The Premier League 2009 Thread

Kingp35 · 09-01-2009 02:17PM #1

The rumours doing the rounds at the moment are that Wayne Mardle has confirmed that it will be himself and Jelle Klaasen as the two wild card picks in this years Premier League.

I'm delighted that Klaasen has been picked and I suppose it was kind of inevitable that Mardle would be in there.

What do you lads think?

rag2gar · 09-01-2009 02:27PM

Nothing is confirmed yet so I wouldn't take this as fact. I would be disgusted if the above were the two wild cards. Wayne Mardle is picked time and time again purely because of his off the oche antics. He cannot give any of the top 6 a game. He couldn't even give Co Stompe a game who would be number 50 on the list for Prem League.

Similarly Jelle Klassen is being picked purely cause he's an "exciting" player. Wow so he throws fast, this doesnt explain why he's 20 places below Mervyn King in the ranking who switched from the BDO a year after him. They might as well pick Van Der Voort as Klassen as they are 'one tournament' men. Everyone was raving about VVV in Bolton: but would be laughed at if they picked him for the Prem League now. Klassen was just lucky he had his one big tournament perfromance of the year in the last one before Wild Card selection.

Why do the PDC refuse to pick the best 8 players? Its a disgrace if both Adrian Lewis and Andy Hamilton get shunned again. They are thoroughbred darts players and have been consistenly performing over the course of 2008 rather than a "good run" in a tournament here and there.

The Bull · 09-01-2009 03:55PM

The two pick are prob more to do with revenue that darts, See Mardle is the sort that will puts bums in seats and lets face it it more show and excitment for the drunkin masses to yoddle about and sing along too, the other pick Klassen is prob more to do with keepin the dutch tele fans happy, I think its now shown live in the netherlands so two dutch is alot easier to sell that one, Its all about the ratings and the"MONEY" £££££££££££££

that monney monney, ya ya,
that monney monney, ya ya,
that monney monney, ya ya
that monney monney, ya ya
that monney monney, ya ya :pac:

Kingp35 · 09-01-2009 04:29PM

It has now been confirmed. Mardle and Klaasen are the Wild Card picks.

http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/PremierLeagueDetail/0,,10180~1514711,00.html

rag2gar · 09-01-2009 04:45PM

Yeah the Premier League is nothing to do with darts. I forgot that for a second!

Bring on Bolton and Blackpool, they cant come soon enough. The only two real darts festivals of the year. Oh and Citywest I guess

Carrickman · 09-01-2009 05:30PM

I'm not one bit happy that that clown Mardel has been given a wildcard there are much more deserving players than him:mad:

unknown13 · 09-01-2009 06:29PM

Carrickman wrote: »

I'm not one bit happy that that clown Mardel has been given a wildcard there are much more deserving players than him:mad:

Andy Hamiliton deserves Mardle's place

syngindub · 09-01-2009 07:44PM

Not happy Mardle has been given the spot but i'll certainly be only too happy to watch him getting his ass kicked each week.

unknown13 · 09-01-2009 10:58PM

rag2gar wrote: »

Nothing is confirmed yet so I wouldn't take this as fact. I would be disgusted if the above were the two wild cards. Wayne Mardle is picked time and time again purely because of his off the oche antics. He cannot give any of the top 6 a game. He couldn't even give Co Stompe a game who would be number 50 on the list for Prem League.

Similarly Jelle Klassen is being picked purely cause he's an "exciting" player. Wow so he throws fast, this doesnt explain why he's 20 places below Mervyn King in the ranking who switched from the BDO a year after him. They might as well pick Van Der Voort as Klassen as they are 'one tournament' men. Everyone was raving about VVV in Bolton: but would be laughed at if they picked him for the Prem League now. Klassen was just lucky he had his one big tournament perfromance of the year in the last one before Wild Card selection.

Why do the PDC refuse to pick the best 8 players? Its a disgrace if both Adrian Lewis and Andy Hamilton get shunned again. They are thoroughbred darts players and have been consistenly performing over the course of 2008 rather than a "good run" in a tournament here and there.

I would prefer Mardle than Lewis because Lewis had the flu one of the weeks in the last PL and pulled out of his match which meant Jenkins had to place twice in one night. Think of the amount of players that would have played in that situation. Lewis would pull if there was a slight chance he could lose and I'm glad he is not in it this year because he and Mardle are the PDC's favourites

ratinakeg · 10-01-2009 01:07AM

I'm happy Klaasen got picked as he will be a good addition to the Premier League.
Not happy about Mardle:(
I honestly think Tabern(:eek: for some of you) should of got through but he's not a money spinner like Mardle!
It just proves it's all about the money!

Degag · 10-01-2009 06:10PM

unknown13 wrote: »

I would prefer Mardle than Lewis because Lewis had the flu one of the weeks in the last PL and pulled out of his match which meant Jenkins had to place twice in one night. Think of the amount of players that would have played in that situation.

In the first year of the Premier League, one player every night had to play two matches so i don't think it had that much of an effect.

