Darters of all levels have nicknames; some are made up by
others and some by themselves. Like in all walks of life, some people have
nicknames “given” at school that stay with them forever and some people are
never known by a nickname.
In the darting world nicknames are often brought in from younger
days or named directly from their real names. Some players are known more by
their nickname than their given name – John Thomas Wilson was always referred
to as Jocky Wilson. His picture was also displayed by mistake during a performance of "Jackie Wilson Said" by Dexy's Midnight Runners.
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| Jocky Wilson |
When I ran the Families Club at RAF Honington – The Jackdaws
Nest – I played as Jackdaw Geoff. The name that stuck most also came from my
military days where everybody gets a nickname. I was an instructor working in
Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD pronounced Gee bad) working with the Rapier Missile system. I was given the nickname GBAD
Geoff, Gee bad Geoff has that catchy ring required for a nickname to stick.
Also in the military, my son was challenged to a game of
darts by one of his superiors, they were both serving on 1 Royal Tank Regiment (1RTR). It became a match between Armour Piercing Paddy
and Hellfire Herschell. Hellfire was victorious.
Here are a few examples of players having nicknames
referencing their name:
Norman Madhoo Guyana Stormin’ Norman
Paul Hogan England Crocodile Dundee
Kevin Painter England The Artist
Kevin McDine England SupaMc
Ray Carver USA Razor
Andy Hamilton England The Hammer
Robert Thornton Scotland The Thorn
Roland Scholten Netherlands The Flying Dutchman
Gary Anderson Scotland The Flying Scotsman
Scott Mitchell England Scotty Dog
Chris Mason England Mace the Ace
John Walton England John Boy
Keith Deller England The Fella
Leo Laurens Belgium The Lion of Bruges
Lionel Sams England The Lion
Andy Hamilton England The Hammer
Mark Webster Wales The Spider
Alan Norris England Chuck
Some examples of being named due to the Country the player
represents or the place they were born in:
Paul Lim Singapore
and USA Singapore Slinger
Nandor Bezzeg Hungary Mighty Magyar
Peter Evison England The
Fen Tiger
John Henderson Scotland Highlander
Ritchie Burnett Wales Prince of
Wales
Eric Bristow England The
Crafty Cockney
Jason Clark Scotland The Cockney Jock
Alex Roy England The
Ace of Hert’s
Tony David Australia The Deadly Boomerang
Players are often named after their looks, demeanour or
Playing style:
Andy Smith England The
Pieman
Bill Lennard England Mr
Consistency
John Lowe England Old
Stoneface
James Wade England The
Machine
Peter Manley England One
Dart
Martin Adams England Wolfie
Alan Warriner England The
Iceman
We also get themes – such as Magic:
Simon Whitlock Australia The Wizard of Oz,
or the Wizard
Scott MacKenzie Hong
Kong The
Alchemist
Steve Coote England Magic
Steve Maish England Mr
Magic
Colin Osborne England The
Wizard
Nicknames also apply to the fairer sex:
Karin Krappen Netherlands Dolphin
Anne Kirk Scotland Captain Kirk
Tricia Wright England The Wright Stuff
Trina Gulliver England The Golden Girl
Sue Edwards England Super Sue
Zoe Jones England The Pink Panther
Father and Sons:
Bobby George England Bobby
Dazzler
Colin Monk England Mad
Monk
Aaron Monk England Monkey
I’ll finish off this page with my favourite nicknames.
Starting with the ladies, the best has to be:
For the men, I have a top 5:
Willy van de Wiel Netherlands Free Willy
Jan van der Rassel Netherlands Rassel Dazzle
Antonio Alcinas Spain El Dartador
My favourite is not so much the nickname but why he was
given it:
In 2005 Adrian Lewis was in Las Vegas for the Desert
Classic. He won $75 000 (over £40 000) on a gaming machine but was not allowed
to collect it as he was only 20 years old, the legal gambling age being 21.
My “Best Nickname” award goes to England’s, Adrian “Jackpot”
Lewis.
Here Adrian Jackpot Lewis hits what has become known as a "Blind 180" against Peter One Dart Manley.
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