Darts Has Proved There Is Life after Phil Taylor

Many in the game subscribed to this theory; most notably, Taylor himself. The Stoke-on-Trent-born sportsman was so convinced by his own value to the sport that his arrogance became unbearable at times. As a result, there was a fear that when he finally put away the arrows after the 2018 World Championship, the sport would suffer a dip in popularity.

Fortunately, 2019 has shown us that the darts scene is as healthy as ever. And there are enough star names in the sport to compensate for Taylor’s absence. In fact, The Power has barely been missed.

Michael van Gerwen is now the dominant force in world darts and is already the second most successful player in PDC history behind Taylor, despite being aged just 30. The Dutchman has a long way to go to match Taylor’s record of 16 world titles but he has already surpassed his tally of 70 PDC Pro Tour event wins.

World No. 2 Rob Cross has only been on the PDC Pro Tour for three seasons but already has a World Championship and a World Matchplay title to his name. Aged just 29, he looks set to be Van Gerwen’s biggest rival in the coming seasons along with the likes of Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price and veterans Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.

The 2019 season has also treated us to the sight of Fallon Sherrock becoming the first woman to win a World Championship match. The 25-year-old beat Ted Evetts 3–2 in the first round at Alexander Palace before securing a second-round victory over World No. 11 Mensur Suljovic to shorten her odds from 2000/1 to 250/1 in the William Hill World Darts Championship odds. It was a breakthrough moment for darts and another historic moment for women’s sport.

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Just two days earlier, reigning women’s world champion Mikuru Suzuki had come close to ousting James Richardson in the same tournament but failed to check out on 152 in the sudden-death leg of their first-round match. The Japanese player emerged from nowhere in 2018 and took the women’s game by storm. She won the BDO World Championship at her first attempt in 2019 without dropping a single set. Along with Sherrock, she has been tipped to be one of the dominant female forces in darts in 2020.

It should be acknowledged that Phil Taylor helped to raise the standard of darts to where it is today. He was also instrumental in raising the profile of the game to the point where the winner of the world final now earns £2.5m compared to the £1m Taylor earned when he last won the event in 2013 and the £12,000 he pocketed when he first won it back in 1995.

But his departure has not had the impact that many predicted, and the level of darts has remained as high as ever. Even Taylor’s suggestion that he may emerge from retirement to compete in the 2020 World Championships was met with shrugged shoulders. In true Taylor style, he set his own price tag of £1m for a World Championship return - an offer that has yet to be taken up by the PDC. It seems there was a time when darts needed Phil Taylor; but that time has well passed.