The Waterboy sank without trace, GG shed a load of weight before a lightweight exit and the Wizard of Oz has only gone and misplaced his wand…
But the rather better news for Aussie darts in the middle of a so far underwhelming world championships for the green-and-gold flingers is that the boom sport is going to have its own Australia-based Premier League next year.
The UK-based Professional Darts Council (PDC) has announced the ANZ Premier League will be played in October and November in eight arenas across Australia and New Zealand, with a place in next year’s world championships on offer to the winner.
Eight top players from the domestic circuits in the two countries will play on eight consecutive Saturdays in what organisers are saying will be the biggest roadshow event in trans-Tasman darts annals.
“This is a huge development for professional darts in Australia and New Zealand and an exciting moment for us,” said Matt Porter, chief executive of the PDC, which now oversees a Stg 15 million ($A30 million) global tour.
Details of the Premier League’s qualification and format are yet to be revealed but the champion will play in the 2025-26 world championships, the current edition of which has so far not proved a happy hunting ground for Australian players at the famed Alexandra Palace “darting cathedral” in London.
Joe “The Waterboy” Comito, from Harvey, got knocked out on the first night while Gordon “GG” Mathers, a 43-year-old from Brisbane who had undergone a dramatic 50kg weight loss to reboot his health and career, also went out at the first hurdle.
Simon “The Wizard” Whitlock, a former finalist and for years the splendidly-bearded global standard bearer for Australian darts, didn’t even qualify for this year’s event for the first time in 15 years and, with his form dwindling at the age of 55, results at this year’s event have, sadly, guaranteed he’s now lost his PDC tour card too.
So once again, hopes for a first Australian winner at the world championships since Tony David – aka “The Deadly Boomerang” – in 2002 will rest on the shoulders of the flamboyant Damon Heta, a roofer from Perth who took the gamble of coming to England five years ago in a bid to make it big in the darts world.
He just improves by the year and is now the world no.9, a heavy-scoring marksman who can beat anyone on his day, as he proved when downing the sport’s new English teen superstar Luke Littler, the favourite to lift the world championship, in the UK Open.
Heta – “The Heat” – will begin his campaign in the second round against “The Sniper”, Englishman Connor Scutt, who is his regular training partner, on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
“Can we do the draw again please?” Heta had groaned after being paired with his great friend.
2025 PDC ANZ PREMIER LEAGUE DATES
October 4: Cairns Convention Centre
October 11: Newcastle Entertainment Centre
October 18: AIS Arena, Canberra
October 25: MyState Bank Arena, Hobart
November 1: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
November 8: TSB Arena, Wellington (NZ)
November 15: Globox Arena, Hamilton (NZ)
November 22: Nissan Arena, Brisbane
