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MFI World Matchplay

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MFI World Matchplay
Tournament information
VenueFulcrum Centre, Slough (1984-85), Festival Hall, Basildon (1986-88)
CountryEnglandEngland
Established1984
Organisation(s)BDO Major (5 editions)
FormatSets
Final Year1988
Final champion(s)
England Eric Bristow

The MFI World Matchplay championship was a major darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation.

The tournament only lasted for five years but is historic in darts as it featured the first ever televised nine-dart finish on 13 October 1984 when John Lowe won £102,000 for the perfect game of darts against Keith Deller. Lowe went on to win the title that year.

MFI World Matchplay finals

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The complete list of final results:[1]

Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
1984 England John Lowe 5–3 England Cliff Lazarenko £36,000 £12,000 £5,000 MFI Fulcrum Centre, Slough
1985 England Eric Bristow 5–4 England Bob Anderson £41,000 £15,000 £6,000
1986 England Mike Gregory 5–1 Scotland Jocky Wilson £41,000 £15,000 £6,000 Festival Hall, Basildon
1987 England Bob Anderson 5–1 England John Lowe £47,400 £18,000 £7,000
1988 England Eric Bristow (92.91) 5–1 Canada Bob Sinnaeve (88.38) £52,000 £21,000 £7,500

Finalists

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Rank Player Won Runner-up Finals
1 England Eric Bristow 2 0 2
2 England Bob Anderson 1 1 2
England John Lowe 1 1 2
4 England Mike Gregory 1 0 1
5 England Cliff Lazarenko 0 1 1
Canada Bob Sinnaeve 0 1 1
Scotland Jocky Wilson 0 1 1

Nine-dart finish

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John Lowe threw the first ever televised nine-dart finish on 13 October 1984 against Keith Deller. As well as for being the first, it stands out for the rarity of the final visit combination.

Player Year (+Round) Method Opponent Result Prize
England John Lowe 1984, Quarter-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T17, T18, D18 England Keith Deller 3-1 £102,000

Media coverage

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The tournament was broadcast on ITV and originally came from The Fulcrum Centre, Slough, before moving to Festival Hall, Basildon.[2] The tournament ceased after the 1988 tournament due to ITV announcing that they were pulling out of darts coverage altogether.

Sponsors

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Sponsor Years
MFI 1984-88

References

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  1. ^ "MFI World Matchplay Winners". DartsDatabase. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Darts Results - MFI World Matchplay - Darts Mad". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
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