Raymond van Barneveld

Raymond van Barneveld
Personal information
Full name	Raymond van Barneveld
Nickname	Barney
Born	(1967-04-20) 20 April 1967 The Hague, Netherlands
Home town	The Hague
Darts information
Playing darts since	1984
Darts	25g Unicorn
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1990 - 2006
PDC	2006 - present
Current world ranking	9
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner (4) 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005
World Masters	Winner 2001, 2005
World Trophy	Winner (2) 2003, 2004
Int. Darts League	Winner (3) 2003, 2004, 2006
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner 2007
World Matchplay	Runner Up 2010
World Grand Prix	Runner Up (2) 2008, 2009
UK Open	Winner (2) 2006, 2007
Grand Slam	Semi Finalist 2009
European Ch'ship	Semi Finalist 2011
Premier League	Semi Finalist (5) 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
Desert Classic	Winner 2007
US Open/WSoD	RU 2007
PC Finals	Quarter Finalist 2009
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
Masters of Darts World Darts Challenge Doeland Grand Masters Brandstaff Masters Dutch Open IDPA Masters Finland Open Belgium Open Norway Open Denmark Open British Open Sweden Open Swiss Open N. Ireland Open UK Open Regional (M) UK Open Regional IR UK Open Regional SC UK Open Regional (NE) Players Ch'ship IW Players Ch'ship GI Players Ch'ship GER Players Ch'ship USA Players Ch'ship WAL Players Ch'ship NED	2007 2007 1995, 2001, 2003, 2004 1999 2001, 2004, 2006 2001 1995, 2004 1996, 1999 1997 1997 1998 1998, 2002, 2003 2000 2004 2006 2006, 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2007 (BS) 2007 (LV) 2007 2008Ams
Other achievements
1997, 1998 Haagse Sportprijs 1998 BDO Personality Award 1998, 1999 Haaglanden Sportprijs 1999 Major citizen of The Hague 1999 Named in the Order of Orange-Nassau 2002 nine dart finish European Darts Ch'ships Mechelen 2003 nine dart finish Swiss Open 2003 I.D.P.A. Leighton Rees Men's Player of the Year Award 2004 Haagse Publieksprijs 2006 nine dart finish Premier League of Darts 2006 Best Newcomer, PDC Awards 2006 Fans' Player of the Year, PDC Awards 2007 nine dart finish German Darts Championship 2008 Became PDC World number 1 2008 Best Floor Player, PDC Awards 2009 nine dart finish, PDC World Championships 2009 nine dart finish, UK Open Regional (WM) 2010 nine dart finish, PDC World Championships 2010 nine dart finish, PDC Premier League Darts 2010 nine dart finish, PDC World Matchplay
Updated on 27 July 2008.

Template:Darts player table Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967 in The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation. Nicknamed Barney He is a five time World Darts Champion (4 time BDO World Champion and 1 time PDC World Champion), a two time UK Open Champion and a former winner of the Las Vegas Desert Classic. He has also won the World Masters twice, the World Darts Trophy three times and the International Darts League twice. From January to June 2008, he was the world number one ranked player, but currently, as of December 2011, he is 8th in the PDC Order of Merit.

His victory in the 2007 PDC final, added to his four previous BDO Championships brought him level with Eric Bristow as a five-time world champion, he is one of only three players in darts history to achieve this. He is the most successful Dutch darts player ever, and has a significant effect in putting the game of darts on the map in the Netherlands.

BDO career

Van Barneveld's first World Championship appearance came in 1991 playing in the Embassy World Championship at the Lakeside Country Club, but his first round match ended in a 0-3 defeat to Australian Keith Sullivan.

He started to make some progress on the British Darts Organisation circuit, reaching the quarter-finals of the Belgian Open in September 1990 and the German Open in March 1991. His first semi-final came at the Swiss Open in June 1991.

He failed to qualify for the World Championship in 1992, but made it back to Lakeside in 1993, which would be the last time that a unified World Championship would be staged. Van Barneveld lost in a close match 2-3 to John Lowe, who would go on to win the championship. Shortly after the 1993 World Final, the top players in the game at the time formed the World Darts Council (WDC, now the PDC) and left the BDO.

Van Barneveld continued to make progress in the BDO Open events in 1994 after the split, reaching the quarter-finals at the Dutch Open and Berlin Open, the semi-final at the Belgium Open and his first final, at the Finnish Open where he lost to Andy Fordham.

He continued his good run of form into the 1995 World Championship by putting out Les Wallace, Dave Askew, Colin Monk and Martin Adams to reach his first World Final. But it ended in defeat 3-6 to Welshman Richie Burnett.

