Author: Peter Fryers (Peter Fryers)

With darts’ biggest event, the PDC World Championships, only six weeks away, we thought we’d take a look into the history of what is by far and away the biggest administrative body in the sport, the PDC.

Created in 1992, the PDC stands for the Professional Darts Corporation and was initially known as the World Darts Council. It was established following an internal disagreement about the management of the British Darts Organization (BDO) and about the prize money that was on offer.

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Break Away Of The BDO

At the time, a group of sixteen of the top players, including every single previous BDO world champion who was still active in the game, decided to take matters into their own hands. These players were under the leadership of sports promoters Tommy Cox and Dick Allix, both of whom used their own money to fund the fledgling organisation.

Together they made the decision to break away from the BDO in order to elevate darts to a new stature. They would do this to rid the game of its drink culture image by attracting new sponsors and, critically, a shiny new satellite TV coverage deal.

Bringing things to an end, the last unified world championship, and by that time the only televised event on the BDO, to be held was the Embassy World Championship in 1993. During the tournament the WDC players each displayed their new WDC logos on their shirts but were told to remove them by the BDO.

Lawsuit

The WDC darters then came to the conclusion that if the BDO would continue to refuse to recognise them, then they would no longer compete in the Embassy tournament which then led to a law suit. The aftermath of this led to the fledgling organisation changing its name from the WDC to the PDC.

The BDO banned the rebellious darters from playing in county darts tournaments and even threatened their own members with banishment for any player who took part in exhibition events with WDC players.

The newly-born organisation’s first event was the (the Lada) UK Masters which was broadcast on Anglia Television. The first World Championship was held in 1993/94 during the end of the year festive period, which is still its place in the darts calendar today.

New PDC TV Deal

The inaugural World Championships was the event that kickstarted the historical partnership between PDC and Sky Sports that gave the game new lifeblood. Currently, Sky Sports broadcasts all of the major tournaments with a handful of events shown live on the telly on ITV.

PDC competitions are also routinely shown in Germany, where the game is growing at an incredible rate, the Netherlands who are producing many of the world’s best darters, as well as Australia, Hungary, India, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and the US.

In an effort to attract a wider, younger and more gender-diverse audience the PDC set about innovating and developing the sport’s core outreach by changing the way in which professional tournaments are staged.

Fans are encouraged to dress up and sing football songs while music, such as Planet Funk’s 2000 single “Chase the Sun,” is played during the breaks. The players, too, have their own signature walk on songs, accompanied by pyrotechnics and smoke machines and, in the case of Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, dancing. The darters are also introduced into the arena by PDC Master of Ceremonies John McDonald in the style more famously related to Wrestling or Boxing.

This has transformed the game into not only a sport but a boozy night out with the mates. No tournament is more attributed to than the PDC World Darts Championships, suitable given that that was the event that kickstarted the organisation in the first place.

Develop And Spread of the PDC

As of 2001, promoter Barry Hearn, more famously associated with boxing or snooker, became the chairman and as such works closely with a specialists team in order to further develop and spread professional darts worldwide.

Alongside the annual PDC World Darts Championships, the World Darts Matchplay, Premier League of Darts, World Grand Prix, UK Open and Grand Slam of Darts are the major events to be followed by all darts fans.

Besides the competitions it hosts, the PDC has also introduced a ranking system known as the PDC Order of Merit which is based on player performances and prize money earned.

As the sport continues to grow all over the world, the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in London sees a growing number of international players qualify to compete in the sport’s biggest event, giving far more meaning to a what is supposed to be a worldwide tourney.

At the same time, 32 nations now take part in the World Cup of Darts, another PDC event. Plus, through launching the Qualifying School, Development Tour and World Youth Championship, the PDC has ensured that it is taking  a proactive approach into making sure that there is a growing respect and professionalism for darts as a sport in general, as well as attracting a talented pool of younger players to keep the game thriving.

