The 1980 Embassy World Darts Championship was the third year that the British Darts Organisation had staged a world championship. Again the field was 24 players, with the top seeds receiving a bye to the last 16 stage. For the second successive year the tournament was staged at Jollees Cabaret Club in Stoke-on-Trent.
| 1980 Embassy World Darts Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament information | |||
| Dates | 2–9 February 1980 | ||
| Venue | Jollees Cabaret Club[1] | ||
| Location | Stoke-on-Trent | ||
| Country |  England | ||
| Organisation(s) | BDO | ||
| Format | Sets Final – best of 9 | ||
| Prize fund | £15,000 | ||
| Winner's share | £4,500 | ||
| High checkout | 161 Tony Sontag Terry O'Dea | ||
| Champion(s) | |||
| Eric Bristow[2] | |||
| |||
Defending champion John Lowe, who had released a book The Lowe Profile just before the event suffered a surprise defeat 0–2 to Cliff Lazarenko saying afterwards "If you miss your doubles in this one, you must expect to go out." Eric Bristow was then immediately installed as favourite to win the event and would meet another flamboyant character of the game in the final – Bobby George.
George, who was not invited to the qualifiers the previous year appeared in a sequined shirt and when arriving on the stage was presented with a candelabra to complete a Liberace effect. He also made the early running in the final leading 1–0, 2–1 and 3–2. The first six sets all went to a deciding leg until Bristow won the seventh 3–1 to establish a 4–3 set lead. In the next set at 2–2 in legs, George had a golden opportunity to level the match and take it to a decider, but bust his score and nonchalantly threw his third dart into the board before putting his darts into his top pocket in anticipation of Bristow checking out to win the title. Bristow did so.[citation needed]
Bristow later said: "This was the final that changed the game of darts forever. Before that the audiences were always quite subdued, there was never really a buzz around the place, but when Bobby and I played in that final every member of the audience got involved. Everybody quite simply was going mad. It was a pit of noise. He had his fans, I had mine and both wanted to out-shout each other.[3]
Seeds
editPrize money
editThe prize fund was £15,000.
- Champion: £4,500
- Runner-Up: £2,000
- 3rd Place: £500
- Semi-Finalists (2): £1,000
- Quarter-Finalists (4): £500
- Last 16 (8): £300
- Last 24 (8): £200
Results
edit| First round (best of 3 sets) 2–3 February | Second round (best of 3 sets) 4–6 February | Quarter-finals (best of 5 sets) 6–7 February | Semi-finals (best of 7 sets) 8 February | Final (best of 9 sets) 9 February | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | John Lowe 86.43 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Gosling 77.79 | 0 | Cliff Lazarenko 89.04 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko 86.79 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko 81.40 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  Ceri Morgan 86.70 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Ceri Morgan 76.38 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Allan Hogg 72.21 | 1 | Alan Grant 71.25 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko 84.27 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alan Grant 77.19 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Bobby George 79.89 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Bobby George 91.20 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Len Heard 76.17 | 0 | Dave Whitcombe 84.15 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Bobby George 75.39 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dave Whitcombe 81.99 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Leighton Rees 73.59 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Leighton Rees 78.78 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Rab Smith 85.02 | 1 | Tony Sontag 81.93 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Bobby George 86.49 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Tony Sontag 84.151 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Eric Bristow 88.11 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Eric Bristow 79.89 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Alan Glazier 69.33 | 0 | Tony Clark 79.23 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Eric Bristow 81.90 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Tony Clark 78.45 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Jocky Wilson 78.90 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Jocky Wilson 82.11 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Conrad Daniels 77.01 | 0 | Doug McCarthy 79.14 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Eric Bristow 86.22 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Doug McCarthy 74.25 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Tony Brown 86.28 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Nicky Virachkul 76.56 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Stefan Lord 78.39 | 1 | Bill Lennard 82.80 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bill Lennard 79.80 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bill Lennard 75.57 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Tony Brown 84.30 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Tony Brown 82.50 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Eric MacLean 81.72 | 1 | Terry O'Dea 76.77 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terry O'Dea 82.29 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd place match (best of 3 sets)
Cliff Lazarenko 88.02 0 – 2 Tony Brown 99.24
References
edit- ^ "The World Championship of Darts". Learnaboutdarts.com. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ Ralph Hickok (16 January 2010). "History – World Darts Champions". HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ Bristow, Eric (2010). The Crafty Cockney: the Autobiography. London: Arrow. p. 139. ISBN 9780099532798.