1980 BDO World Darts Championship
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The 1980 Embassy World Darts Championship was the third year that the British Darts Organisation had staged a world championship. Again the field was 24 players, with the top seeds receiving a bye to the last 16 stage. For the second successive year the tournament was staged at Jollees Cabaret Club in Stoke-on-Trent.
Defending champion John Lowe, who had released a book The Lowe Profile just before the event suffered a surprise defeat 0-2 to Cliff Lazarenko saying afterwards "If you miss your doubles in this one, you must expect to go out." Eric Bristow was then immediately installed as favourite to win the event and would meet another flamboyant character of the game in the final - Bobby George.
George, who wasn't even invited to the qualifiers the previous year appeared in a sequined shirt and when arriving on the stage was presented with a candelabra to complete a Liberace effect. He also made the early running in the final leading 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. The first six sets all went to a deciding leg until Bristow won the seventh 3-1 to establish a 4-3 set lead. In the next set at 2-2 in legs, George had a golden opportunity to level the match and take it to a decider but burst his score and nonchalently threw his third dart into the board before putting his darts into his top pocket in anticipation of Bristow checking out to win the title. Bristow did so.
[edit] The Results
| First Round | Second Round | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | |||||||||||
| Best of 3 sets | Best of 3 sets | Best of 5 sets | Best of 7 sets | |||||||||||
 John Lowe |
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| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko |
2 | |||||||||||||
| John Lowe |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Paul Gosling |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Ceri Morgan |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Ceri Morgan |
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| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Ceri Morgan |
2 | |||||||||||||
 Alan Grant |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Alan Grant |
2 | |||||||||||||
 Allan Hogg |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George |
4 | |||||||||||||
| Cliff Lazarenko |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George |
||||||||||||||
| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Bobby George |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Dave Whitcombe |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Dave Whitcombe |
2 | |||||||||||||
 Len Heard |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Leighton Rees |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Leighton Rees |
||||||||||||||
| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Leighton Rees |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Sontag |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Sontag |
2 | |||||||||||||
 Rab Smith |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Brown |
||||||||||||||
| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Tony Brown |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Terry O'Dea |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Terry O'Dea |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Eric MacLean |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Brown |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Bill Lennard |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Nicky Virachkul |
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| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Bill Lennard |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Nicky Virachkul |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Bill Lennard |
2 | |||||||||||||
 Stefan Lord |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Bristow |
4 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Brown |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Jocky Wilson |
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| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Jocky Wilson |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Doug McCarthy |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Doug McCarthy |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Conrad Daniels |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Bristow |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Jocky Wilson |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Bristow |
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| Starts in Round 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Eric Bristow |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Clark |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Clark |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Alan Glazier |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Final (Best of 9 sets) Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke-on-Trent, 9 February 1980). | ||
| Eric Bristow |
5-3 | Bobby George |
| Set scores (Bristow first) | 2-3 3-2 2-3 3-2 2-3 3-2 3-1 3-2 | |
| Eric Bristow wins the 1980 Embassy World Darts Championship |
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THIRD PLACE MATCH (Best of 3 sets)
Tony Brown beat Cliff Lazarenko 2-0
| World Darts Championship |
|---|
| World Professional Darts Championship |
| 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 |
| BDO World Championship |
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| PDC World Championship |
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Winners and statistics |
| List of winners from 1978 to present |
