Wade recalls rinsing Blackpool stallholder during World Matchplay: "Given a clear instruction not to return"

James Wade will attempt to win the World Matchplay for a second time in July. 'The Machine' has fond memories of the prestigious tournament in the coastal town of Blackpool.

"There is a lot about Blackpool that makes me very happy, including my amazing wife Samantha, who hails from the seaside town. This tournament is normally a great opportunity for her to go home for a few weeks, but she won’t be able to make the journey this year as it is getting very close to the due date for our second child," he said in his weekly Daily Star column.

"Blackpool is a tournament I look forward to every year, and I would love to do well at the Winter Gardens again. It was the scene of my real big breakthrough in 2006 when I reached the final against a chap called Philip Taylor (never really heard of him again after that). Then, in 2007, I returned and won the tournament, making me the youngest ever winner on the PDC circuit."

The left-handed darts player then came up with a remarkable anecdote. "While I love it at Blackpool, there is an area where the feeling is not mutual – namely the funfair on the pier. On one of my past visits, during a day off myself and Samantha decided to take a stroll out along the promenade.

"We happened upon one of the stalls that had massive soft toys as the star prizes, and they immediately caught my now wife’s eye. Now, normally I would say that the odds are loaded in favour of the stallholder…….but this happened to be a game of ‘get three darts into the same playing card to win the prize’.

"You can imagine the bloke’s surprise when the Machine stepped up and filled the playing card (several times), and three large soft toys later we left the pier with Samantha happy and me being given a clear instruction not to return."