Barney stays with BDO

The Rooster

According to the bbc.co.uk sport ticker thingy, which says at this moment:

"Raymond van Barneveld tells BBC Sport that he is staying with the BDO. More soon..."

Still leaves the question open as to whether he'll get the final Premier League spot. But why would the PDC give it to him if he's not giving anything back?

The possible answer could be the rumour that the two big Dutch events on the BDO calendar - the International Darts League and the World Darts Trophy - will be shown on Sky, and that both PDC and BDO players will be allowed play. So Barney gets his wish of playing some events with Taylor and the other PDC heads, but keeping Lakeside

Kingp35

Here is the full article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/darts/4617626.stm

BBC Sport wrote:

Beaten finalist Raymond van Barneveld has vowed to remain with the British Darts Organisation and go in search of a fifth world title next year.

Van Barneveld, who lost to Jelle Klaasen in Sunday's all-Dutch final, brushed aside fresh rumours he may switch to its rival outfit, the PDC.

"I feel comfortable where I am, all my friends are at the Lakeside," the Dutchman told BBC Sport.

"A fifth world title at the Lakeside will come, I can tell you."

Barneveld missed out on the chance to equal Eric Bristow's record of five BDO world titles with a 7-5 loss to Klaasen on Sunday.

The Dutchman blamed his shock defeat on the overwhelming support for his 21-year-old opponent.

"I'm happy the title stayed in Holland but it's difficult when nearly all the crowd is against you," he added.

"I really wasn't very comfortable. It's not always nice coming here when 99% of the crowd want you to lose."

But Barneveld insisted he would return to the Lakeside and would not be swayed by the larger prize money on offer at the PDC World Championship.

The purse in the PDC event for the world champion is £100,000, which was £40,000 more than for last night's final.

"Those rumours have been going for months," he said. "But I've got three tournaments coming up and they're all BDO events.

"I'll play at the Dutch Open in February, as well as the Bavaria World Darts Trophy and the Tempus International Darts League later in the year."

Barneveld also said he enjoyed unprecedented coverage through the BDO World Darts Championship and feared that may be compromised by a move to the PDC tournament, which is shown on Sky satellite television.

"Five million people in Holland watched the Lakeside World Championship - that's one in three people over here. We can't receive Sky channels in Holland, so I wouldn't get as much coverage at home."

It doesnt surrise me that Barney wants to stay for the moment because he desperately wants to win that 5th title and equal Bristows record. Also he makes an interesting point there when he says that they cant get Sky Sports in Holland so his fans would be unable to watch him play if he was on the PDC circuit.

The Rooster wrote:

The possible answer could be the rumour that the two big Dutch events on the BDO calendar - the International Darts League and the World Darts Trophy - will be shown on Sky, and that both PDC and BDO players will be allowed play. So Barney gets his wish of playing some events with Taylor and the other PDC heads, but keeping Lakeside

That just seems very messy to me and I cant see how its going to work out with respect to ranking points etc. Obviously those events are BDO ranking events but if PDC players entered it, it would mean that less BDO players could enter and then they would recieve less ranking points. I think it will just get far too messy.

The Rooster

As was known there was one place vacant in the Premier League (strong rumour all along that it would be Barney) and one venue vacant (stong rumour that it would be in the Netherlands).

Well the missing venue has now been annouced:




Stevenage!

So the likelihood of Barney joining the PL seems to be receding, and it seems it will revert to a PDC wildcard. The following are the contenders:

Adrian Lewis - the young gun, and more importantly a mate of Taylor, who is a mate of Hearn, and its Hearn's decision.

Kevin Painter - the highest player in the rankings who has not already qualified.

John Part - the only man who seems capable of beating Taylor in majors

Wayne Jones - semi finalist at Purfleet

There's talk they're going to sound out Klassen, but I don't see it.

If it is going to PDC, then the fairest thing would be to give it to Painter, but I think the preference of the promoters would be to give it to Lewis or Part.

Kingp35

The Rooster wrote:

John Part - the only man who seems capable of beating Taylor in majors

As much as I would love to see Part in it, I heard an interview with him and he said that he doesnt want to do it this year it costs him too uch in travelling and its way too much hassle.