After second round defeats in 1996 and 1997, the former postman took his first world title in 1998 by beating Burnett in a repeat of the 1995 final. This match however is often listed amongst the greatest of all-time having reached 5-5 in sets Van Barneveld finally took the title by winning the final set 4-2 in legs on double 8.

He successfully defended the trophy one year later by the same winning margin, this time against Ronnie Baxter of England. This made him only the second player in the tournament's history to have launched a successful defence of his title; the other being Eric Bristow. Martin Adams would later also achieve this feat.

His run of success ended in the first round in 2000, crashing out to Chris Mason, who averaged 100 and ended Van Barneveld's hopes of a hat-trick of titles.

Van Barneveld lost in the quarter-finals in 2001 (4-5 to Ted Hankey) and 2002 (3-5 to Mervyn King) before returning to the final in 2003. He clinched his third world title by beating Ritchie Davies of Wales 6-3.

His 2004 campaign ended in the semi-finals, when Andy Fordham beat him 5-4 in another memorable match.

A fourth title followed in 2005. He never dropped a set in the first three rounds as he beat Gary Anderson, Mike Veitch and Vincent van der Voort. A 5-3 semi-final win over Darryl Fitton and 6-2 triumph over Martin Adams of England in the final brought him that fourth title.

Van Barneveld reached his sixth final in 2006, and was aiming to equal Bristow's record of five BDO world titles. On this occasion however, his hopes were ended by 21 year-old fellow countryman Jelle Klaasen who prevailed 7-5.

He has also won the prestigious Winmau World Masters title twice: once in 2001 when he recorded a win in the final over Jarkko Komula of Finland and again in 2005 when he beat Goran Klemme in the final. Other major darts tournaments that he has won at least twice include The World Darts Trophy and The International Darts League.

Van Barneveld is naturally left handed, but he throws darts with his right hand.

PDC career

After playing in the BDO for fifteen years, winning four World Championships, Van Barneveld announced his move from the BDO to the PDC on 15 February 2006. He cited his reasons as wanting a greater challenge, and regularly playing against players like Phil Taylor. He had an incredible first year in the PDC, having started from scratch in the rankings. Within twelve months he had reached World number two and became World Champion.

His PDC debut came in the 2006 Premier League competition. He won his first match convincingly 8-1 against Baxter. On March 23, he hit his first televised nine dart finish and faced Taylor later in the same night, fighting back for a 7-7 draw. The re-match came on Van Barneveld's 39th birthday, but this time Taylor won the deciding leg for an 8-6 victory. Van Barneveld suffered a surprise 11-3 semi-final defeat in the Premier League to fellow Dutchman Roland Scholten.

Van Barneveld then started a very successful run with a 13-5 final victory over Colin Lloyd in the final of the International Darts League for his 11th BDO Grand Slam tournament. He won his first major PDC title in June by beating Barrie Bates in the final of the UK Open at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton. Earlier in the day, he beat Taylor in the quarter-finals, accomplishing one of his dreams which he announced after switching to the PDC. Van Barneveld beat Taylor again just weeks later in the semi-finals of the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic. He lost 6-3 to Canadian John Part in the final the following day.

Soon after this Van Barneveld made alterations to his game, he changed darts and began using the "stacking" technique used by Taylor. The darts used were a gram lighter than his old ones and cost the equivalent of £1 from a local store in Holland.

After losing in the first round of the 2006 Bavaria World Trophy to fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen, Van Barneveld acknowledged that he needed to work on his finishing throws. Although he played well in the Sky Bet World Grand Prix, he lost to Phil Taylor in the second round.

Taylor and Van Barneveld met again in the 2007 PDC World Championship final, in a match which Taylor later described as the best final he had been involved in. From three sets down, Van Barneveld came back to beat Taylor 7-6 in the sudden death leg in one of the greatest darts matches of all time to match Bristow's record of five world titles. In February 2007, van Barneveld won the 2007 Masters of Darts tournament by beating Peter Manley 7-0 in sets in the final with a 107 three dart average. His success has also continued away from the cameras.

In the 2007 Premier League Darts, he never fared as well as he did in 2006, losing to Taylor twice, Dennis Priestley and Lloyd in the group section. He did however manage to finish second but lost an exciting but error filled encounter 10-11 to Terry Jenkins in the semi-final.

