Let's see what you could have won... A blue plaque marks the 'crucible of darts'

The plaque at the Irish Centre in Leeds, the venue for the first televised darts competition in August 1973, was unveiled by darts commentator Sid Waddell, who saluted the venue as 'The Crucible of Darts'.

Darts was brought out of the tap room and into the nation's living rooms in the Indoor League programme and is now a phenomenal success with 15-time World Champion Phil Taylor being nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year trophy.

Indoor League, produced by Mr Waddell and fronted by cricketer Fred Trueman, shone a spotlight on traditional pub games such as bar skittles, arm wrestling, pool and shove ha'penny.

But it was darts that caught the public imagination and the programme

eventually devolved into a darts-only show, leading to the televising of the first World Championship in 1978.

Tommy McLoughlin, manager of Leeds Irish Centre, said: "Indoor League at the Irish centre made it part of the history of a great sport. It's great to have the plaque as part of our 40th anniversary celebrations."

Mr Waddell said: "We wanted to give pub people, stars in their own pubs with pub games, a chance they didn't have.

"We chose the Irish Centre because it had the warm, organised atmosphere of a social club. We opened up a world we didn't know about.

"It soon became apparent that the darts players were something else. They made good TV because they were so accurate.

"Darts became the blue riband event of the programme. Eric Bristow was watching Indoor League down in London and he said, 'I want to be on that'."