RichieLawlor · 10-01-2009 06:15PM

ratinakeg wrote: »

I'm happy Klaasen got picked as he will be a good addition to the Premier League.
Not happy about Mardle:(
I honestly think Tabern(:eek: for some of you) should of got through but he's not a money spinner like Mardle!
It just proves it's all about the money!

Lmao, He has the personality of an alley cat, might aswell bring in Dennis Smith

Degag · 10-01-2009 06:57PM

RichieLawlor wrote: »

Lmao, He has the personality of an alley cat, might aswell bring in Dennis Smith

In fairness though, he is a good thrower. Much improved over the last 2 years.

ratinakeg · 10-01-2009 07:57PM

RichieLawlor wrote: »

Lmao, He has the personality of an alley cat, might aswell bring in Dennis Smith

Not Dennis Smith please, rather jump off a cliff than watch him play. Tabern is not a slow player, he scores high averages quite often!

Evolution Enter · 11-01-2009 05:52AM

Well, when you have dead last in a tournament named after you in the Mardle Cup, probably tells you exactly what he brings to the Premier League

From an entertainment point of view, I much prefer Lewis and lets face it, he has a much brighter future than Hawaii '5-oh I can't get out of the fives'. World No 7 and as far as the World Championships goes, had some great matches, but Lewis loses out to a wally in a stupid shirt and inflatable palm trees

The Premier league is a brilliant showcase for darts and gets more fans interested in the big tournaments, I just don't see what Mardle brings to it anymore. And as far as bums on seats go, when you've Phil taylor on the bill, Mardle doesn't justify himself on that count either

Manley's ranking pretty much ruled him out, but he's a much bigger loss to the league than Mardle.

leggo · 11-01-2009 08:32PM

Hawaii '5-oh I can't get out of the fives'. World No 7

Re-read that one quote and see how little sense it makes.

The likes of Mardle and Manley are just as key in bringing darts to the heights that it is today as Taylor and Barney. Like them or not, if you enjoy the Premier League, you need to have one of the two in it to keep it as popular as it currently is and for darts to grow as a sport.

mdwexford · 11-01-2009 08:42PM

People are being way too harsh on Mardle, he may be inconsistent but when hes on form hes better than pretty much anyone and hes obviously a huge crowd puller which is what the Premier League is about.

Lets not forget hes also been in 5 World Championship Semi Finals, Lewis has never been in a major final either even though it is just a matter of time. Klassen's inclusion is far worse than Mardle's imo.

jwshooter · 11-01-2009 09:57PM

mardle is one player i enjoy watching ,

Evolution Enter · 12-01-2009 01:40AM

What's wrong with the quote, there was a full stop before World number 7 indicating I had started a new sentence? This a darts forum or a grammer exam??

Lewis is World number 7. What's your point? Mardle is World no8, with good runs in one high paying tournament in the last two years keeping him that high. Lewis consistently performs during tournaments all year.

Maybe the thought of Waddell yacking on about the Mardle drift for 14 weeks has me dreading him there.

At least Klassen is a former World Champion, despite his ranking of 25

If the premier league is the pantomime of darts, shouldn't the villain come before the jester in Manley??

Degag · 12-01-2009 03:02AM

leggo wrote: »

Re-read that one quote and see how little sense it makes.

The likes of Mardle and Manley are just as key in bringing darts to the heights that it is today as Taylor and Barney. Like them or not, if you enjoy the Premier League, you need to have one of the two in it to keep it as popular as it currently is and for darts to grow as a sport.

I'm sorry, i cannot agree with you at all there. Taylor and Barney have 19 World Championships between themselves, Mardle and Manley have none. The impact of the latter two doesn't even register compared to taylor and barnevald... Do you honestly think that in 50 years time that those 4 players will be mentioned in the same breath?

The premier league would be just as popular without mardle and manley... Real dart fans appreciate the ton plus averages and 180s, not inflatable palm trees, bananas and hawaii shirts.

Evolution Enter · 12-01-2009 05:03AM

True, I'm not saying Manley should be there either by the way! Just that the justifications used for Mardle's inclusion apply better to other players

Why include John Part in the tournament just because of his ranking when he clearly seems to dislike the event! The €20000 guarantee seems to be the only reason he shows up.

Lewis. Hamilton and maybe, dare I say it, a BDO entrant like Gary Anderson would generate interest and add to the league

RichieLawlor · 12-01-2009 06:01AM

Evolution Enter wrote: »

True, I'm not saying Manley should be there either by the way! Just that the justifications used for Mardle's inclusion apply better to other players

Why include John Part in the tournament just because of his ranking when he clearly seems to dislike the event! The €20000 guarantee seems to be the only reason he shows up.

Lewis. Hamilton and maybe, dare I say it, a BDO entrant like Gary Anderson would generate interest and add to the league

Anderson is a bottler on the stage, thats very clear, he will never join the pdc imo also i think Lewis Hamilton would draw plenty of interest :P:P:P

Kingp35 · 12-01-2009 11:39AM

Evolution Enter wrote: »

Lewis consistently performs during tournaments all year.