Van Barneveld made amends for his disappointing Premier League campaign however by inflicting one of Taylor's heaviest defeats (11-4) in the quarter-final of the 2007 UK Open and went on to successfully defend his title beating Lloyd 11-4 in the semi-final and van der Voort in the final 16-8. In doing this, Van Barneveld became the first person to successfully defend the UK Open crown. A month later, he continued his surge of major titles by beating Jenkins 13 legs to 6 in the final of the 2007 Las Vegas Desert Classic. Van Barneveld's dream of winning the five major PDC tournament titles in 2007- the World Championship, UK Open, Las Vegas Desert Classic, World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix ended when he was defeated by Adrian Lewis 16 legs to 14 in the quarter finals of the World Matchplay in Blackpool.

His haul of titles in the PDC has continued to grow since his switch. In addition to his four major titles (the World Championship, two UK Open Championships and the Vegas Desert Classic) - he has added eleven non-televised PDC Pro Tour titles (five UK Open Regionals and six Players Championships).

2008 proved to be Van Barneveld's most barren year thus far in the PDC in terms of success, with him not winning a major tournament. His defence of the World Championship crown was seriously thwarted by a bout of flu. He managed to win his first two matches quite comfortably, although nearly had to retire during his 2nd round match due to breathing problems. He was defeated by Kevin Painter in the 3rd round by 4 sets to 2. Following his disappointment, he reached the semi-finals of the 2008 Premier League Darts, but was defeated for the third consecutive year at this stage of the tournament, defeated by James Wade. He was also knocked out of the early stages of the US Open, the Las Vegas Desert Classic by Alan Tabern and in the semi-finals of the UK Open by Gary Mawson, after having defeated rival Taylor by 10 legs to 9 a round earlier. He was also defeated in the quarter finals of the World Matchplay by Wayne Mardle. However, he did regain some form in the World Grand Prix reaching the final of the tournament, before being defeated by Taylor by 6 sets to 2. He also suffered a quarter-final embarrassment at the hands of Lewis in the quarter-finals of the inaugural European Darts Championship in November losing by 9 legs to 2.

Van Barneveld threw another televised nine dart finish in the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship in his quarter-final match against fellow Dutchman Klaasen on 2 January 2009. Van Barneveld hit two maximum 180s before nailing treble 20, treble 19 and double 12 to complete his nine-darter in the second leg of the sixth set. The feat earned Van Barneveld £20,000 – the bonus had not been won since Taylor's nine-darter at the UK Open against Jamie Harvey – as he became the first player to throw a perfect leg in the PDC World Championship. Van Barneveld went on to win the match 5-1, with a three-dart 161 finish, and then won his semi-final against Wade. However, he suffered a heavy 7-1 defeat to Taylor in the final. As a result of his failure to defend the £100,000 he won at the 2007 World Championship (his runner-up position earned him £60,000) he dropped from 2nd to 3rd in the PDC Order of Merit.

Van Barneveld threw his fourth nine dart finish in the Blue Square UK Open West Midlands Regional on 29 March 2009 in the third round against Kirk Shepherd. Barney only earned £400 for this as Mervyn King snapped up the £4,000 bonus on 28 March 2009 at the Coventry Players Championship with a nine dart finish.

In the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic, Barney returned to form, losing narrowly to Phil Taylor 13-11 in the final. After the game, Barney took the microphone from Sky Sports presenter Dave Clark, and gave a speech about Phil Taylor.

After his quarter final World Matchplay defeat to Terry Jenkins, Van Barneveld took another sabbatical from darts. He declined entries for the Championship of Darts and the South African Masters. There was speculation Van Barneveld was considering retiring from the sport, however he stated after his first round win in the 2009 World Grand Prix over Alan Tabern that he was suffering from diabetes and his absence was in order to get fit and healthy and going to the gym. He also attributed the diabetes towards his form in major tournaments.

On 28 December 2009, he hit another nine-darter in the second round of the PDC World Championship against Brendan Dolan, becoming the first player to hit two nine-dart finishes in the PDC World Championship. He went on to reach the semi finals before losing 6-5 to Simon Whitlock. He also lost the third-place play-off 10-8 in legs to Mark Webster.

On 29 April 2010, Van Barneveld hit another nine-darter against Terry Jenkins at the 2010 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts in Aberdeen. This came during a poor Premier League campaign in which he only finished in sixth place. During the Premier League, Barney said that he was suffering from personal problems back home, and claimed that he and his family were being blackmailed. He failed to qualify for the 2010 UK Open, having only entered one of the eight qualifying events (only players who enter three or more events are eligible to qualify).

His next nine-darter came in the first round of the 2010 World Matchplay in Blackpool, against Denis Ovens on 17 July 2010. He went on to reach his first ever World Matchplay final, where he lost 18-12 to Phil Taylor.

