Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor the greatest Darts player of all time has called time on his illustrious career after the end of the 2017 season. Taylor has won the World Championship on an unprecedented 16 occasions, as well as winning other prestigious titles such as the World Matchplay on no less than 15 occasions. However he did not rule out a guest appearance in the PDC Premier League.
In an interview he said that “This year is my final year on tour, the World Championship is it, I’m excited, I can’t wait to be totally honest”. “I want to spend time with my family and I don’t have the drive anymore.”
Humble Beginnings
Taylor before becoming the multi-millionaire sporting super star in which he is now started out with humble beginnings, holding out two jobs at the same time which included making parts for toilets. Taylor was spotted by 5-time BDO World Champion Eric Bristow and was given a loan of £15,000 to help him on his way to make a career in the sport. The intention for Bristow was to see “if I could create another World Champion.” And ‘the crafty cockney’ didn’t half, Phil’s first title came all the way back in 1988 when the Power won the Canadian Open championships with the winnings from that event given back to Bristow as condition of the loan. His success saw him qualify for the 1990 World Championships at the Lakeside where he made it all the way to the final where he faced his mentor Bristow, of which he beat to win his first World crown.
The split in Darts
When Taylor doubled up his World title tally in 1992, the sport was at a point of tension. The sports image around the drinking of alcohol saw only the World Championships televised by the BBC. The players were not happy that the BDO were not trying hard enough to gain more TV tournaments. The players asked about whether thery would sanction events that the players would run, which was dually denied. After a few regional TV tournaments, 16 of the top players at the time were banned and started the World Darts Council which later became the PDC.
Taylor would make the first World final under the new organisation, but would be humbled by Dennis ‘the Menace’ Priestly. The next year would see the Power embark on a historic run of 8 consecutive World titles by defeating Rod Harrington in the final. He didn’t from 1995 lose a game at the World Championships until the 2003 final when Canadian John Part defeated Taylor in a last set epic.
9-Darters
Everybody will remember John Lowe’s 9 darter in 1984, an image which has become so synonymous with the sport. However that was hit on tape-delay via World of Sport. However with Sky, all games were televised live and despite players getting close to the feat, it was finally done by Phil in the 2002 World Matchplay. Up against Chris Mason, he hit it in leg 5 with Sid Waddell and Dave Lanning producing a commentary masterpiece. Sid Waddell started by saying”double 12 for history… history… He did the 9 dart, £100,000″ Lanning then said “A moment of the greatest sporting history… the first live 9 dart finish”. All the components of that moment makes the history of it more spine-tingling.
Then in the final of the Premier League 2010, the Power did something that no man had done before or since, hit two 9-dart finishes in the same match against James Wade. He started the feat in leg two by hitting a 141 outshot, before nailing it again by hitting double 18 to send Wembley Arena into frenzy. To make it even more surreal he missed a double to make it a third 9-darter of the game. However, he only won that encounter by those two magical legs 10-8.
Losing the number 1 spot
Following his shock defeat to Michael Smith in the 2014 World Championships and Michael van Gerwen winning the tournament, he lost the number 1 slot to ‘MVG’. From there he hit tough patches, losing 7-0 to MVG and avoiding relegation on judgement night in 2014. He bounced back to win the World Matchplay and Grand Slam and a final in the World Championships, but that seemed to be a Taylor swansong. For the first time in his career he failed to qualify for Premier League finals night in 2015 and with early exits in tournaments saw the Power written of by many. And with his World Ranking at 6, the power will leave the sport in 2017 not at his peak, but to still an exceptional level.
Henry Deacon
Henry Deacon Media 