Celebrity Pro Challenge

On Friday the 14^th November 2008 there was a Darts Pro/ Celebrity Challenge Exhibition Match at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. This event was a preliminary night of darts with the stars before one of the most important new competitions in the world of darts, “The Grand slam Of Darts,” that was to start the next night. All the games were the best of 5 legs of 501 with the celebrity throwing first.

Although it was really more for publicity and entertainment than a serious darts competition, the £8,000 prize money that the winning pair pocketed and the £6,000 for the runners up, encouraged everybody to get quite excited during the games.

The Final was between Phil Taylor, playing with Neil “Razor” Ruddock a former England footballer and James Wade, who was playing with 3 time Olympic medallist and former javelin star, Steve Backley. Several of the Celebrities showed that they were also useful darts throwers with Steve Backley amongst them. In fact he hit the winning double 2 to beat Phil and Neil in the final with a very close score of 3-2.

Steve obviously enjoyed the night very much and said afterwards he thought darts should be included in the Olympics. Adding, “Its not too late to get it in there for 2012 in London and I’d love to see that.”

The Players Were;-

1. Wayne Mardell + Actor Michael Le Vell.
2. John Part + Boxer Barry McGuigan.
3. Phil Taylor + Footballer Neil Ruddock.
4. Anastasia Dobromyslova  + Snooker Ace Steve Davis.
5. James Wade + Olympian Javelin Thrower Steve Backley.
6. Peter Manley + Poker Ace David Ulliott.
7. Raymond Van Barneveld + Phil Tufnell.
8. Mark Webster + Rugby Star Mike Tindall.

The Match Results Table Was As Follows;-