The 2006

Holsten Holsten Brewery (Holsten-Brauerei AG) is a brewing company founded in 1879 in what is now Hamburg's Altona-Nord quarter. The group now has seven breweries in Germany. Its nationally distributed premium brand is the pale lager ''Holsten Pilse ...

Premier League the second year of 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 Wor ...

's popular darts league. The 2006 league was launched with the top six players in the PDC world rankings and the addition of a wildcard player,

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Cham ...

who decided to switch from the British Darts Organisation just weeks after reaching their 2006 World Championship final. Barneveld, a four-times BDO World Champion went on to achieve the perfect

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 a ...

on 23 March against

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 twic ...

, on the fifth night of the 2006 Premier League at the

Bournemouth International Centre The Bournemouth International Centre (commonly known as the BIC ) in Bournemouth, Dorset, was opened in September 1984. It is one of the largest venues for conferences, exhibitions, entertainment and events in southern England. Additionally, it ...

. It was the same night that he faced Phil Taylor for the first time since his switch, the match ended in a 7–7 draw. Taylor and Barneveld dominated the league stages, with both players winning every match in the league phase against the other 5 players in the league. Taylor came out on top 8–6 in their other meeting in Doncaster. Given the form of Taylor and Barneveld in the group matches, there was much anticipation of a clash between the two in the final. However, it failed to materialise as

Roland Scholten Roland Scholten (born 11 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). Nicknamed The Tripod and The Flying Dutchman, Scholten tu ...

averaged 104.13 in the semi-final to hammer Barneveld (average 91.79) by 11 legs to 3. Phil Taylor averaged 105.03 in his 11–3 semi-final win over Colin Lloyd (average 99.42). Phil Taylor successfully defended his title by seeing off Scholten in the final by 16 legs to 6. Taylor's average in the final was 101.41 to Scholten's 92.01. Barneveld and Taylor would ultimately have their next meeting in the finals of the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship, with Barneveld ending Taylor's three-year reign as champion.

Format

The format had a slight change from 2005. Previously, all twelve legs of a match had to be completed – regardless of whether a winner had already been determined. From 2006, a match would finish when a player reached the 8 legs victory target, unless the match reached 7–7 when the points would be shared and the match drawn.

Venues

Like the inaugural Premier League Darts event, all 11 venues were used, but this time venues in Scotland (

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

) and Wales ( Newport) were also used.

Results

16 February – Week 1

King George's Hall,

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

23 February – Week 2

Seaburn Leisure Centre,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

2 March – Week 3

AECC,

16 March – Week 4

Wolverhampton Civic Hall,

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

23 March – Week 5

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

Nine dart finish

The Premier League's first

occurred, when

hit one during the ninth leg of his match against

, checking out with T20, T19 and D12.

30 March – Week 6

Sands Centre,

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

6 April – Week 7

Newport Centre, Newport

20 April – Week 8

The Dome Leisure Centre The Dome Leisure Centre is an arena and leisure centre in Doncaster, England, commonly referred to as ''The Dome'' or ''Doncaster Dome''. It has a swimming complex, bars, a sports arena that is also used as an event venue and the United Kingdo ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

27 April – Week 9

Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre,

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Steven ...

4 May – Week 10

Rivermead Centre,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

Play-offs – 29 May

Plymouth Pavilions Plymouth Pavilions is an entertainment and sports complex in Plymouth, Devon, England. It has an ice rink and indoor arena. The arena is used as an entertainment venue and also for corporate hire. The Pavilions is built on the site of the form ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

Table and streaks

Table

NB: LWAT = Legs Won Against Throw. Players separated by +/- leg difference if tied.

Streaks

NB: W = Won D = Drawn L = Lost N/A = Did not play

Player statistics

The following statistics are for the league stage only. Playoffs are not included.

Phil Taylor

*Longest unbeaten run: 12 *Most consecutive wins: 6 *Most consecutive draws: 1 *Most consecutive losses: 0 *Longest without a win: 1 *Biggest victory: 8–1 (''v.''

