chunky
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Hi Steve
First of all a very Merry christmas to all your family.
I have been looking at the 1978 BDO World Championship page on wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_BDO_World_Darts_Championship
And someone has put a a first round that makes 24 players in this competition. I always thought that there were only 16 players competing. This first round is at odds with the write-up of the competition on this page, and also when the BDO published on their website years ago averages for all their world championships this round did not exist.
Do you have or know anyone with any knowledge of a pre-TV round for the 1978 BDO World Championship, or is it just fake information, on Wikipedia?
Robert
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Hmmmm... That is interesting. The tournament itself has always been considered a 16-player event, and even darts historian Patrick Chaplin describes it as an event with "16 invited players". However, I was aware that there was a qualifier of some description, although until you mentioned it here, I didn't actually know anything about it, or how many players. The tournament is listed as February 6-10, but I was surprised to see the date of the qualifier as February 10.
The reason I knew was that my dad was invited! Unfortunately, he had to turn it down because he was contracted to do an exhibition/promotional tour in the US. I don't know if that was the entire list posted on the Wikipedia page, but there was even a player I'd never heard of!
I do have a number of books from around the time, so I will see what I can find. I can also ask a few people. As you probably saw, Olly Croft passed away, so I can't use him as a resource, but I can ask his son Oliver. He may have some access to records. I will try Patrick, but judging by his website, I don't see him having any different information. Unfortunately, I don't have contact details of anyone who played in the qualifier.
Leave it with me, and I'll see what I can do. Thanks for contacting me, as I love looking into the historical stuff like this.
Steve
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Hi Steve
many thanks for the info. I have noticed that some changes to the page have been made on the Wikipedia page with the incorrect name Paul Obbard being changed to the correct name of Phil Obbard.
I have also emailed the BDO on Friday I will let you know if I get a response.
On the BBC genome Project that list BBC TV programmes there is no mention of darts for the 5 February, but on the 6 February there is
The Embassy World Professional Darts Championships
The first of five nightly programmes.
This week the best 16 darts players in the world are competing for the individual professional title-and over £10,000 of prize money
Tonight England's ERIC BRISTOW , the No 1 seed, sets out to try to prove that he is world's best.
David Vine introduces highlights of this evening's first round matches from The Heart of the Midlands, Nottingham. Commentator
SID WADDELL
Producer NICK HUNTER BBC ManchesterContributors
Unknown: Eric Bristow
Introduces: David Vine
Unknown: Sid Waddell
Producer: Nick Hunterhttps://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1978-02-06
It was a shame that your dad was unable to play in the qualifying for this competition I'm sure he would had done well.
I did see on the BDO website about the sad passing of Olly Croft.
I await you response before changing the round to a qualifying round.
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