Darts star made Premier League history with special moment that even opponent applauded

Controversial moves aren’t as common in darts as other sports, so Raymond van Barneveld had to make his work.

In 2006, the Dutchman swapped from the British Darts Organisation [BDO] to Barry Hearn’s Professional Darts Corporation [PDC] weeks after he’d made the 2006 World Championship final.

The BBC called the switch ‘one of the biggest developments in the history of the sport’, so naturally, all eyes were on his tournament debut.

The New Year had just arrived and with it Premier League Darts, now one of the sport’s biggest competitions.

Back then it was just the second year of the PDC run event, but Barney made sure to elevate it to new heights.

On week six in Bournemouth, the star from The Hague was invited as a wildcard, and took on Peter Manley when he claimed history and lived up to the billing that came with his high-profile switch.

Van Barneveld was 5-3 up against his English opponent when the pair both recorded 180s to start the next leg.

Barney followed up with another, and Manley couldn’t match him, stepping aside to witness a moment of greatness.

With a triple 20, triple 19 and double 12, he’d claimed the first nine-darter in Premier League Darts history, what many compare to a 147 maximum break in snooker or a hole in one in golf.

Van Barneveld turned around overjoyed to a crowd on their feet, but perhaps not so expected was one of the biggest grins in the arena from Manley who could only applaud.

“He did it!” said legendary darts commentator Sid Waddell.

“I do not believe my Geordie eyes, Barney does a nine-darter on the night there were those who doubted his greatness!”

Sky

Sky

Sky

Taking an 8-6 win the then-38-year-old said post-game: “It’s unbelievable. I’ve hit a few nine-darters in smaller tournaments before, but never on television.

“I’ve not got many dreams left in darts any more, one of them is to become the PDC World Champion and another was to hit a televised nine-darter, so I’ve achieved one of them.”

He’d claim a point against Phil Taylor later in the night, and credited his nerves over that clash for his earlier nine-darter.

“That night I was due to play Phil Taylor in the last game, and I think I was so focused on that match that I was relaxed against Peter. Suddenly because of the relaxed feeling I hit the nine-darter,” he recalled.

“When I left the venue that night with my manager, there were about 50 fans at a kebab shop who started singing my name and bought me a kebab. That was fantastic, a great night.”

RvB would go on to register the first two nine-darters of the PDC World Championship in 2009 and 2010, having won the tournament in 2007 and later the Premier League in 2014.

Van Barneveld’s previous competition, the BDO, would later go out of business in 2020 as more and more players had defected to the PDC.

None of them have yet to get off to such a legendary start, though.