Darts History – 1900’s Ⅲ

First 9 Dart Checkout Fact

The World Darts Federation (also known as WDF) was founded in 1976 by representatives of 15 nations. All National Darts organizing bodies of all nations can become members of the WDF. The function of the WDF is to encourage the sport of darts amongst the different nations and to also gain international recognition for darts as a major sport.

The first World Professional Darts Championship was organized by the BDO (British darts organization) in 1978. This championship was for many years known as "The Embassy" – due to its sponsorship by Imperial Tobacco. In 2003 the government banned all tobacco advertising and in 2004 "The Embassy World Dart Championship" became "The Lakeside World Darts Championship" – or Lakeside for short.

In the mid 1980’s the BBC television program “Not the 9’O Clock News” did a harsh sketch on darts about "heavy drinking" in the sport, which caused great damage to the image of the game and players.

Although attempts have been made by certain players to rectify the damage, by drinking water on stage during TV broadcasts etc., all ITV coverage of the game was stopped in 1988.

The BBC also cut back on their coverage to the extend that only one major event, the Embassy World Championship was still shown by the early 1990’s

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) was established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of 16 leading professional dart players split from the officially-recognized British Darts Organization (BDO). Certain players apparently felt the BDO did not do enough to encourage more new sponsors into the sport, and they also wanted to see more than one major televised event per year.

Interesting Fact

Both the PDC and BDO have World Darts Championship events. The PDC normally have their championship mid December to early January and the BDO from early January onwards.

In 2001 the BBC decided to expand darts coverage by adding the World Masters to their portfolio. Since 2005 viewers have been able to watch every dart thrown live at the World Championships. This was also the year that the BCC introduced interactive coverage via its BBC i service.

Darts are now been watched all over the world with several major tournaments being broadcast around the world.

In November of 2007 ITV also returned to darts after almost 20 years by showing the Grand Slam of Darts. A second PDC tournament was added in October of 2008 with the new European Championship.

Today the British Darts Organization (BDO) comprises of nearly 70 member counties, which organizes tournaments for players at all levels, from grass roots right up to professional level.

The game has also kept up with technology. Electronic dartboards are available with dozens of games build into them and keeping score automatically. Some will even talk to you. All these technological advancement has made the game more popular and much more accessible.

The primary Darts governing bodies are:

The WDF – World Darts Federation
The BDO – British Darts Organization
The PDC – Professional Darts Corporation

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