Matt Bozeat - Darts Greatest Games: Fifty Finest Matches from the World of Darts

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2017

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Matt Bozeat, 2017

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Print ISBN 978-1-78531-300-4

eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-344-8

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For my perfect little girl Carla Diana,
Lydia, Mum and Dad

Forever in my thoughts Mum

Thanks to the following for interviews Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, John Part, Martin Adams, Dennis Priestley, Bob Anderson, Ted Hankey, Andy Fordham, Jelle Klaasen, Scott Waites, Glen Durrant, Trina Gulliver, Anastasia Dobromyslova, Rod Harrington, Bobby George, Robbie Green, Chris Mason, Kevin Painter, Tony OShea, Andy Callaby, Andy Hamilton, James Richardson, Paul Lim, Shaun Greatbatch, Dennis Harbour and thanks also to Matt Ward, Patrick Chaplin, Dave Allen, Paul Starr, Will Adamson, John Rawling, Jamie Caven, Hugh Asher, Steve Palmer and Adam Steel.

I OFTEN get asked what the favourite match of my career has been, or which game I enjoyed the most, and Im so proud that I can look back over more than 25 years and have so many great memories.

The debate about which is the greatest match ever has been spoken about a lot over the years. Maybe Keith Dellers win over Eric Bristow in 1983, or John Lowe hitting the first televised nine- dart finish, Michael van Gerwen nearly hitting two nine-darters in a row or any one of so many games involving Phil Taylor?

Coming over to the PDC in 2006 gave me my chance to play against Phil on a regular basis, and I was desperate to prove myself against the greatest player ever.

Im proud to think that Ive done that, and although Phils won more than his share of our games since, weve got a wonderful rivalry, a great friendship and so much respect for each other.

Hopefully thats something that comes across for the fans who watch us at the events or on TV around the world, because the game has now got so big.

Darts is a fantastic sport, not just for us players to be involved in, but also for the fans, and its amazing to see so many people coming to enjoy themselves everywhere we go.

Having so many more tournaments now, of course, means that there are so many more brilliant matches which get seen worldwide, so to pick out just 50 for this book must have been a massive job for Matt!

Its a huge honour for me that three of my wins are included; my win over Richie Burnett in the 1998 BDO World Championship final will always be so special for me it changed my life and came three years after Richie beat me in the final. I can still remember the emotion when I won.

My 2016 World Championship win over Michael van Gerwen is included too, and it was a really memorable game for a lot of reasons. Michael has been unbelievable with what hes achieved in recent years, and to win a game like that against him at Alexandra Palace meant a lot to me.

And finally, my game with Phil to win the 2007 World Championship. Is it really ten years ago already? I was 3-0 down in sets but I didnt panic. I had to stay calm and believe in myself; the 180s came and the doubles, and then I won the sudden death leg.

The reaction in the Netherlands was unbelievable and people still talk about that game everywhere we go in the world. It makes me so proud to look at the picture of me on my office wall holding that trophy.

Raymond van Barneveld, February 2017

THE way Phil Taylor saw it, he owed Raymond van Barneveld one.

Any loss was hard to take, but that loss in the 2007 PDC World Championship final was possibly harder to take than any other.

Van Barneveld boldly said he joined the PDC to beat Taylor and he had done just that.

After that, John Part reckoned van Barnevelds was the scalp the players prized most rather than Taylors and although Taylor said he was glad the pressure was on someone else for a change, he didnt mean it.

He wanted to be the player the others feared, the one they prayed they didnt draw in tournaments and in the two years since that World Championship final, Taylor had beaten van Barneveld five times in seven matches in front of the television cameras.

The averages were always sky high, the human drama compelling.

Of all darts great rivalries, theirs was surely the greatest and as with all great rivalries in all sports think Borg and McEnroe, Ali and Frazier they were very different characters.

Both were likeable enough, but Taylor was harder, thought less; van Barneveld was more vulnerable and complex.

Raymond won five world titles, then changed his darts, said Andy Fordham. Why would you do that?

Van Barneveld got disheartened sometimes, Taylor never did.

Van Barneveld would shake his head on stage when he couldnt find the answers; all Taylor ever showed was a workmanlike determination to get the job done.

From the moment van Barneveld sank the match-winning double in the World Championship final just before midnight on 1 January, 2007, Taylors job was to get the trophy back.

That match and the rivalry between Taylor and van Barneveld helped lift darts out of the leisure centres and working mens clubs of its working-class roots.

Bigger venues were booked for the Premier League and the World Championship shifted from the Circus Tavern to the larger and distinctly more upmarket Alexandra Palace.

Neither defending champion van Barneveld nor Taylor reached the final there in 2008.

Van Barneveld was beaten by Kevin Painter in the second round and, more surprisingly, Wayne Mardle overturned a 3-0 deficit to oust Taylor in the last eight.

Their defeats cleared the way for John Part to become a threetime world champion with victory over qualifier Kirk Shepherd in the final.

Taylor had appeared in every other PDC World Championship final all 14 of them and perhaps darts would stride off into a sunlit future of stadia and slimmed-down superstars without him

Shepherd looked to have a good future, Michael van Gerwen would surely break through and there were others.

The whispers about Taylors possible demise grew louder after James Wade, Terry Jenkins and, worst of all, Peter Manley inflicted defeats on him in the opening four weeks of the following Premier League.

Taylor later admitted the loss to Manley had left him the lowest I have ever been. Manley won convincingly 8-3, then mocked Taylor in his celebrations.

After that night in Coventry, Taylor was just about unbeatable.

He practised harder than ever, added several points to his average and won the Premier League, World Matchplay, Desert Classic, World Grand Prix, European Championship and Grand Slam of Darts.