2011

At the 2011 World Championship he lost in the quarter-finals to an in form Gary Anderson.

The 2011 Premier league of darts saw a slight return of form after he hit 4 100+ finishes and defeated Simon Whitlock 8-3 with a 100.15 average. He went on to win his next match against Adrian Lewis 8-6, before losing to Phil Taylor in their much anticipated match, 3-8. In week 6 he defeated Mark Webster 8-4 with a high average of 100.98 and also hit a 161 checkout.He went on to defeat Gary Anderson 8-5 in week 7 with an average of 101.44

On the day of his first round match in the 2011 World Matchplay darts Barney received a shock when he lost his darts. He contacted his sponsors with a S.O.S which meant they had to contact the closest supplier to deliver a new set for him. He received the set with no problems and used them to defeat Steve Brown 10-3 averaging 95.56.

The 2011 Uk Open saw Barneveld progress to the fifth round of the competition where he was defeated by an on form Wes Newton who was eventual runner up 9-1

2012

Van Barneveld was the victim of one of the biggest upsets in PDC World Championship history in 2012. He lost 0-3 in the first round to world number 85, James Richardson, winning just 4 legs during the match. He teamed up with Vincent van der Voort for the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts to try to defend the title van Barneveld won with Co Stompé in 2010. Together they enjoyed comfortable victories over Austria and Northern Ireland to set up a semi-final clash with the Australian pair of Paul Nicholson and Simon Whitlock. Van Barneveld beat Nicholson 4–0 in their singles match, but this was the only point the Dutch won as they relinquished their crown in a 1–5 defeat.

van Barneveld was a Sky Sports pick for the 2012 Premier League Darts and drew 7-7 with Simon Whitlock on the opening night.

Barney Army

Van Barneveld now gets chants of 'Barney Army', which is a play on the supporters of the England cricket team's nickname 'Barmy Army' as a result of the Dutchman's extreme popularity since he joined the PDC in early 2006. Van Barneveld has a close relationship with his fans, shown regularly at the end of Premier League events when his fans will all chant "Barney, give us a wave" and he always responds with a wave and a smile. He has regularly praised the fans of the Premier League. While he does get a good reception at most venues, his loudest and most positive is usually on the Scottish legs of the Premier League where the two most popular English players - Phil Taylor and James Wade - aren't so popular.

World Championship Results

BDO

• 1991: First Round (lost to Keith Sullivan 0-3)
• 1993: Second Round (lost to John Lowe 2-3)
• 1995: Runner-Up (lost to Richie Burnett 3-6)
• 1996: Second Round (lost to Matt Clark 1-3)
• 1997: Second Round (lost to Les Wallace 2-3)
• 1998: Winner (beat Richie Burnett 6-5)
• 1999: Winner (beat Ronnie Baxter 6-5)
• 2000: First Round (lost to Chris Mason 1-3)
• 2001: Quarter-Finals (lost to Ted Hankey 4-5)
• 2002: Quarter-Finals (lost to Mervyn King 3-5)
• 2003: Winner (beat Ritchie Davies 6-3)
• 2004: Semi-Finals (lost to Andy Fordham 4-5)
• 2005: Winner (beat Martin Adams 6-2)
• 2006: Runner-Up (lost to Jelle Klaasen 5-7)

PDC

• 2007: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7-6)
• 2008: Third Round (lost to Kevin Painter 2-4)
• 2009: Runner-Up (lost to Phil Taylor 1-7)
• 2010: Semi-Finals (lost to Simon Whitlock 5-6); 4th Place; lost to Mark Webster 8-10 (legs)
• 2011: Quarter-Finals (lost to Gary Anderson 1-5)
• 2012: First Round (lost to James Richardson 0-3)

Majors

World Championship

Winner (5)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1998	BDO World Darts Championship	Richie Burnett	6-5
1999	BDO World Darts Championship	Ronnie Baxter	6-5
2003	BDO World Darts Championship	Ritchie Davies	6-3
2005	BDO World Darts Championship	Martin Adams	6-2
2007	PDC World Darts Championship	Phil Taylor	7-6

World Masters

Winner (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	Winmau World Masters	Jarkko Komula	4-2
2005	Winmau World Masters	Göran Klemme	7-3

External links

• Official website
• Raymond van Barneveld web site

• Profile and Stats on Darts Database
• Raymond van Barneveld "Barney" best tribute video 1998, 99, 2003 and 2005 World Championship wins on YouTube
• Profile on PDC News