What do you ask the man who’s won everything? Phil Taylor, a middle-aged darts player from the middle of England might not look it – and he doesn’t – but after 13 world titles, he walks with sporting giants.
Better known, of course, as The Power, the current PDC kingpin, is sitting across from me in a Dublin hotel, sipping carefully on a herbal tea and absent-mindedly flicking lint from his show-time blue-and-white, nickname-emblazoned shirt, which is hung from the back of a chair.
Early yesterday morning I slipped from my bed at 5.30 (there’s one in the morning too?!), got on the road to the capital, and brimming with nerves, made my way to a date with destiny – I was promised the chance to take on Taylor at the oche.
But how does one train for a tilt at this windmill? Darts stars, once renowned for drinking a small child’s weight in alcohol during games, usually dripping with cheap gold-looking jewellery and inked with crude tattoos, no longer fill the stereotype quite so comfortably. So a quiet weekend is out of the question ahead of our meeting.
Regardless of preparation however, like so many young hopefuls on the circuit, The Power delivered a sharp, short shock to my aspirations.
The thousand-yard stare which greeted me in the hotel lobby not only communicated that a) it didn’t matter that I forgot to bring arrows, as he’d not be swinging an arm in anger this morning b) never – remember this – approach darts’ nocturnal superstars at an hour when breakfast is still being served and c) Taylor and the world’s great athletes like Woods, Schumacher and, indeed, Keane are certainly at home in the same madhouse.
“I like Roy, he’s a winner,” Taylor says after we settle down for a chat in a seat rather than in front of a board, while Eric Bristow is around the corner perusing a front-page newspaper story about druids cursing the Ipswich Town manager.
Despite Taylor’s insistence that he ‘likes’ Keane, he tells a story that betrays the red-hot motivation that smoulders even now after so many years of success in his field. After winning the big prize for an unprecedented and wholly impressive eight years in a row, the Stoke-on-Trent man lost in 2003 to John Part. Though the wound was still raw, Taylor accepted an invitation to tour Manchester United’s Carrington training complex some weeks later. Ushered into the gym as the champions went through their warm down, Taylor was introduced to the group. “Lads, say hello to Phil Taylor, eight-time darts world champion.”
“Former world champion,” interjected Keane from an over-worked exercise bike that billowed smoke into the Neville brothers’ faces.
The barb, which prompted a chorus of giggles from the United players, certainly stung Taylor’s still-raw ego. But Taylor filed it under ‘M‘ for motivation and went back to win four more titles since. He can appreciate a champion’s obsessive-compulsive relationship with success. Read the rest of this entry »
“We have played against France so many times in the World Cup, that this game was always written. When playing, I faced France during the qualifying phase for World Cups in ‘78 and ‘82 and we also faced them in 2006.