The World Grand Prix of Darts gets underway on Monday, October 3^rd welcoming in a week of live televised PDC darts. 32 of the world’s best players will be facing off in the fight to reach the final two on October 9^th.

For the second year in a row, the play takes place at the Morningside Arena in Leicester rather than the Citiwest Hotel in Dublin, its traditional home for the last 20 years.

This will also be the 25th staging of the World Grand Prix which dates back to 1998. Famously, this prestigious tournament is unique in being the only major televised darts tournament that features a double in, double out scoring system. What this means is that players can’t start scoring until they have hit a double at the beginning of each leg.

World number one Gerwyn Price, reigning champion Jonny Clayton, world champion Peter Wright and five-time winner of the World Grand Prix Michael van Gerwen will all be among the favourites to take down one of the last televised events before the World Darts Championships get underway on December the 15th.

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The Iceman Cometh 

2020 Grand Prix winner Gerwyn Price is the joint-favorite and has recently returned to the top of the PDC Order of Merit and he really shouldn’t be having any problems in his opening round match against debutant Martin Schindler. Only once has a debutant made the final of this event and that was Dirk van Duijvenbode back in 2020 when he lost to Price. 

Despite the fact that Price came out and said he didn’t like double start darts, he won this event back in 2020 and finished runner-up here twelve months ago. He’s also in good form having recently won the World Series of Darts Finals and, having sat out last weekend’s event in Belgium, he should be nice and fresh too. The Welshman will likely face Darts Masters champion Joe Cullen or Damon Heta which, although tough, shouldn’t faze The Iceman.

Heta and Cullen faced each other in July’s Darts World Matchplay where it was Cullen who came out on top. The Heat has enjoyed a good summer without actually winning very much and I fancy The Rockstar to overcome the Aussie once again.

Rob Cross, who is a very good finisher but notoriously struggles with the double start format, is the highest seed in his quarter, James Wade being the other. Price has a good record against both and will be disappointed not to at least reach the final. He certainly has the easier draw than MVG, who was beaten in the first round last year by Danny Noppert, winner of this year’s UK Open. Noppert is a darter that exudes confidence on the outer ring, which is vital when it comes to double-start events. 

The Freeze will be backing himself to bag another major title in Leicester and his quarter of the draw certainly looks the easiest. The Dutchman’s biggest problem could be a second-round duel with Michael Smith should Bully Boy overcome Nathan Aspinall. Both Aspinall and Smith have lost in the first round in each of the last two years and Bully Boy has only made nine appearances at the World Grand Prix, winning just two matches.

A year ago, it seemed unthinkable that Noppert would beat Smith to a major but that’s what’s happened as his stock continues to rise. He is even almost in with a shot at competing in next year’s Darts Premier League. 

MVG Back To His Best

Joint favourite Michael van Gerwen is currently in the best form he has been in for the last couple of years which makes him an obvious threat, even taking into account his tricky opening match against Gary Anderson.

The Flying Scotsman is the world number nine but only the top eight have been seeded and he has been handed an unfortunate draw. Anderson hasn’t enjoyed a great year and is unlikely to cause Mighty Mike any problems, making the Dutchman the most likely to reach the next round. 

The other seeds in MVG’s half are Jonny Clayton, Peter Wright and Jose de Sousa. Wright, though, has struggled at this event with his best performance so far being a was a run to the final in 2018, where he was beaten 5-2 by van Gerwen. Since then, Snakebite has only got past the first round on one occasion in three years, losing in the first round six times. 

Despite Snakebite having a dismal record at the Grand Prix, the Scotsman is another to have got out of the long and exhausting World Series trips back in August so he should be a lot fresher than he normally is at this time of year. He also won a European Tour event earlier this month when he took down the German Open at the expense of Dimitri van den Bergh which should do him the world of good.

The Machine Is Switched On

Fifth seed James Wade has perhaps been awarded the kindest draw.  A refreshed Wade, who has hardly played in September, has drawn debutant Martin Lukeman in the first round and also managed to give the big three a swerve in his quarter.

