World Matchplay Darts Betting

The 19th World Matchplay gets under way in Blackpool later today and the home crowd will be hoping a local hero can lift the gloom of this damp British summer. Players will come from as far afield as Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia to compete for one of the most prestigious titles in darts.

But there won’t be many more popular winners of the title than Blackpool-born Wes Newton (201/ to win World Matchplay), who is now based a few miles along the Fylde Coast in Fleetwood.

The World No.5 said “I used to go every year as a kid. You say to yourself ‘I want to be up there one day’ and I’ve achieved that. To walk out there for the very first time was unbelievable. The atmosphere is absolutely fantastic. The venue is part of that because it’s not long but it is wide, so the crowd are rammed in right behind you and almost on top of you.”
 
Newton does not have the best of records at the Winter Gardens – his first four Matchplay appearances ended with first-round defeats. He finally ended his losing run last year, reaching the quarter-finals, before falling to eventual champion Phil Taylor.

However this has not dampened the 34 year olds’ enthusiasm, he added “I kept getting beaten in the first round, but eventually I learned to treat it as another tournament and to stop trying so hard there. The World Championship is the biggest one but, to me, this tournament is a close second.  I like the matchplay darts where it’s just first to 10 legs. You know what’s what. In a set situation, you can keep winning legs and losing sets.”