The 1997 Red Band World Darts Championship was held between 29 December 1996 and 5 January 1997 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 Lond ...

, Essex. It was the fourth World Championship organised by the World Darts Council, which had acrimoniously split from 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 ...

in 1992–93. As a result of an ongoing legal battle, this would be the last time that the WDC name would be used – an out-of-court settlement (

Tomlin Order A Tomlin order is a court order in the English civil justice system under which a court action is stayed on terms that have been agreed in advance between the parties and are included in a schedule to the order. As such, it is a form of consent ...

) in June 1997 meant that the organisation had to change its name to the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

(PDC). Paul Lim, who famously hit a

nine dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

at the 1990 Embassy Championship appeared at his first WDC World Championship – he had only managed to qualify once for the Embassy since the split, losing a second round match to

John Part John Part (born June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, a ...

in 1994. The Championship saw two tight semi-finals, the most memorable of which was the clash between mentor and protégé –

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 ...

and Phil Taylor. Taylor emerged victorious 5–4 in sets to reach the final. He matched his mentor's feat of five World Championship titles when he beat

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 ...

6–3 in the final. They were now level as the most successful players of all-time.

Seeds

# Phil Taylor # Bob Anderson #

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 ...

Jamie Harvey Jamie Harvey (born 15 August 1955) is a Scottish former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. He used the nickname Bravedart for his matches – a play on ...

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 ...

Keith Deller Keith Kelvin Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship and Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier ever to ...

# Rod Harrington

Prize money

The prize fund was £99,500.

Results

Preliminary round

A best of five sets preliminary round match took place between Tom Kirby,

Peter Manley Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twi ...

Ritchie Gardner Richard Gardner is an English former professional darts player who had some success during the 1980s, and was one of the 16 top players who formed a breakaway organisation during an acrimonious split in the game during 1992–94. Career Gar ...

, Paul Lim, Chris Mason and Dave Kelly, as they were tied on the rankings.

Group stage

Group A

:Bristow qualified with a higher tournament average. 29 December–1 January

Group B

29 December–1 January

Group C

29 December–1 January

Group D

29 December–1 January

Group E

29 December–1 January

Group F

29 December–1 January

Group G

29 December–1 January

Group H

29 December–1 January

Knockout stages

Third place play-off: (4)

83.25 4 – 2

83.23

Representation from different countries

This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship. Four countries were represented in the World Championship, one less than in the previous championship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997 Pdc World Darts Championship PDC World Darts Championships WDC World Darts Championship 1997 WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship WDC World Darts Championship Purfleet Sport in Essex