The Topic International Darts League was a

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 ...

tournament held at the Triavium in

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 ...

dominated the tournament, held in his home country, winning it on three of the five occasions it was held. Gary Anderson was the final champion, having claimed the title in 2007, when the tournament also became the first major event to witness two

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 ...

es. Held in May, it was the second leg of the BDO’s Grand Slam title of televised majors, along with the

World Darts Trophy The Bullit World Darts Trophy was a professional darts tournament run by the British Darts Organisation and the World Darts Federation. Held each September from 2002 to 2007, it took place at the De Vechtsebanen in Utrecht, Netherlands. The tou ...

, the

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

and the Lakeside World Professional Championship. It began as a tournament for BDO players, but following van Barneveld's move to the PDC, Dutch broadcaster SBS-6 were able to grant five invitations to non-WDF affiliated players for the first time in 2006, in order to maintain interest in the event. The number of invitations was increased to 20 in 2007 as more Dutch players, including Jelle Klaasen and

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

, had moved to the PDC. This was done with the agreement of the Schoofs Management & Events/Maximum Score – the owner and promoter of the tournament. It is the only major event that Phil Taylor has competed in at least once, but never won.

End of event

Towards the end of 2007, the chairman of the PDC,

Barry Hearn Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sporting events promoter and the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport. Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including snooker, darts, ...

, announced that its players would not be competing in the 2008 International Darts League and World Darts Trophy events. As a result, SBS6 announced they would no longer be broadcasting the event, with their coverage relying heavily on big names such as van Barneveld, which then cast doubts over whether either tournament would go ahead. The tournament promoters filed a lawsuit against the PDC and SBS6 claiming a contract had been agreed for the PDC players to be involved. The case ended in failure on 21 February 2008, and the International Darts League was indefinitely postponed. The future of the World Darts Trophy was also thrown into doubt as a result of the decision, and both events were confirmed defunct by the failure of an appeal on April 29, 2008.

Format

The format has changed slightly over the years – the 2006 competition had 8 round-robin groups of 4 players. The top two players in each group qualified for another round-robin phase. Again, the top two players in each group progressed, but this time to the quarter-finals of the knockout stages. Despite the presence of the PDC players in 2006 and 2007, the tournament was still a WDF/BDO ranking event, with all available points going only to the WDF/BDO players competing.

International Darts League finals

{, class="wikitable" ! rowspan=2 , Year ! rowspan=2 , Champion Each player's average score is based on the average for each 3-dart visit to the board (ie total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3) ! rowspan=2 , Score ! rowspan=2 , Runner-up ! colspan=3 , Prize money ! rowspan=2 , Sponsor ! rowspan=2 , Venue , - ! Total ! Champion ! Runner-up , - , 2003 , {{nowrap, {{flagicon, NED

(97.77) , 8–5 , {{nowrap, {{flagicon, ENG Mervyn King (97.50) , rowspan=4 , €134,000 , rowspan=5 , €30,000 , rowspan=5 , €15,000 , rowspan=3 , Tempus , rowspan=5 , Triavium,

, - , 2004 , {{flagicon, NED

(101.64) , 13–5 , {{flagicon, AUS

Tony David Tony David (born 11 September 1967) is an Australian former professional darts player, who played under the nickname The Deadly Boomerang. He is the only Australian player to have been a senior singles world darts champion, having won the 200 ...

(95.04) , - , 2005 , {{flagicon, ENG Mervyn King (91.89) , {{nowrap, 13–11 , {{flagicon, ENG

Tony O'Shea Tony O'Shea (born 9 May 1961) is an English professional darts player. His squat figure has resulted in the nickname "Silverback". O'Shea has reached the finals of seven British Darts Organisation (BDO) major darts tournaments, but to date ...

(91.74) , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, {{flagicon, NED

(99.54) , 13–5 , {{flagicon, ENG

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 ...

(95.25) , rowspan=2 , Topic , - ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

, {{flagicon, SCO Gary Anderson (95.85) , 13–9 , {{nowrap, {{flagicon, WAL Mark Webster (94.54) , €158,000

References

External links

International Darts League

{{PDC Darts Tournaments {{BDO & WDF Tournaments 2003 establishments in the Netherlands 2007 disestablishments in the Netherlands Professional Darts Corporation tournaments British Darts Organisation tournaments Darts in the Netherlands International sports competitions hosted by the Netherlands

End of event

Format

International Darts League finals

Sponsors

References

External links