NZ's best eight dart players will meet at the SKYCITY Convention Centre for four nights over July and August. They'll do battle and go head to head to be crowned the king of New Zealand darts.
So grab your mates, get dressed up and get ready for arrow time. Tickets on sale 21st May 2015 - Click the picture to get a link to the tickets at Tickertek.
Mark McGrath interview on 15/4/2015 in case you missed it! Mark starts around the 10 min mark.
Listen Here - few seconds to downloadPart 2 - Well spotted Mark McGrath!
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The expansion of the PDC's World Series of Darts will see the year's first two events held in Dubai in May and Japan in June, with a further three tournaments now confirmed for August.
The three events to be held in Australia and New Zealand will see eight PDC stars - Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, Peter Wright, James Wade, Raymond van Barneveld and Stephen Bunting - joined by eight qualifiers for the first round of each tournament.
The second staging of the Perth Darts Masters, which was won by Taylor last year, will kick off the treble-header at the Challenge Stadium from August 14-16.
The action then continues with the Sydney Darts Masters from August 20-22, as Taylor bids to win his third successive title in Sydney at the new host venue, the Qantas Credit Union Arena.
The stars then travel across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand for the country's first worldwide televised event, with the Trusts Arena to stage the Auckland Darts Masters from August 28-30.
"The World Series of Darts has expanded greatly over the past two years and we can't wait to visit New Zealand," said PDC Chief Executive Matthew Porter.
"All three events in August promise to be spectacular tournaments, with Perth and Sydney already established as successful host cities following our previous events there.
"There's a passion for darts in New Zealand, including great television ratings for our events on Sky New Zealand, and also a base of talent. New Zealanders have represented their country in our World Championship and World Cup for a number of years now and there's a strong association at DartPlayers New Zealand.
"We know that it's a strong darting nation, and it's a logical fit for us to expand the World Series of Darts into.
"We want to try and fill the Trusts Arena and make it a fantastic atmosphere on all three nights, and we want everybody to be able to say that they had the chance to see the best darts players in the world."
New Zealand's Warren Parry knocked out then-World Champion van Gerwen on his way to the quarter-finals of the Sydney Darts Masters last summer, while Monty Tuhua also qualified for the Sydney event in 2013.
National Champion Mark McGrath represented New Zealand at the 2015 William Hill World Championship, and Rob Szabo, Craig Caldwell and Warren French are amongst the players to have competed for the country in the PDC World Cup of Darts pairs event previously.
Ticket information for all three events will be confirmed in due course, along with details of qualifying tournaments in Australia and New Zealand and broadcast information.
Perth Darts Masters
August 14-16
Challenge Stadium, Perth
Ticket information will be announced in due course.
Sydney Darts Masters
August 20-22
Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney
Ticket information will be announced in due course.
Auckland Darts Masters
August 28-30
Trusts Stadium, Auckland
Tickets are expected to go on sale in April.
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Pictures from DPNZ facebook
Mark McGrath Radio Interview 2014
Download FileThe eagerly awaited DartsKing of Australasia Tournament will get underway at the Southlands Stadium, Invercargill, South Island on January 11th 2015. This will be the first major darts event anywhere in the world following the crowning of the new William Hill World Darts Champion at Alexandra Palace, in London on January 4th. There is a real possibility that the new champ will be on display with 16 times winner Phil " The Power " Taylor and dual winner of the World Championship Adrian " Jackpot " Lewis taking part in addition to North Islander Mark McGrath who will make his World Champs debut at Ally Pally. Phil Taylor will make his first ever appearance in New Zealand against Invercargill's Tahi Parata with Lewis taking on another South Islander in Warren Parry.
McGrath will also play Brit ex - Pat David Platt from Perth and Parata will also play two matches on the opening night as he will square off against North Islander Rob Szabo.
The opening match of the Tournament will see Parry line up against QLD hotshot Shane Tichowitsch.
All League matches will be played over 15 legs with a point for each leg won and all 15 legs will be played in each match, whatever the score. After the six evenings of play have been completed the top six players in the League will progress to the Grand Finals at Luna Park, Sydney on Sunday January 18th.
Each venue will also host a bidding war for an on stage leg against Phil & Adrian with every penny raised going to a local charity.
