The 1994 Skol World Darts Championship was held following 18 months of controversy within the sport of

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

. After the 1993 Embassy World Championships, several players decided it was time to part company with the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

(who had always organised the World Championship) and form their own organisation. The new organisation was known as the World Darts Council (WDC). The WDC would later become the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The WDC decided to introduce their own separate World Championship, with the inaugural tournament being staged before the BDO version. The 1994 Championship started on Boxing Day 1993, and finished on 2 January 1994. This started a tradition for the WDC/PDC World Championship to kick off before the new calendar year begins. The tournament was staged at the

Circus Tavern The Circus Tavern is an entertainment venue in Purfleet, Essex, England which hosts functions, cabaret acts and is also a nightclub venue. First opened in 1974, it is most famous as having been a long-time venue of the PDC World Darts Champion ...

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lon ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

became the first WDC World Darts Champion, winning the final 6–1 against Phil Taylor to add to his 6–0 whitewash victory over

Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...

in the 1991 World Championship. 1994 was the last time that Phil Taylor would fail to win the World Championship until 2003.

The 16 Defectors

Originally 16 players "defected" from the BDO to form the WDC/PDC – Phil Taylor,

, Rod Harrington,

Alan Warriner Alan Warriner-Little (born Warriner; 24 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Iceman, he is a former World Grand Prix champion and a former runner-up at the World Professional Darts Championship. Darts care ...

Peter Evison Peter Kenneth Evison (born 27 May 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed The Fen Tiger, his greatest achievements were th ...

, Richie Gardner, Jocky Wilson,

, Keith Deller,

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

, Bob Anderson,

Cliff Lazarenko Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height (193 cm / 6'4") and weight (over 127 kg at his peak), he is known for being a colourful character on and off the stage ...

Kevin Spiolek Kevin Spiolek (born 5 May 1962 in Cambridge) is a retired English professional darts player who played during the 1980s and 1990s. He made a brief return to form in 2006, when qualifying to play in the PDC World Darts Championship. Career His ...

, Jamie Harvey,

Mike Gregory Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for Warrington from 1982 to 1994, and won 20 caps fo ...

and Chris Johns. However, Johns and Gregory returned to the BDO without ever competing at the PDC World Championship. They were replaced with

Graeme Stoddart Graeme Stoddart (born 30 July 1959 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a former English– Dutch professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation events. His nickname was Shark. Career Stoddart represented Holland in the 1984 Eu ...

and

Kevin Burrows Kevin Burrows (born 25 November 1964 from Ipswich, Suffolk) is a former English professional darts player, who played in the Professional Darts Corporation events. Career From Ipswich, Suffolk, Burrows first was brought in to make up the number ...

and the field was brought up to 24 by adding eight players who are Larry Butler,

Sean Downs Sean Downs (born February 6 1967) is an American former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Originally from Oregon, Downs first competed in the BDO World Darts Championship in 1993, wher ...

Gerald Verrier Gerald Verrier (born December 5, 1958) is an American former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career Verrier was brought in to make up the numbers in the inaugural 1994 WDC World Darts ...

Jerry Umberger Jerry Umberger (born 21 January 1942) is a former American professional darts player, who played in Professional Darts Corporation events. He used the nickname Tucker. Career From Pennsylvania, Umberger first competed in the BDO World Darts C ...

, Jim Watkins, Dave Kelly and Steve Brown from North America and Tom Kirby of Ireland.

The Tournament and Format

There were 24 players involved and the tournament featured an unusual round-robin format. The players were put into groups of three where the order of play was thus: *Player A v Player B *Loser of Match 1 v Player C *Winner of Match 1 v Player C This was done so that there would usually always be something to play for in the last group game. The group winner would progress to the quarter-finals (best of seven sets) and the tournament then became a straight knock-out event. The semi-finals were the best of 9 sets and the final was best of 11 sets.

Seeds

# Bob Anderson #

# Rod Harrington # Phil Taylor #

Prize money

The prize money for the tournament was £64,000 – significantly less than the 1994 BDO World Championship which featured a £136,100 prize fund.

Tournament review

Group stage

The majority of the major players came through the group stage without trouble. Phil Taylor eased past Jamie Harvey 3–1, and Jim Watkins 3–0 to win Group 1, while 1988 World Champion, Bob Anderson, cruised into the quarter-finals for a showdown against Taylor, after a series of 3–0 wins against Americans

and Dave Kelly. But there was room for an American to upset the odds, as Steve Brown, surprisingly, took Group 3, with wins against 1983 champion Keith Deller and

would go through to meet him after a couple of 3–1 wins against Richie Gardner and

showed no signs of discomfort, with consecutive 3–0 wins over

and

, and two 90-plus averages to go with it; the second of which, 97.56, would be the highest three-dart average in the tournament. Rod Harrington also went through after winning group 6, though not without difficulty. After a 3–1 win over five time World Champion,

, he narrowly defeated

by 3 sets to 2 to go through to the last 8. Group 7 would see three-time champion

bow out, who narrowed missed out in a tight group, which saw Tom Kirby from Ireland book a quarter-final place, despite suffering defeat in his opening match to Lowe. A 3–1 win over American Larry Butler, and Lowe's 3–2 loss to Butler, ensured the Irishmen's advancement. He would be up against

, after the Yorkshireman saw off Jocky Wilson 3–2 and

3–0 to book a quarter-final place.

Quarter-finals

In a battle of two former world champions, Phil Taylor defeated Bob Anderson 4–2. Steve Brown upset the odds again to defeat 1993 runner-up

4–3 and book a meeting with Taylor in the semi-finals.

continued his good form, recording another 90-plus three-dart average while beating Rod Harrington 4–1, while

ended the run of Tom Kirby with a 4–2 win.

Semi-finals and third-place play-off

Brown's dream run finally ended in the semi-finals, as Taylor beat him 5–0 to reach his third world final. The scoreline seemed harsh on Brown, however, as both players finished with the same three-dart average (91.20). In the other semi-final, Priestley beat Evison 5–3, thus reaching his second world final. Brown capped off his impressive run in fine style, beating Evison 5–1 in the third-place play-off.

Final

The final turned out to be a one-sided affair, with Taylor rarely giving Priestley any trouble at all. Priestley raced into a 5–0 lead, and eventually won 6–1 to take his second world title.

Results