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Yes. I noticed the real decline in the standard of the BDO players for the first time a few years ago.
Up to that point it was still a reasonable competition. There were still a few decent players sticking with it but, now they have left, it's just the raw talent coming through and the older stalwarts like Adams and O'Shea who stay because they know they have a good chance of winning this one whereas they wouldn't have a cat in hells chance of winning the PDC.
When the likes of Steve Beaton, Kevin Painter and Ted Hankey etc, who are all no great shakes with no chance of winning the PDC moved across, I think most fans would have agreed that the BDO was a second fiddle event.
That said, I still enjoy watching it and the standard from the QF's onwards does rise to a decent level, though I still wince at the amount of darts these guys need to get to a finsh and then for the amount they need on the double.
I mean, take Martin Adams yesterday. He had 12 darts on a double in a good few legs.... The likes of Taylor, Gerwen, Lewis, RVB, Wade et al, would eat him and the rest of these guys alive with darts like that and this kind of level cannot be good for Adams who is actually a decent player. Mind you, I think Adams has only won it 3 times due to the exodus of competition in the BDO. When Barney was still plying his trade on there, Adams was the biggest bottler at the oche and almost spunked it before his maiden win.
The only way the BDO could possibly compete with the PDC is to invest in it. Raise the winners cheque and create more tournaments. The only trouble is the PDC have already done this and established themselves as the defacto darts organisation with the Premeir league and countless other major tournaments.
I'm not entirely sure the BDO World Championship will last much longer because as it doesn't attract the major players, it can not really be considered to be a World Title event. I think the only way forward for the event at Lakeside is for the powers that be to broker some form of deal that would allow all players to compete in both events without having to pick one or the other. |
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