If The Machine wins his opening match, and he will, then either Ross Smith or Andrew Gilding await before a likely meeting with either Michael Smith or Nathan Aspinall.

Wade is a five-time finalist and two-time winner here and can possibly run into Price, so long as the Iceman doesn’t melt first. The next highest ranked players on Wade’s side of the draw doesn’t have the best of records at this event so be surprised to see The Machine go on a deep run. 11-time major winner Wade clearly likes the format and was a runner-up in New Zealand recently, so is in decent looking form. 

The Best Of The Rest

Save for the van Gerwen Anderson clash, the tie of the first round is Jonny Clayton v Dirk van Duijvenbode. The Aubergenius played really well at the World Series Finals, just losing out to Gerwyn Price, but I’m giving The Ferret the nod here.

Elsewhere, Dave Chisnall is a very good starter and has climbed back up inside the top 14 on the PDC Order of Merit. That followed his win at the Belgium Open where he chucked in a nine-darter for good measure. Although his record in this event isn’t, great, Chizzy is more than capable of putting together a run.

2022 World Grand Prix Of Darts Outright Winner Bet365 Darts Betting Odds

Here is where the betting lines stand for the 2022 World Grand Prix of Darts on Bet365 as of September 30th.

Gerwyn Price – 9/2

Michael van Gerwen – 9/2

Peter Wright – 7/1

Jonny Clayton – 15/2

Michael Smith – 12/1

Luke Humphries – 12/1

Dimitri van den Bergh – 14/1

Joe Cullen – 16/1

Dave Chisnall – 20/1

Danny Noppert – 20/1

Dirk van Duijvenbode – 25/1

Nathan Aspinall – 28/1

James Wade – 33/1

Jose De Sousa – 33/1

Rob Cross 40/1

2022 World Grand Prix Of Darts Schedule (match odds provided by bet365)

Monday October 3 

First Round (Best of three sets)

• Callan Rydz (11/8) v (4/7) Krzysztof Ratajski
• Brendan Dolan  (11/10) v (8/11) Stephen Bunting
• Chris Dobey (2/1) v (2/5) Luke Humphries
• Dimitri Van den Bergh (4/5) v (1/1) Dave Chisnall
• Jonny Clayton (8/13) v (13/10) Dirk van Duijvenbode
• Peter Wright (3/10) v (5/2) Kim Huybrechts
• Michael van Gerwen (4/9) v (7/4) Gary Anderson
• Jose de Sousa (8/13) v (13/10) Adrian Lewis

Tuesday October 4

First Round (Best of three sets)

• Madars Razma (7/4) v (4/9) Ryan Searle
• Ross Smith (1/1) v (4/5) Andrew Gilding
• Danny Noppert (2/5) v (2/1) Gabriel Clemens
• Joe Cullen (4/5) v (1/1) Damon Heta
• Rob Cross (8/13) v (13/10) Daryl Gurney
• James Wade (4/9) v (7/4) Martin Lukeman
• Gerwyn Price (1/3) v (12/5) Martin Schindler
• Michael Smith (4/6) v (6/5) Nathan Aspinall

Wednesday October 5

Second Round (Best of five sets)

• Four Matches

Thursday October 6 

Second Round (Best of five sets)

• Four Matches

Friday, October 7

Quarter-Finals (Best of five sets)

• Four Matches

Saturday, October 8 

Semi-Finals (Best of seven sets)

• Winner QF 1 v Winner QF 2
• Winner QF 3 v Winner QF 4

Sunday, October 9 

Final (Best of nine sets)

• Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

QUICK GLANCE AT THE WORLD GRAND PRIX OF DARTS 2022 

Venue: Morningside Arena, Leicester

Dates: 3^rd of October – 9^th of October

Format: Best of five, seven, nine sets

Current Champion: Jonny Clayton

Where To Watch: Sky Sports Arena HD

When to Watch: 19:00 UK