Lincolnshire darts aces - who practice at Swineshead’s Green Dragon pub - set to feature in first-ever Panini PDC trading card set
Two Lincolnshire darts stars will appear in the first-ever PDC Trading Cards collection.
Panini - the firm behind decades of popular football sticker books and collectors’ cards - has turned its attention to the oche, with Scott ‘Shaggy’ Williams and Rob Cross both featuring.
The duo both live in the county and are regulars at Swineshead’s Green Dragon, where they hone their skills in the pub’s custom-created darts room.
Following a record-breaking PDC World Darts Championship tournament 12 months ago, which saw over 4.8 million viewers tune in to watch the final between Luke Humphries - who defeated Swineshead-based Williams in the semis - and Luke Littler, the stage is set again for more festive darts fever as the world’s best steady themselves to return to the Ally Pally oche.
And to celebrate, this new Trading Card collection has been released.
Championing the best on the global darts circuit, the vibrant and jam-packed PDC collection will feature over 220 cards in total, made up of base, insert and autograph cards in a variety of categories.
There are a total of 60 base Cards for fans to collect, also including World Champions Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright.
Collectors will also be keen to get their hands on the rarer parallel cards which differ in colour scheme, foiling and optical finishes; including a cracked ice design for collectors looking for unique cards to add to their collection.
Insert Cards focus on specific players, moments or highlights from the previous 31 PDC World Darts Championships.
The full range of trading card categories include World Champions, Nine-Dart-Club, Scoring Machine, Legends of the Game, Next Generation, All Around the PDC and Bullseye themes.
A highlight for fans and collectors is the rare and premium Autograph cards which feature real signatures of the darts players. Each card is limited and serially numbered making for the ultimate collector’s item.
Fans will be able to choose between the Premium Box or Collectors Box to kick-start their Trading Card collections, both of which come with 10 packs of trading cards in varying categories.
Katie Gritt, head of marketing for sport at Panini commented: “We couldn’t be more excited to launch our first PDC Darts Collection, just in time for the iconic PDC World Darts Championship at Ally Pally!
“Darts has a huge fanbase that’s growing all the time, and we know there is a lot of excitement for this launch, as well as for what comes next for Panini x PDC Collectibles.
“We can’t wait to see fans response to the first launch and promise there is lots of exciting things to follow for darts fans to enjoy,”
English professional darts player and life-long Panini collector, Stephen Bunting added: “Having collected Panini stickers and trading cards for many years, it’s amazing that darts players will be the face of the trading cards this time around.
“I really enjoy collectibles; it’s something I’ve done since I was a kid and brings me a lot of joy in my downtime and something I now enjoy with my own family.
“I can’t wait to see the collection in stores for all the fans to begin collecting. I’ll be going Bunting mental with them!”
PDC chief executive Matt Porter added: "There was huge excitement when we first announced our partnership with Panini in August, and darts fans can now get ready to secure their PDC Trading Card collection.
“This is a brilliant opportunity for fans to collect a unique piece of history as we celebrate the past and present stars of the PDC World Darts Championship."