Southlands Stadium, Invercargill - Sunday 11th January - Doors Open 6pm
Tahai Parata v Rob Szabo
Mark McGrath v David Platt
Adrian Lewis v Warren Parry
Phil Taylor v Tahi Parata
Southlands Stadium, Invercargill - Monday 12th January - Doors Open 6pm
David Platt v Phil Taylor
Warren Parry v Tahi Parata
Shane Tichowitsch v Mark McGrath
Rob Szabo v David Platt
Phil Taylor v Warren Parry
Adrian Lewis v Tahi Parata
Tahi Parata v Shane Tichowitsch
Warren Parry v Rob Szabo
Shane Tichowitsch v David Platt
Adrian Lewis v Mark McGrath
Phil Taylor v Rob Szabo
Phil Taylor v Adrian Lewis
Warren Parry v Mark McGrath
Shane Tichowitsch v Rob Szabo
Tahi Parata v David Platt
Phil Taylor v Mark McGrath
Rob Szabo v Adrian Lewis
Adrian Lewis v Shane Tichowitsch
David Platt v Warren Parry
Mark McGrath v Tahi Parata
Shane Tichowitsch v Phil Taylor
Mark McGrath v Rob Szabo
David Platt v Adrian Lewis
Play offs - All best of 15 legs except the final which will be best of 21 legs
3rd placed player v 6th placed player
4th placed player v 5th placed player
1st placed player v 4th / 5th placed player
2nd placed player v 3rd /6th placed player
Final
Tickets are selling fast....and they will make great Christmas presents, Alone with a Taylor Shirt from our store!
With 72 players set to compete at Alexandra Palace from December 18-January 4, the Preliminary Round features 16 players who have won through International Qualifiers held worldwide this year.
The World Championship field will be completed at Monday's PDPA Qualifier, with the winner of that event going straight into the First Round draw and the runner-up entering at the Preliminary Round stage.
The Preliminary Round draw was made by PDPA Chief Executive Alan Warriner-Little on Sunday during the Cash Converters Players Championship Finals.
The PDPA Qualifier runner-up will take on Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney, the Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay champion who is making his return to the World Championship.
Japan's Haruki Muramatsu is also returning to the Alexandra Palace stage and drew Russian debutant Boris Koltsov, with the South Asia Qualifier Christian Perez - the Philippines ace who has previously competed in the event - drawing Cristo Reyes.
Finland's Jani Haavisto, the SDC Order of Merit winner, drew Greek debutant John Michael, with fellow Finn Kim Viljanen set to take on German newcomer Sascha Stein.
South African Masters winner Nolan Arendse meets Hong Kong's Alex Hon, who won the Greater China Qualifier, while fellow debutants Mark McGrath, from New Zealand, and Scott Kirchner, the American ace who is the reigning DARTSLIVE SuperDarts champion, also clash.
The Preliminary Round's other fixture sees emerging Croatian Robert Marijanovic make his return to Alexandra Palace against Dutch debutant Jermaine Wattimena, who came through the West dollarpe Qualifier.
The William Hill World Darts Championship First Round draw will be made at 12.30pm on Tuesday December 2, live on Sky Sports News HQ (Sky Channel 401).
William Hill World Darts Championship
Preliminary Round Draw
Christian Perez (Philippines) v Cristo Reyes (Spain)
Jani Haavisto (Finland) v John Michael (Greece)
Nolan Arendse (South Africa) v Alex Hon (Hong Kong)
Boris Koltsov (Russia) v Haruki Muramatsu (Japan)
Kim Viljanen (Finland) v Sascha Stein (Germany)
Mark McGrath (New Zealand) v Scott Kirchner (USA)
Jermaine Wattimena (Netherlands) v Robert Marijanovic (Croatia)
PDPA Qualifier Runner-Up v Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
ROBYN EDIE/Fairfax
Tahi Parata takes aim at
Phil 'The Power' Taylor
Little-known Southland darts player Tahi Parata cannot stop thinking about his sport at the moment. On a Tuesday night four years ago, the Makarewa dairy farmer was roped into playing darts at the Northern Tavern in Invercargill. His father Joe, a darts player himself, told Tahi he liked the way he threw the dart and encouraged him to start playing more regularly. So he did. Four years on, and the 31-year-old now has an eye on playing one of the biggest names in darts - Phil 'The Power' Taylor. Parata travelled to Timaru on Saturday to play a tournament which had the ultimate prize at the end.
Thirty-eight players from all over the South Island scrapped it out to try claim the one spot to play in January's Australasian DartsKing series.
The series will be held in Invercargill, Wellington and Sydney and will be headlined by Taylor and fellow world-class Englishman Adrian Lewis.
Despite being a self-confessed 'unknown' in New Zealand darts before Saturday, Parata pulled off an upset to book a spot in January's professional series. "I'll be honest, it is all I've been thinking about in the past couple of days since I won," Parata said. He had never been out of the country before and his rapid rise had him scurrying to get a passport sorted yesterday.
Parata said he was after just one thing from the Australasian DartsKing series - to play against Taylor. Most people want to avoid the top seed in sporting contests, but Parata has his fingers crossed he draws Taylor during the series.
Taylor has amassed an astonishing $12m in prize money and this week won his sixth Grand Slam of Darts title. "He's god in darts," Parata said. "All I want to do is play him, I don't care if I don't win any of these games at these tournaents. It would just be exciting to play him."
