BACK IN THE TIME WITH: Rod Harrington: Style icon on stage and multiple major winner

In this feature article, we regularly go back in time with a particular darter. Today we do so with Englishman Rod Harrington.

Rod Harrington was born on December 30, 1957 in Boreham. In 1991 he made his breakthrough on the international stage with wins at the Belgium Open, Denmark Open, French Open, Malta Open and Swedish Open. But especially his win at the Winmau World Masters caused a stir, especially since he beat none other than Phil Taylor in the final.

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These strong performances also allowed him to make his debut at the BDO World Championship in early 1992. After wins against Stefan Nagy and Keith Sullivan, he lost 4-3 to Mike Gregory in the quarterfinals. A year later, Harrington was back at Lakeside Country Club, but this time he lost in the opening round after a 3-2 defeat to Australian Wayne Weening.

Founding PDC

As frustration over the lack of revenue and TV coverage took over, Harrington, along with several other top players, decided to create a new league. Originally called the World Darts Council (WDC), it was soon changed to Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Harrington attended the first PDC World Championship in 1994, losing to Peter Evison in the quarter-finals.

A year later, Harrington competed in the World Championship again. At the Circus Tavern, he first survived a group with Shayne Burgess and Eric Bristow, then defeated Jamie Harvey and Evison in succession to face Taylor in the final. He lost 6-2 to Taylor in the final.

Harrington, nicknamed "The Prince of Style" due to the fact that he invariably appeared on stage neatly dressed in a suit, would eventually make the World Championship semi-finals twice more, but never managed to effectively win the world title.

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World Matchplay

After already winning a major at the BDO, it was also bingo at the PDC in 1998. In the final of the World Matchplay he defeated Ronnie Baxter. Later that year he also played the final of the World Grand Prix, but again Taylor proved too strong. A year later he successfully defended his World Matchplay title, this time beating Peter Manley in the final.

He was unable to win a major in subsequent years. Harrington did hold the number one spot in the world between April 1995 and August 1996 and then from August 1998 to August 2000.

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Knees problems

In the early 2000s, Harrington suffered from injuries, requiring knee surgery no less than three times. It affected his performance and Harrington began to drop further and further down the world rankings. In 2003 he made one last appearance at the World Championships, where he lost 4-2 to Alan Warriner-Little in the second round.

Harrington would not give up, however, and tried to qualify for the World Championship until 2007. However, he was unsuccessful and, disillusioned, gave up. Since then he did not compete again.

Board member and TV commentator.

Afterwards, Harrington took a different path and became a board member at the PDC. He also started commentating for the British channel Sky Sports. In that capacity, he was always there at the major tournaments.

In 2022, he was then 65, Harrington decided it was time to retire and resigned from his duties at the PDC and also from television. He was subsequently inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame. Harrington also has a son Ryan who was active in the PDC for a time, but is currently without a Tour Card.

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