It was a poor Lakeside this year in terms of averages and of the bigger names' performances. Problem is when the PDC's quality keeps going from strength to strength, it makes a bad BDO tournament look even worse.

Plenty of the BDO guys are more than capable of hitting high averages on TV, but the consistency isn't there as they don't have so many opportunities to play on the stage. No reason to think next year won't be better though.

bdo lakeside crowd is better than the pdc ally pally one only because the ally pally one just goes to go through the "chants" regardless of what is actually happening on the stage.
-- would be great fun there but it gets very boring on tv very fast.

the bdo darts standard is nothing compared to the pdc (of course the money the pdc can generate ensures this is a problem that wont go away for the bdo product)

the commentary on the bdo is pathetic... it is long past its sell by date... "tony" failed to recognise half the people that the audience dressed up as... often calling them the wrong thing... sometimes was just plain rude about people because of his lack of ability to describe people in a modern funny way... referred to the "wwf theme" a brand that dies 14 years ago...

so as the commentators come over as "dont care / out of touch" the product sinks even lower to the viewer.

i enjoyed the tournament, i did not mind the standard was lower, after all the "fa cup" is meant to be great yet it is premiership "c" teams after a a couple of rounds of non league v league matches on tv..

bt sport & bbc sport resisted the stupid camera angles they tried in recent years and the stage looked ok (it would help if the cameras switched to the darts player after they have started walking to their theme, the standing still bit is weird) but the "visuals" were fine...

summary

darts standard excused
visuals were fine
commentary was dire

Am I missing something. The PDC have sets and legs.

I think on one of the womens matches, first round i think, the ladies where scoring very high indeed and greeny came out with words of something like,

'' just to remind u all, these are the ladies! '' which did make me laugh and cringe depends how you look at it

That's just you and others, for me and others PDC crowd is best.

The BDO commentary I agree with is awful, along with the callers where one is half decent and that is Nick Rolls.

Just end it.

British Eurosport show BDO stuff not PDC. ITV4 show the PDC stuff Sky don't

I asked you this before but I don't think you replied so will ask again. Why are the callers awful ? I totally disagree by the way, I think they do a bloody good job ( as do the PDC ones by the way, I think all are excellent ), so interested to know why you think they are so bad please.

And as somebody who has attended many PDC and BDO events I will say this. Never seen fights and people thrown out at BDO events before. I know which is more family friendly.

That's what I said I was asking if ITV would go for BDO and even if they did, Eurosport might have something to say as they may want the Worlds.


I think the callers are fine and the commentary team seem fine to me. Vassos and John rawling do a good job and my prefered pairing. Nothing fancy or attention seeking like Mardle.

Think Tony Green adds little these days and Rob Walker is annoying asking silly questions. I know it will be a bit of an unusual view, but Boboy George adds little for me. Just another there for the old timers sakes and dodgy shirts. Colin Murray I quite like though.

Don't have BT so can't comment although they apparently have the same commentators but not presenters etc?

Also agree withe the PDC/BDO comments. BDO is far more family friendly. PDC is turning into a football crowd and the very best of order is not given to the players

Haven't BBC dropped it simply because the ratings are just not high enough for an event of Free to Air TV.

Someone on the SOS forum has put the final yesterday at 1.6 milion while the PDC final got 900k

Considering one final was pay TV and the other wasn't the different isn't that big relatively speaking.

I think ITV would want to see a higher rating across the board.

Spot on

The quality of virtually everything to do with this tournament was amateurish and embarrassing! From the pathetic quality! (sic!) of the players down to, like you say, the tinpot sounding callers.
Just how many other "pub standard" sports would get this much live coverage from the BBC?!!...
I LOVE darts and watch every tournament on ITV and SKY avidly, but my own self respect wouldn't let me watch more than the odd match of this complete pantomime!

So you've based all your opinion on a couple of matches ? So 4 players and 2 callers ?

And THEY ARE AMATEURS so of course some of it is amateurish. Scott Waites works 40 hours a week as a builder then plays darts.

Like others have said, it's more the tone unlike the PDC callers who all have a unique tone and rhythm style.

More boring than awful I should say really.

Don't get me going on the Women's haha 10 times or what ever how many it is "world champ" averaging like that is a joke that is the most pathetic world champ title I have ever known, at least hit a standard worthy of it.

Trina averaged 96 en route to one of her titles, you're just making a show of yourself.

whoopy one time, I have looked up her final averages, garbage.

World titles must beat a novice pub level.

What average did the PDC women's world champion get ?

I haven't seen any overnight viewing figures yet. It often takes a few days to get a real figure. I haven't seen the official PDC ones yet either

i have no idea, should not exist like the BDO.

I should stick to what you said first time, and don't get started 😴

Combine it mixed, one championship.

Men don't have any advantage over women in this particular sport so that makes sense.

So no women's world championships eh ? Doesn't surprise me you're sexist at all.

Of course they do. Like snooker, they have considerably more competition and history. It isn't going to change overnight

Your post makes you sound like you don't love darts at all, as you won't watch the BDO which is the grass roots of darts.

It sounds like what you love is PDC darts. The top end of the game as opposed to darts the game itself as darts is for people of all levels. Fair enough if you only like the higher echelons of the game, but many people like both codes.

As for the callers, if that is so important to you, can I suggest that a Town Crier competition may be up your street? I fail to see how a caller calls affects the enjoyment of a game? I honestly don't hear them most of the time as the scores are on the screen for me to see, so I pay little attention.


Maybe i'm wrong and sorry if I sound harsh, maybe you do love darts but it's a strange claim when you refuse to watch one code because it's not 180 after 180. Darts can be enthralling even with lower standards as anything can happen at any time.

I said combine the two and both sexies, if it's not good enough then it should not happen simple for me, and if one of the women's game makes the level then mix it up.

So by your logic do away with womens tennis if they cannot compete with the men ? Get rid of womens football unless they play in the male leagues etc ? That is what you are saying. Combine them and if one standard isn't up to the other do away with it. Very poor and sexist attitude.

We have gone from one extreme to the other. Some people wanting more money for the women to you wanting rid of them.