Lloyd on growth of Premier League Darts: "Way back in 2005, we didn't realise how it would grow"

Colin Lloyd qualified for the first three Premier League Darts reaching the final in 2005 in a weekly darting roadshow which was grown exponentially since then.

Lloyd was a guest on the Not So Late Night Darts Show with Nathan Aspinall in a comparison through the eras and discussed how they never thought it would grow to the point it has now.

"Way back in 2005 when this all started, none of us believed, we knew it was going to be something good but we didn't realise how it would grow. The last year I played in it, I remember playing in Sheffield in front of 9800 people and unluckily for me I was playing Dennis Priestley who was the home town man and I had 9800 people cheering him and 9800 people booing me," said Lloyd.

Read also

Aspinall looks back on UK Open winning moment: "I can't believe how much weight I put on in two years"

"It's down to what the PDC have done and what Sky have done but you also have to give a big round of a applause to the players because the players are the show. Nathan is a battler, he's a class act and I can see him playing in the Premier League for many years to come. Same as Dimitri van den Bergh, Jonny Clayton, Gezzy Price."

"Way back then, who knew 16 years down the road alright unfortunately for these guys at the moment what with Covid going on, the last couple of years there hasn't been any fans but next year Nathan will get the opportunity to play in front of 10, 11, 12, 13,000 people and that will be great for him."

Change in standard

'Jaws' also discussed the high standard currently on show and how players like himself can no longer compete at that level.

"People say to me you can get back up there, I'm still a decent enough dart player when it comes to exhibitions but when it comes to Matchplay, in the words of Nathan Aspinall, I'm quite pants!"

"I'm not going to say something broke inside me towards the end but these guys average 100's for fun now, back in my day if you had 100 average, it was unbelievable. These guys now you have to average 100 to win and even then 105 average you still get beat. I would have been mortified back in my day if I'd have had a 100 average and lost."