UK Darts Issue 5 - August 2013 | Page 4

John Gwynne Sunday 28th July was a great day for darts in one respect, with fans witnessing what must surely go down as the greatest World Matchplay final of all time. In another respect though it was a sad day for darts and for the fans who follow the sport so keenly, as John Gwynne commentated for Sky Sports Darts for the final time. Gwynne, who started life as a maths teacher after graduating from Edge Hill College, was the only remaining member of the ‘originals’, the team who started out commentating for Sky after the formation of the WDC (now the PDC). 2013 was in fact John’s 20th World Matchplay and he had been involved in almost every major tournament broadcast by Sky over the last 20 years. In his formative years as a commentator he worked for Piccadily Radio in Manchester covering the Belle Vue speedway and eventually moved on to provide darts coverage on a weekly show called Talking Sport for the same station. Gwynne’s next commentary job saw him covering Lancashire County Cricket Club matches, whilst as a sideline he set up The Darts Line, a phone line service that would provide darts news and tournament results via a paid telephone line service. All of this made Gwynne a natural choice for TV darts commentary and “I will walk away with no regrets, with an abundance of happy memories and having made many, many friends”