The MFI World Matchplay championship was a major darts tournament organised by the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and ...

. The tournament only lasted for five years but is historic in darts as it featured the first ever televised

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly a ...

on 13 October 1984 when John Lowe won £102,000 for the perfect game of darts against

Keith Deller Keith Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship. He also won the Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier t ...

. Lowe went on to win the title that year.

MFI World Matchplay finals

The complete list of final results:

Finalists

Nine-dart finish

John Lowe threw the first ever televised

on 13 October 1984 against

. As well as for being the first, it stands out for the rarity of the final visit combination.

Media coverage

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

References

External links