I disagree with that. Lewis is one of the least consistent players in the PDC. he can be fantastic one week and awful the next, sure he can even be fantastic one set and awful the next! He has done no more in tournaments than Mardle has and doesn't really deserve the place anymore than Mardle does. Neither of them qualified by right. Lewis has never come close to winning a major because he doesn't have the mental strength to do it, he is a bottler and gets wound up way too easy. The same could be said of Mardle who is also inconsistent and abit of a bottler but has reached the World Championships Semi-Final 4 times, the Matchplay final once, the Desert Classic final twice. There is no way you can have stats like that if you are a bad player.

Mardle has done much more and proved much more in his career than Lewis. Personally I think both of them should be included, it should be the worlds top 8 and not this Wild Card thing, but to say Lewis deserves it much more than Mardle is rubbish.

Degag · 12-01-2009 12:45PM

Evolution Enter wrote: »

Why include John Part in the tournament just because of his ranking when he clearly seems to dislike the event! The €20000 guarantee seems to be the only reason he shows up.

I don't think he dislikes it, he just doesn't perform well in it. There is a fine line. The format doesn't suit his style imo.

I think they should have waited until the BDO championship was over before naming the wildcards to see if anyone did jump ship... when Barney jumped and got a wildcard it really did generate a lot of excitement.

dionsiseire · 12-01-2009 02:19PM

Nothing to do with format, if he'd stop travelling from canada every week he'd be fine

RichieLawlor · 12-01-2009 03:39PM

Degag wrote: »

I don't think he dislikes it, he just doesn't perform well in it. There is a fine line. The format doesn't suit his style imo.

I think they should have waited until the BDO championship was over before naming the wildcards to see if anyone did jump ship... when Barney jumped and got a wildcard it really did generate a lot of excitement.

Barney created interest because he was Barney not because he left the BDO, there is no one out there capable of making the same impact

Degag · 12-01-2009 04:17PM

RichieLawlor wrote: »

Barney created interest because he was Barney not because he left the BDO, there is no one out there capable of making the same impact

I disagree, at this stage we've seen the top boys in the PDC play eachother multiple times, at this stage even Barney v. Taylor is getting rather stale largely due to how much Sky overhype it.

If someone like Hankey, O'Shea, Fitton, Anderson or even Adams etc were to join the PDC and given a PL spot it would create one new unique match every week and give the PL some more vibrancy and freshness.

As good as the PL is, it gets rather monotonous when you see the same players and same matches every year.

Evolution Enter · 12-01-2009 06:16PM

A straight top 8 would be better, Klassen is an excellent thrower, former world champion, but at 25 in the rankings, it makes a joke of the race to the top 6 to qualify.

Anyone know who the lowest ranking wildcard was up to this??

Kingp35 · 12-01-2009 06:18PM

Evolution Enter wrote: »

A straight top 8 would be better, Klassen is an excellent thrower, former world champion, but at 25 in the rankings, it makes a joke of the race to the top 6 to qualify.

Anyone know who the lowest ranking wildcard was up to this??

Well it would have been Barney because he hadn't played in any PDC tournaments yet

Other than that I don't know to be honest.

Evolution Enter · 12-01-2009 06:30PM

I'd love to know who else was in line for a wild card. Few of the pro's that I spoke with were convinced Manley would get it. Don't think any of them gave King a chance?

leggo · 12-01-2009 06:40PM

What's wrong with the quote, there was a full stop before World number 7 indicating I had started a new sentence? This a darts forum or a grammer exam??

No, the point was that Mardle wouldn't BE the world number 8 (corrected, my mistake) if he consistently threw 5's. It's based off money earnings, which is made through hitting consistently stellar darts and to be the 8th best player in the PDC easily answers the question about whether he can play or not.

If you like ONE player who is lower than 8th in the world, then your own argument is defeated because they must hit the 5's more than Mardle.

I'm sorry, i cannot agree with you at all there. Taylor and Barney have 19 World Championships between themselves, Mardle and Manley have none. The impact of the latter two doesn't even register compared to taylor and barnevald... Do you honestly think that in 50 years time that those 4 players will be mentioned in the same breath?

No, but then again I doubt we'll hear much about Barry Hearn, Sid Waddell, Planet Funk or anyone else who's been instrumental in creating the darts that we ALL know and love today. It doesn't make them any less relevant. For example, without Manley to play villain to Taylor in 06 then Taylor's 13th World Championship would've been "Oh...he's done it again. Fair play..."

A blockbuster movie is made up of an entire cast and crew, not just one or two big-name actors.

The premier league would be just as popular without mardle and manley... Real dart fans appreciate the ton plus averages and 180s, not inflatable palm trees, bananas and hawaii shirts.

Unfortunately, the 'real' darts fans don't pay the bills. It's the fans who buy the bananas, palm trees and hawaii shirts that give darts a big enough platform for 'real' fans like you to enjoy. Simple business.

The Premier League 2009 Thread

Comments