semi-finals this time around. I played well against Steve Hine and had to pull out all the stops against my old foe Lionel Sams. What a fight he put up!
I have no complaints about my quarter-final defeat at the hands of Andy Hamilton. It was a terrific match and he thoroughly deserved his 16-9 win. He really is a player to watch out for. Just about the most focused there is at the moment.
Steve Hine took me by surprise. The Muffin Man came on to the stage with muffins in hand and threw them to the audience. Just as well his darts weren’t as accurate. Only joking, Steve! If he’d given one to me, I’d probably have eaten it there and then.
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I DON’T know whether the Chinese eat muffins. I suppose they do. Two halves of rounded bread wrapped around some Char Sui and seasoned with black bean sauce sounds pretty good to me.
Might try it when I’m in Beijing in November with seven other PDPA lads for a big televised tournament.I’ve stated in this column before that the game is going to be massive in China and Japan before too long.
Further proof is the fact that the top eight PDC-ranked men have been invited over to take on their best. I might even play Tang Jun again. I knocked him out of the world championships a couple of years ago.
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TALKING of the top eight, at the time of writing it is Lloyd, Taylor, Baxter, Manley, Mardle, Priestley (another up and coming youngster?!), Andy Jenkins and Scholten.The likes of Kevin Painter and Terry Jenkins are waiting to pounce should any of us falter and, with places for the 2007 Premier League still up for grabs, competition is going to be fierce.
We have UK Open heats in Wales and Ireland, Players’ Championship competitions, too, the Ireland Open Classic and, of course, the World Grand Prix in Dublin before anything like a final qualifying list is drawn up. A certain Raymond Barneveld might enter the equation somewhere, too. Should be fun.
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COME ON you Spurrrss! We’ve won a trophy already. I watched the London north heat of the Sky Masters contest on TV and we beat Watford in the final to win it. Eight teams took part, although for some reason Arsenal were in another grouping, and it was nice to see some of the old boys in action again.
Hope the current crop follow their example.
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FINALLY, “Waynesworld” won a horse race for the first time at the age of nine. That’s 63 in human years, so there’s hope for me yet!
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SEE YOU next month.
Wayne
www.waynemardle.com
Darts World Magazine 406 (Page 28)
