Is that the one where the fans watch the darts rather than not give a toss ?

I know we will get this in the BDO thread when that starts. People who cannot tell the difference between professional dart players and those who have proper jobs and play darts as well.

But then maybe I'm the daft one because to me darts is darts. I'll watch it all because I'm a fan.

PDC has the best players but the worst fans

Could have been 2 nine darters in that set there but MVG wins it .Darren Didn't play all that bad

Not much Webster could do in the last leg there needed the 9 darter to win it!

So the back to back reigning world champion has been "relegated" to the afternoon session then.....

Fantastic line up there lots of the seeds still in, should be the best yet.

Rightly so. He is definitely less marketable than Taylor, Barney and MVG. Commercial TV is all about getting the highest audience

Taylor vs Barnie is far and away the most attractive match for TV with names most viewers even non darts fans recognise plus will likely to be the closest match.

Problem Anderson has is his fan base is Scottish so not many English supporters, who would probably prefer to watch MVG demolish Gurney.

If somebody said to me "I will give you a free ticket to two matches today ( and make sure the idiots stay away ) which would you like to go to ?" I would say Taylor v Barney and MVG v Gurney without hesitation. Best player in the world and best ever.

I'm logging back in this morning and reading a lot of people slagging off Taylor. I switched off right after the match ended so I've seen no post-match interviews and something's obviously kicked off to do with Taylor and possibly Mardle so, what happened? What have I missed?

Does that matter?

I still think there should just be one major world darts championship.

And I don't really take the point about the fans because the PDC atmosphere is great with few empty seats which can't really be said for Frimley Green.

You think that atmosphere is great ? Where would you take your family for a day at the darts ? Ally Pally or Lakeside ? Because it is loud and noisy and people are constantly on their feet singing doesn't mean it is a great place to be. Sounds like my idea of hell, as a darts fan.

It would be great if just one Worlds but that isn't happening any time soon. The PDC needs the BDO so i don't understand your criticism of it. Do you not want a womens game ? A county structure ? Players ( like Chris Dobey, Daryl Gurney ) coming through after finding their feet in the BDO ? The BDO is a great breeding ground for players who cannot yet afford to go full time. Remember the BDO world champ, Scott Waites, does a 40 hour week as a joiner before he picks his darts up.

Simple solution. If you don't like it, then don't watch it but, as a darts fan, i will watch it because....for the third time.... i like darts.

It was Taylor's reaction to Mardle's questioning in the post match discussion. To me it definitely seemed as if Mardle was deliberately trying to provoke a reaction from him. It was over Painter's antics in his match with Taylor and then Kimmy doing similar. Okay Taylor has been known for gamesmanship in the past as well. However Taylor did seem to lose it so could be looking at a DRA fine or ban. Probably one of those they never disclose and the player is conveniently "sick" or injured.

What I though was more relevant was a very clear hint from Taylor he will only play in tournaments he qualifies for because of ranking or gets invited to (Premier League and World Series of Darts). So would not bother with the leisure centre drudgery of floor tournaments for U.K. Open qualifying, Euro Tour & Championship and Pro Tour & Players Championship. I can see if correct then ITV will be seriously pissed off as those are their TV tournaments along with Masters (top 16 post Worlds so Taylor in that), and for Taylor to deliberately miss them as can't be bothered to try and qualify would impact their ratings as he is still the biggest name to general public. In 2016 I think he only needed one Euro Tour win to qualify for the European Championships and only entered one or two events. Next year with more events he would need a win and final to be sure (a semi may be okay) but obviously would need to enter more. Same with Pro Tour he would need similar. Gone are the days he could turn up at those events and be guaranteed the win or final especially with MVG now winning most of them and probably at least another 5 very good players in with a winning chance if MVG fails to deliver.

I see BT Sports have said they will have at least some of Lakeside in 4K UHD. I am surprised Sky aren't bothering if only for the final. They have done the semis and final in 3D before now when they had their 3D channel. Seems strange to let BT have the first worldwide darts in 4K. Only downside is do you really want to see a lot of overweight sweating players in 4K !

Yes I would and I'd prefer the Ally Pally any day.

But I do understand your points and they are succinct ones.

I would like you however to explain more on how/why the "PDC needs the BDO"?

I did already. I asked you questions you haven't answered. The PDC needs the BDO to help breed the new youngsters coming through, like Dobey and Gurney. They learn their trade via the county game, which the BDO operates. And what about the womens game ? PDC don't give a monkeys about that.

Cant answer for Darren, but the reason always brought out is that virtually ever top player was in BDO before joining PDC.

Okay that's the history but with Challenge and Youth tours I think the PDC are definitely trying to develop their own pipeline of talent. They also have the Euro Tour for overseas players, now many of these will have leant their darts outside PDC but aren't BDO in the sense they never played Lakeside or BDO Masters.

If you look at the most recent joiners then Bunting, started brightly and got into the top 16 and invited to 2015 World Series of Darts but is now sinking down the rankings, already out of top 16 and only way is down. I did read changing his darts really messed up his game. Norris has had the occasional good win but does not seem to be moving up. Other recent joiners have done very little.

The Women's game is a strange one as the PDC tried with Ana a few years back as didn't she play in Grand Slam but she never succeeded and went back to BDO. The thing I don't understand is in darts there is no reason male and female players can't be equal as not a strength issue and at the top of the game it's more mental focus. But just look at the BDO averages and it's rare for a female player to get above the mid 70s when the top male players are mid 90s.

Anastasia did play in the GSOD and beat VvdV in the process. The next year the winner and runner up of the women's PDC womens world championships qualified for the Grand Slam. Sadly for Barry Hearn, Anastasia didn't get to the final so didn't make it to Wolves. The PDC dropped womens darts then

Yes I would still like to see womens darts and fair representation.

And fine if that's how everything works, then the BDO you could say is the backbone of darts.

All I'm saying is I know which tourno I prefer out of the two.

Fair enough but don't call it 'pub darts' when there are many of us on here who just love darts regardless.

I wouldnt go to Ally Pally if you offered me a free ticket and paid me £50. My idea of watching darts isnt having it spoilt by pissed up idiots who are more interested in singing than watching. Which is a real shame because what is on the stage is fantastic viewing and is getting better all the time. Yesterday afternoons treatment of Daryl Gurney was embarrassing, NO dart fan would do that

Yes, look I take your points about the crowd and mob mentality and perhaps as a football fan I'm a bit misguided to it apropos the arrows game. And I will desist from the term pub darts in future notwithstanding.

But you know, the Gurney thing, that was just inexperience on his part, it backfired and as Mardle said, he shouldn't have reacted that way but perhaps more importantly the crowd shouldn't behave the way they do in the first place. Unfortunately it's part of the game now.

Thank you

I think part of the problem is players like Gurney come from playing at PDC tour events behind closed doors and then into the cauldron of Ally Pally, its a huge leap. Webster has the experience of the PL etc so he knew exactly how to play the crowd. Had Gurney lost yesterday it could have sent his game backwards big style, all through people booing when he was going for a double. You wouldnt get that when a player is going for a putt at The Open or when a player is going for the black at The Crucible. It shouldnt be like that at the darts, it never used to be but as you say, thats how it has gone now.

Draught Gate 2..Wade again

Look's like we have windgate again because there is a door open so wade and wright have had to go off until the door get's closed.

Nice 180 and 61 from Wade, go on.