Sunday saw the annual Champion’s Cup return to the Magna Centre in Rotherham, where 37 Men’s team and 31 Ladies’ team battle it out to be crowned Champions of Champions.
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Teams were drawn into eight groups, where they participated in the round robin stages, with one winner from each team progressing into the knock-out quarter final stages.
MEN’S CHAMPIONS CUP:
Group one saw Walsham safely through to the knockout stages, winning all four or their games over Speke (Merseyside), Welshpool A (Montgomery and Radnor), White House (Northumberland) and Hunters A (Lincolnshire) and topping the group eight points clear. They would play Group Two winners Carterton A (Oxfordshire) who narrowly edged out Easington Colliery Men (County Durham); both teams finished on 25 points, with three wins each, but won through on leg difference, which also knocked out Bar 501 (West of England), Foelas A (Gwynedd) and Debbie Boys (Berkshire).
Clwyd’s Shamrock Men, despite losing one match, moved into the quarterfinals, one point clear of Rye Abbey (Hertfordshire) in Group Three. Kepston Con Club (Bedfordshire), Bishopsgate Men (Warwickshire) and Batchley Club (Worcestershire) each won two group games. Group Four saw Surrey’s Walton Working Men take all four round robin matches to secure a last eight place, beating North Ormesby Working Men (Cleveland), Brightlingsea (Essex), Shoulder of Mutton (Staffordshire) and Norwich (Norfolk).
Reigning Champions Castle Bar, in a group of four following the late withdrawal of Cwm Rhondda (Glamorgan), secured wins against Aberdeen C (Grampian), Stranraer A (Ayrshire) and Pontnewwydd Cons (Gwent) to move into the knockout stages. There they met Group Six winners Coppenhall A (Cheshire) who pipped Southampton (Hampshire) to top spot by three points. Bath and Bristol (Somerset), Mill Hill (Middlesex) and Dorchester (Dorset) won nil, one and two stage games respectively.
The final two groups, consisting of four teams, saw Rochdale Borough (Lancashire) and Welling A (London) secure the final two quart-final spots. Both teams won all three of their group matches, with Rochdale Borough beating Whitwick (Leicestershire), Pinxton (Derbyshire) and Fordham (Cambridgeshire) and Welling A seeing off Worthing (Sussex), Muff Boyz (Devon) and Arnold (Nottinghamshire).
The first quarterfinal matches saw Walsham defeated by Carterton A 7-2, whilst a tight match between Shamrock and Walton Working Men’s saw the Welsh side edge out their opponents 5-4.
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Castle Bar, despite having just eight men, progressed into the semi-finals with a 5-4 win over Coppenhall A, where they would face close rivals Rochdale Borough, who beat Welling A by the same 5-4 scoreline.
Shamrock once again produced another 5-4 win, this time over Oxfordshire’s Carterton A, whilst Rochdale Borough got the better of Castle Bar 5-4 to move into the final.
The final match saw team Shamrock, consisting of Dave Harold, Pete Watkins, Tony Martin, Michael Warburton, Mark Pritchard, Dafydd Edwards, Paul Dulson, Simon Roberts and Terry Tweedle face Rochdale Borough’s James Marcroft, Dave Rawstron, Chris O’Connor, Pete Harper, Carl Sneyd, Gary Jackson, Rob Rickwood, Ben Fairley and Nathan Care. Rochdale Borough, captained by Dave Marcroft, reached the required 5 legs before all matches had finished to take the 2019 title of Champions of Champions.
LADIES CHAMPIONS CUP:
It was the aptly named Victory Vixens from Nottinghamshire who narrowly edged out both Cubbington (Warwickshire) and Levy (Devon) by one point to move into the quart-finals, with all three team beating Whitstable (Kent) to face Lancashire’s Bolton Ladies who sailed through Group Two with three wins over Jammie Doughnuts (Bedfordshire), Chillington (West Midlands) and Radstock (Somerset).
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Group Three and Four also produced clear winners, with reigning champions The Flyers (Cambridgeshire) taking group three, beating Lytchett (Dorset), Wymondham (Norfolk) and Chelmsford (Essex) and Civil Defence A (Lincolnshire) sealing strong wins over Knighton (Montgomery and Radnor), Watford (Hertfordshire) and Hillingdon (Middlesex).
Derbyshire’s Newhall Ladies, following wins over Batchley Club (Worcestershire), Grove’s B (Clwyd) and Billingham B (Cleveland) topped group five, where they would progress to meet Riley’s (Cheshire), who also took a clean sweep of group stage victories over Grey Horse (Northumberland), The Bradley Ladies (Staffordshire) and Legends (Gwent).
Groups Seven saw a close group finish between Eccleshill VC (Yorkshire) and Dolly Mixtures (Berkshire), who both beat Upper Afan Valley (Glamorgan) and Dingle Ladies (Merseyside), saw the Yorkshire throwers through to the last eight. Group Eight, which consisted of just three team, saw Surrey’s Fruitloops through to face the eventual champions with wins over Stowmarket Queens (Suffolk) and Eastbourne Ladies (Sussex).
With the quarterfinals a race to three, there were understandably some close matches. Bolton Ladies were first through to the semi-finals, beating Victory Vixens 4-1. They would face Civil Defence A, when at 2-2, it was a battle between the two captains for the win, they edged out the 2018 Champions.
Newhall were 4-1 casualties to Cheshire’s Rileys Ladies, whilst another close match between Surrey’s Fruitloops and Yorkshire’s Eccleshill VC saw the latter move into the semi finals with a 3-2 win.
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Bolton Ladies came out the right side of a 3-2 battle over Civil Defence A to move into the final, where they would face their close BICC rivals Eccleshill VC after they defeated Rileys 4-1.
Dee Bateman, Linda Moorhouse, Emma Lockwood, Michelle Binns and Giffy Khaosoi, with support from team members Jayne Conboy and Leah Wiltshire, stepped up in the final match for Eccleshill VC to play against Anne-Marie Millership, Dawn Shaw, Gina Jones, Ally Smith and Ellen Fletcher from Bolton. Wins for Bateman, Lockwood and Khaosoi saw the Yorkshire side win this ‘battle of the roses’ and crowned 2019 Champions Cup winners.
Source: BDODarts.com
https://twitter.com/BDOdarts/status/1145412758936137728
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026
- No point in being there? Champions want to win.Deduce635828-10-2026