Retirement or might be not???
Yesterday Dennis Priestley played his 50. World Championship match and he lost it. He just had too many missed
attempts at the doubles and was very much disappointed about his performance. Might be the reason for the missed
doubles was that - as he said - he's not any longer full of enthusiasm to practice as much as would be necessary.
Might be he was slightly irritated because of his missing mural...He plays after 20 years with the PDC his
might be last World Championship match. Priestley is a legend and highly respected by players and fans - and his
picture at the wall has disappeared. Perhaps an especially ardent fan took it with him???
I suppose I will not be able to answer this question. And only a short time before the next World Championship we will know whether Priestley really has retired.
It was not really a problem for him to qualify which shows what a great dart player he still is. Other players tried hard all the year to win the price money to qualify and Dennis Priestley just appeared for a few events from no where and qualified.
We don't know yet for sure about Priestley's retirement but another person - and in his job a legend like
Priestley as well - is for the last time in the World Championship - referee and caller Bruce Spendley.
Spendley is even longer a well-known face and of course voice in darts then Priestley. He appeared for the first time on big stage in the first Embassy World Championship 1978 and without him and his colleagues Sid Dowson and Freddie Williams the style of calling wouldn't have developed as it did. Those three even were responsible for the language of calling which now-a-days is common knowledge.
Till 1993 Spendley was in each single Lakeside World Championship, then he decided to switch to the newly founded WDC (today PDC). Spendley is well known for his almost faultless work and the players like him for his more quiet ways on stage. Beside the players see in him some kind of lucky charm as no other caller has called as many nine-darters in major tournaments. He still will work for the PDC in some not televised events but the final of the PDC World Championship 2013 will be his last match on the big stage and on TV.
I've got by the way quite a well-founded idea who might be his replacement during the next World Championship. Might be he will develop one day into legend. Too. To be sure the might be successor has a lot of enthusiasm. As he told me he already when he was a child - like some children like to imitate conductors - followed the darts on TV and gave the caller...