News of the World Darts Championship

The tournament was first organised in the 1927/28 season thanks to the help of the staff on the News of the World newspaper and other volunteers, who helped set up the competition. William Jewiss won the 1927 darts challenge cup sponsored by News of the World and C.N Kidd & Sons brewery in Dartford.

There were around 1,000 entries in the first event, which was held in the Metropolitan area of London. The tournament then began to expand around the different counties in England. By 1938/39 there were six different regional events – London & South England, Wales, Lancashire & Cheshire, Yorkshire, the North of England and the Midland Counties. [2]

The total entrants in the competition in 1938/39 were in excess of 280,000. Enormous interest was created that year by the London and South of England championship. A record crowd of 14,534 spectators filled the Royal Agricultural Hall, London in May to witness the final between Jim Pike (representing the Windmill Club, Southwark) and Marmaduke Brecon (Jolly Sailor, Hanworth, Middlesex). Brecon ran out the winner by two games to one. The tournament continued to attract 250,000 entries during the post war years [2].

There was, however no national champion of the event until after World War II. It was revived as a national competition in 1947/48, [2] and continued to be described as ‘the championship every dart player wants to win’ until its demise in the 1990s. It can also be classed as the first world darts championships as it went international and players from different countries entered and even won the tournament. Bobby George is the only player to win the championship without dropping one single leg in its 75 year run

The News of the World was the first nationally televised darts event as ITV broadcast the latter stages of the championship from 1972 to 1985, and again in 1987 and 1988. The 1986 event wasn't broadcast due to a technicians' strike.

As quickly as darts tournaments began to appear on television throughout the 1970s and into the early and mid 1980s, the bubble burst and all darts competitions except the World Championship disappeared from TV screens in 1989.

This big sudden slump in televised darts coverage meant that it came as no surprise that the News of the World Championship also ended after the 1990 event, with the last two events having been untelevised. As it happened, 1990 was also the first year that separate competitions were held for men and women.

The lack of televised darts coverage left some players frustrated by the lack of opportunity to make a living from darts, and in January 1992 they formed their own organisation to start up their own tournaments (see main article: Professional Darts Corporation, and Split in darts).

The News of the World Championship made a one-year reappearance in the 1996/97 season, when Sky Sports and the News of the World resurrected the competition.

In his autobiography, Phil Taylor says that his mentor, Eric Bristow always mocked him for never having won the competition and that it was the tournament that everyone wanted to win.

Taylor put the record straight by beating Ian White 2–0 in the final in June 1997, collecting the News of the World Big D Trophy, a cheque for £42,000 and a set of Unicorn golden darts. Following his victory, which also saw him take out the then England captain Martin Adams 2–1 in the semi finals, Taylor was quoted as saying "I've won five world titles – but this one means everything".

However, the overall response to the competition was disappointing and the News of the World decided against running it again. The tournament remains discontinued.

No player has ever won the international title three times, seven players managed two wins each.

• Tommy Gibbons (1951–52, 1957–58)
• Tom Reddington (1954–55, 1959–60)
• Tom Barrett (1963–64, 1964–65)
• Stefan Lord (1977–78, 1979–80)
• Eric Bristow (1982–83, 1983–84)
• Bobby George (1978–79, 1985–86)
• Mike Gregory (1986–87, 1987–88)

• 1948–49 Empire Pool (Wembley Arena), Wembley, London
• 1950–58 Empress Hall, Earls Court, London
• 1959–62 Empire Pool (Wembley Arena), Wembley, London
• 1963–77 Alexandra Palace, London
• 1978–88 Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
• 1989–90 Docklands Arena, London
• 1997 Villa Park, Birmingham[4]

• Kramer, Anne (2013). The Ultimate Book of Darts: A Complete Guide to Games, Gear, Terms, and Rules. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. ISBN 9781626365261.
• Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles (2012). Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598843002.

• History of tournament including historical pictures