BBC Sports Personality – Mo’s immovable mountain
Phil Taylor will, as expected, be amongst the contenders to become the 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year on 19 December, and currently sits at third favourite to walk-off with the coveted – although actually fairly pointless – award.Ahead of Taylor...
Who can replace Mace the Ace?
Chris Mason announced his retirement from darts in Wolverhampton last weekend, and will in all likelihood play his last match as a professional in Derby on Monday.Highly talented and frequently controversial, Mason never won a major tournament, but featured in some of...
Adams’ hat-trick fails to fill the boots of The Limestone Cowboy
Martin Adams beat Stuart Kellett in the final of the Winmau World Masters live on BBC2 on Sunday afternoon to cap an enjoyable weekend of televised darts, and become only the second man in the 37-year history of the event to secure the trophy for three consecutive...
Taylor’s defeats resurrect the darting year
When Phil Taylor loses one darts tournament it may be regarded as misfortune; two looks like carelessness; but four, in just nine days, and questions arise about The Power’s continued dominance of the darting world. Until last weekend, Taylor had been unbeaten...
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2010 – Fifteen to One for Taylor and McCoy?
When tickets go on sale a week today for the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the Corporation may find it easier to sell all 12,000 than to come up with a list of 10 sport stars worthy of the shortlist for the award.The British sporting year has so far been...
Modernisation of Pentathlon starts slippery slope towards the Olympic Computer Games
The announcement last week that laser pistols will replace real guns in the Modern Pentathlon for London 2012 leaves the future of the sport in some doubt.The UIPM (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne) claim that cost will be reduced by two-thirds, that all...
Enjoy him while you can – Phil Taylor reaches 50
Fifty years ago today in Stoke, the western world’s most successful sportsman was born.Phil Taylor’s achievements are both inimitable and incredible. Were his sport one which had originated from the fields of public schools rather than the fug of public...
Future of women’s professional darts remains in the balance
The inaugural PDC Unicorn women’s world darts championship concluded live on Sky Sports late on Saturday night with victory for US number 1 Stacy Bromberg. The titanic tussle against south London’s Tricia Wright went to the deciding leg, but to depict the...
FIFA’s ineptitude saved once again by the beautiful game
Four enthralling world cup quarter finals have helped to ensure that football’s on-going ills will remain untouched. How the administrators of other sports must view the round ball game with immense jealousy, for it is despite the best efforts of FIFA that the...
England’s woes bad news for the Beeb
England’s footballers may have played horribly against Algeria on Friday night, but the performance of the nation’s broadcasters was also markedly average. In the first half both Radio 5 Live and ITV insisted that this was a must-win game, when anyone...
There’s only one Phil Taylor
Phil Taylor produced a phenomenal performance at Wembley Arena last night, regaining the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts title with a 10-8 defeat of defending champion James ‘The Machine’ Wade.‘The Power’ hit two nine-dart legs, the...
Premier League season fails to fail to deliver
Disillusioned by its predictability and fed up with the nastiness contained within, last November I said Farewell to the Premier League. I’ve since been hounded by a recurring phrase uttered by Lloyd Bridges’ stressed air-traffic controller in the 1980...
Van Barneveld reveals blackmail plot
Of the many peculiar stories that darts throws up, few match that revealed by world number 2 dart player Raymond Van Barneveld live on Sky Sports last Thursday night. Just minutes after hitting his second televised nine-dart leg in five months, the Dutchman informed a...
London 2012: The Funding of the 500
The British Olympic Association (BOA) announced last week that it expects to send more than 500 athletes to London 2012. Team GB will be 50% bigger than at Beijing 2008, reflecting a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform Olympic sport in Great Britain.'...
Six nations rugby coverage weathered by the BBC
The eleventh outing of rugby’s Six Nations ended on Saturday night in somewhat soggy disappointment. Italy collected the wooden spoon for the eighth time in eleven attempts - and have still only beaten Scotland (5 times) and Wales (twice) since joining the...
Hockey’s demolition job
England will face familiar opponents tomorrow in the semi-finals of the Hockey world cup, with a clash of sticks against reigning Olympic and world champions Germany. England defeated the Germans in the final of the 2009 European Championships, however, so the winner...
PDC causes concern with cunning plan for darting domination
Following several months of indifferent courtship of the BDO, the Professional Darts Corporation removed its velvet gloves last week with the announcement of a cunning plan that included three new tournaments.The PDC World Cup of darts, Unicorn Under-21 World...
Capital Arrows will tell you where to play darts in central London – while you still can
With a record attendance of up to 10,000 people expected to visit London’s O2 tonight to witness the opening round of the 2010 Premier League, it would appear that the darts scene in London is thriving. It isn’t. Fifty years ago, there were 200 London pubs...
Seventeen years is not enough to heal the wounds of darts’ divide
Following a meeting of the county directors, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) has today formally rejected the £2million offer from Barry Hearn's Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) to take control of the game. Responding to the news, a...
Beware of the loud racquet
A new year brings another false hope for British tennis. The failure of Laura Robson to make the main draw at the Australian Open may be a blessing - placing a little deserved spotlight on Elena Baltacha and Katie O'Brien -...
Putting darts into perspective
Here come the women
Although a touch disappointed not to see the England Women’s Cricket Team win the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year award over the weekend, the fact that they were nominated and discussed in equal measure with the men illustrates quite how far the sport...
BBC Sports Personality nominees
No suprises at SPOTY towers where Phil Taylor has once again been overlooked for BBC Sports Personality of the Year by the twenty-six national and regional publications given the pleasurable task of choosing their top ten.I know I shouldn't give a...
Is it cos I is French?
A footballer cheats in a match which doesn't involve anyone British but it's front-page phone-in fodder, the twitterverse goes crazee and the BBC sport website runs a live debate the following day. Hello?Bien sur Terry Henry [sic] was wrong, of course he...