chunky
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Status Replies posted by 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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