The MFI World Matchplay championship was a major darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation.

MFI World Matchplay
Tournament information
VenueFulcrum Centre, Slough (1984-85), Festival Hall, Basildon (1986-88)
CountryEnglandEngland
Established1984
Organisation(s)BDO Major (5 editions)
FormatSets
Final Year1988
Final champion(s)
England Eric Bristow

The tournament only lasted for five years but is historic in darts as it featured the first ever televised nine-dart finish on 13 October 1984 when John Lowe won £102,000 for the perfect game of darts against Keith Deller. Lowe went on to win the title that year.

MFI World Matchplay finals

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The complete list of final results:[1]

Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
1984   John Lowe 5–3   Cliff Lazarenko £36,000 £12,000 £5,000 MFI Fulcrum Centre, Slough
1985   Eric Bristow 5–4   Bob Anderson £41,000 £15,000 £6,000
1986   Mike Gregory 5–1   Jocky Wilson £41,000 £15,000 £6,000 Festival Hall, Basildon
1987   Bob Anderson 5–1   John Lowe £47,400 £18,000 £7,000
1988   Eric Bristow (92.91) 5–1   Bob Sinnaeve (88.38) £52,000 £21,000 £7,500

Finalists

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Rank Player Won Runner-up Finals
1   Eric Bristow 2 0 2
2   Bob Anderson 1 1 2
  John Lowe 1 1 2
4   Mike Gregory 1 0 1
5   Cliff Lazarenko 0 1 1
  Bob Sinnaeve 0 1 1
  Jocky Wilson 0 1 1

Nine-dart finish

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John Lowe threw the first ever televised nine-dart finish on 13 October 1984 against Keith Deller. As well as for being the first, it stands out for the rarity of the final visit combination.

Player Year (+Round) Method Opponent Result Prize
  John Lowe 1984, Quarter-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T17, T18, D18   Keith Deller 3-1 £102,000

Media coverage

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The tournament was broadcast on ITV and originally came from The Fulcrum Centre, Slough, before moving to Festival Hall, Basildon.[2] The tournament ceased after the 1988 tournament due to ITV announcing that they were pulling out of darts coverage altogether.

Sponsors

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Sponsor Years
MFI 1984-88

References

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  1. ^ "MFI World Matchplay Winners". DartsDatabase. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Darts Results - MFI World Matchplay - Darts Mad". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
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