Darts No Longer A Cinderella Sport.

The BBC Midlands Sports Awards were made on Sunday night the 3^rd of December 2006 where the “Potteries darts legend,” Phil Taylor won the BBC Midlands' Sports Personality of the Year and Sportsman of the Year awards. The “Personality of the year award,” was voted for, by the public and Taylor had the people behind him, partly due no doubt to the sterling efforts of his wheelchair bound mother, who at one point actually brought a football match to a halt! The 13-time World Champion from Stoke-on-Trent won the top award ahead of Warwickshire cricketer Ian Bell, who is playing in the Ashes for England.

Darts is no longer a Cinderella sport and I am sure Phil would agree that he is no fairytale Princess, although Trina Gulliver who was a previous Midlands Sports Personality Winner 3 years ago, might have been described as such. See Article on Trina Gulliver

Darts passed through lean times for a number of years towards the end of the last century, but it is now shaking off its rough drinking mans image with alcohol banned on stage in most competitions and the sport is gaining more sustained recognition with more television coverage and better prize money. Of course it still does not yet compare with golf, tennis or snooker but things are definitely improving in leaps and bounds. Phil seems to win most of the big prize money, but there is more money now than ever before out there up for grabs as can be seen from the fact that Phil has made more money out of darts than anybody in the history of the sport by becoming the first darts millionaire. He is a brilliant darts player and undoubtedly deserves his rich rewards, because he does much to promote the game, even if he sometimes winds up other players with his confidence in his ability to win everything, which he usually does!