Sid Waddell was a darting icon. Revered for his distinctive commentary style and unmistakeable wit, Waddell helped catapult the sport into the spotlight during a career spanning four decades.
Thursday marks ten years since the legendary Sky Sports commentator passed away, but his legacy remains as prominent as ever.
Following his death in August 2012, the Sid Waddell Trophy was commissioned to be presented to the winner of the World Darts Championship, recognising his incredible contribution to the sport with its biggest honour named in his memory.
Phil Taylor was the first player to lift the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy courtesy of his victory in January 2013, and the 16-time World Champion described it as one of the proudest moments of his astonishing career.
“It was extra special to become the first man to lift the trophy named after Sid,” said Taylor, who defeated Michael van Gerwen in a memorable final at Alexandra Palace.
“'He was like a father figure to me, he was my biggest fan.
“Now and again I still smile when I think about some of the lines he used to come out with – he was a genius.
“I used to tell him to his face, ‘You are nuts’ – but he was a one-off, a real character. There will never be another Sid Waddell.”
The amiable wordsmith formed part of darts’ holy trinity with Dave Lanning and John Gwynne in the Sky Sports commentary box, and the trio enjoyed a telepathic partnership behind the mic.
Waddell was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame alongside Lanning in 2008, and speaking before his death in October 2016, Lanning hailed his colleague as ‘one of the greats’.
“He ranks alongside the great original commentators of all time,” said Lanning, who first worked alongside Waddell on the ‘Indoor League’ programme in the early 1970s.
“He had a great sense of humour, a razor-sharp mind and a great love of words. He will be remembered as one of the immortals.”
Waddell became known as ‘The Voice of Darts’ after joining Sky Sports in 1994, and he was renowned for providing truly iconic lines, including: “There's only one word for that – magic darts!”
"When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer…Bristow’s only 27,” Waddell famously declared after Eric Bristow lifted another World Championship title.
“'He was a total one-off and in the world of sport the word 'legend' is often over-used, but in Sid Waddell, it's an understatement,” reflected PDC president Barry Hearn OBE.
“Sid was synonymous with the success that we’ve enjoyed and his enthusiasm for the sport drove us forward.
"He was a very smart guy, a very bright man, but he never lost his love for working-class people. He educated people to the beauty of the arrows!”
Former Sky Sports host Dave Clark, who worked with the indomitable Geordie for over a decade, described him as a ‘genius of the microphone’.
"Sid was a brilliant man,” said Clark, who anchored Sky Sports’ darting coverage for two decades before retiring in 2020.
“He had a child-like exuberance. He'd be bouncing round like a young puppy in the commentary box, and mix that with the intellect of Einstein."
Waddell was a constant throughout many of the sport’s historic moments, including the epic 2007 World Championship final between Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld.
He commentated on the first televised nine-darter in PDC history in 2002, hit by Phil Taylor against Chris Mason at the World Matchplay, before calling Taylor’s sensational brace of nine-darters in the 2010 Premier League final.
Earlier that night, revered actor, writer and director Stephen Fry joined Waddell and Rod Harrington in the Sky Sports commentary box for Taylor’s semi-final clash against Mervyn King.
Ironically, a power cut the previous evening had seen the Play-Offs rescheduled from Sunday to Monday, but Fry cancelled his plans for the following night to return to Wembley and witness a moment of sporting history.
“I’m so happy I’m like a pig in Chardonnay,” Fry famously claimed during his guest appearance.
“I had the moving honour of sharing a commentary box with Sid two years before his death. A kinder, funnier more passionate man you couldn’t find,” added the darts super-fan.
“He was Cambridge educated but always loyal to darts and his beloved north-east - master of the wild epithet and the true voice of darts."
Take a trip down memory lane and watch Sid Waddell and Stephen Fry share the commentary box alongside Rod Harrington on Premier League Finals Night in 2010.