He will join fellow Southlander Warren Parry in the series, with Parry gZodiaced a wildcard entry to the tournament on the back of his stunning win over world No 1 Michael van Gerwen in August. Parata is good mates with Parry and said to be playing alongside him during the series would be calming.
Parata is accustomed to playing in front of a handful of people, but come January he will be throwing darts in front of about 3000 people at the ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill.
That's before he moves onto the tournaments in Wellington and Sydney."Everyone I know will probably be there," he said. Invercargill-based Darts Players New Zealand boss Dale Frampton was expecting a sell-out crowd at Stadium Southland, with only about 800 tickets still remaining.
Picture from Facebook
Picture from Super League Darts
Southland's leading darts player Warren Parry is excited by the potential prospect of lining up against Phil "The Power" Taylor in his home province.
Invercargill will host one of the four legs in the new Australasian King of Darts series in January.
Three legs of the series will be held in Sydney, the Gold Coast and Tasmania, while ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill will host New Zealand's only leg.
Taylor, who has amassed $12 million in prizemoney during his career, will headline the $110,000 Australasian series.
World No 3 Adrian Lewis, also from England, is another star player expected to compete in Invercargill.
Parry has already had chances to test himself against some of the world's best but to come up against them in front of a potential 3000-plus crowd at the stadium is a much more exciting prospect.
If Parry was to get the opportunity to square off against Taylor in Invercargill, he would need to qualify as the best South Island player during a tournament later this year.
The two Englishmen will be joined by top Australian players and the North and South Island champions in the series.
DartPlayers Australia chief executive Rob Denny, who is putting the series together, said to add some spice to the two-day tournament in Invercargill they would have the South Island champion play Taylor in the final match of the first night.
If that happens to be Parry it would create a buzz in the Invercargill stadium for hometown supporters.
Parry said to hold a darts tournament of this calibre was an exciting opportunity, not just for Invercargill, but New Zealand.
"They've never been to New Zealand before," he said about players at the level of Taylor and Lewis.
"I think 1983 was the last time (New Zealand) had something like this, but [darts] wasn't quite as big back then."
Parry predicts Southlanders would get in behind the tournament and turn out in good numbers.
"There are a lot of people who actually watch it on TV," he said.
The organisers were in negotiations with Christchurch for the event but chose Invercargill because of the stadium.
Meanwhile, Parry will head to Australia this month to compete in professional tournaments in Sydney and Perth.
The Sydney and Perth tournaments are part of a three-leg World Series of Darts event, with the other leg in Singapore, which Parry will not attend.
Parry is a three-time Oceanic Masters winner and was confirmed as the automatic qualifier from New Zealand for the Perth event after topping the DartsPlayers New Zealand rankings at the June 21 cut-off.
The Southlander will also be part of the New Zealand team which will take on Australia during their time in Sydney.
- The Southland Times
World darts cult figure Phil "The Power" Taylor is coming to Invercargill.
The city will host one of the four legs in the new Australasian King of Darts series in January. Three legs will be held in different Australian cities, while ILT Stadium Southland will host New Zealand's only leg.
Taylor - who has amassed a staggering $12m prizemoney during his career - will headline the $110,000 Australasian series.
The Englishman has dominated the sport during the past decade although is currently ranked No 2 in the world. Fellow countryman, world No 3 Adrian Lewis, will also be a star attraction in Invercargill.
DartPlayers Australia chief executive Rob Denny said to lock in the superstar of the sport, Phil Taylor, was a major boost for the series.
"He obviously can demand some pretty big appearance money. He can turn down three of four appearances a week he is in that much demand," Denny said.
"He is treating this as a bit of a working holiday. We are going to make sure he gets a good look around and he enjoys the visit so he can go back and tell others how good it was."
Professional darts has developed a big following in the United Kingdom.
The rise in popularity has in some way been attributed to the party-like atmosphere at venues.
Denny said he wants to bring that party to Invercargill and would encourage spectators to adopt the fancy dress theme for the two-day party.
The organisation originally looked at Christchurch to hold New Zealand's only leg of the series, but Denny changed his mind after inspecting ILT Stadium Southland.
"There is nothing like this stadium, even in Australia. It has everything we need and will be great for darts," Denny said.
Denny was in Invercargill at the weekend to continue talks with various people.
He said on top of the state-of-the-art stadium, help from the Invercargill Licensing Trust in various areas, including accommodation for players, was another major reason why Invercargill was chosen.
With the first year set in place he hoped they could strike a three-to five-year deal with stadium officials to ensure the darts tournament become an annual event .
Organisers are hoping for a crowd of about 3000. Tickets will start from about $25 each and will go on sale next month.
"We are not coming here to try to make loads of money; we just want to try to start to make a footprint for live professional darts in New Zealand," Denny said.
The rest of the field will be made up of top Australian players and South and North Island champions.
- Extraxt from The Southland Times