Colin Lloyd Colin Edward Lloyd (born 7 August 1973), nicknamed Jaws, is an English retired professional darts player. He is a former world number one ranked player and has won two major television titles in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – th ...

and ''v.''

) *Biggest defeat: ''Player Undefeated''

Raymond van Barneveld

*Longest unbeaten run: 7 *Most consecutive wins: 4 *Most consecutive draws: 1 *Most consecutive losses: 1 *Longest without a win: 1 *Biggest victory: 8–1 (''v.''

Ronnie Baxter Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing a ...

) *Biggest defeat: 6–8 (''v.'' Phil Taylor)

Roland Scholten

*Longest unbeaten run: 4 *Most consecutive wins: 2 *Most consecutive draws: 2 *Most consecutive losses: 4 *Longest without a win: 4 *Biggest victory: 8–3 (''v.''

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

) *Biggest defeat: 3–8 (''v.''

(twice) and v. Phil Taylor)

Colin Lloyd

*Longest unbeaten run: 2 *Most consecutive wins: 1 *Most consecutive draws: 1 *Most consecutive losses: 2 *Longest without a win: 3 *Biggest victory: 8–4 (''v.''

and v.

) *Biggest defeat: 1–8 (''v.'' Phil Taylor)

Ronnie Baxter

*Longest unbeaten run: 2 *Most consecutive wins: 1 *Most consecutive draws: 1 *Most consecutive losses: 2 *Longest without a win: 5 *Biggest victory: 8–3 (''v.''

and ''v.''

) *Biggest defeat: 1–8 (''v.''

)

Peter Manley

*Longest unbeaten run: 2 *Most consecutive wins: 2 *Most consecutive draws: 0 *Most consecutive losses: 5 *Longest without a win: 5 *Biggest victory: 8–3 (''v.''

) *Biggest defeat: 1–8 (''v.'' Phil Taylor)

Wayne Mardle

*Longest unbeaten run: 3 *Most consecutive wins: 1 *Most consecutive draws: 3 *Most consecutive losses: 5 *Longest without a win: 9 *Biggest victory: 8–5 (''v.''

) *Biggest defeat: 2–8 (''v.'' Phil Taylor)

Top match Averages

Darts averages are based on the total number of points scored divided number of darts thrown (multiplied by 3 in this case to give a "3 dart average"). There were 16 matches where a player managed an average in excess of 100 per visit to the board. Phil Taylor achieved this during seven matches, Raymond van Barneveld six times. Roland Scholten, Ronnie Baxter and Peter Manley each averaged over 100 during one match in the competition

*107.75 – Phil Taylor v Peter Manley (week 6) *106.79 – Phil Taylor v Colin Lloyd (week 1) *105.03 – Phil Taylor v Roland Scholten (final) *104.75 – Phil Taylor v Raymond van Barneveld (week 8) *104.35 – Raymond van Barneveld v Ronnie Baxter (week 10) *104.13 – Roland Scholten v Raymond van Barneveld (semi-final) *103.44 – Raymond van Barneveld v Wayne Mardle (week 10) *102.19 – Phil Taylor v Peter Manley (week 7) *101.33 – Ronnie Baxter v Raymond van Barneveld (week 10, Baxter lost match 2–8) *101.72 – Raymond van Barneveld v Colin Lloyd (week 7) *101.05 – Phil Taylor v Ronnie Baxter (week 3) *101.04 – Raymond van Barneveld v Phil Taylor (week 8, Barneveld lost match 6–8) *100.88 – Phil Taylor v Raymond van Barneveld (week 5) *100.69 – Raymond van Barneveld v Peter Manley (week 5) *100.55 – Raymond van Barneveld v Wayne Mardle (week 2) *100.35 – Peter Manley v Phil Taylor (week 6, Manley lost match 1–8)

External links

2006 Premier League Results & Statistics
{{2006 in PDC darts Premier League Darts

Premier League Darts Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which launched on 20 January 2005 on Sky Sports. Now played weekly from February to May, the event originally started as a fortnightly fixture in small venues around the United Kingdom. The tournament ori ...