AMATEUR player Mike Norton has revealed the hilarious moment he unknowingly played two-time world champion Gary Anderson for THREE weeks.
The 62-year-old admitted he had barely even watched darts on TV at the time and had no idea the Scotsman smashing him off the board was a global name.
Norton explained the bizarre encounter began after meeting a local player, Graham Curl, at a Super League night.
The Weston-Super-Mare thrower says he was invited along to a casual practice session in a garage, not realising who he would end up competing with at the oche.
He told the Weekly Dartscast: “I went to the Super League the following month and I met a bloke called Graham Curl.
“I watched him play. He is a really good player locally but he doesn’t play in anything you see on telly.
“He said, ‘I’ve seen you, you’re pretty good. Fancy coming to my garage?’ It was just ironic — he lived in Shenan.
“I said, ‘What for?’ He said, ‘Me and my mate play every Wednesday. We have a practice. Our missus go off to Slimming World.’
“He said, ‘We have a little setup. Fancy coming? The mate I’ve got is really good. I don’t push him.’ He said, ‘I think you can push him.’
“I said, ‘Okay.’ So, I get there on a Wednesday and we are having a warm-up game. This bloke walks in while I am practising.
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“He went, ‘Alright,’ I shook his hand and we had a little cigarette together. He said, ‘Oh, we’re gonna start now’.
“It was first to three, winner stays on. So, I said, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ He chalks the first game.
“Me and my mate play, and I beat my mate. So, I play the bloke who just chalked. He smashes me three-nil.
“I thought oh he is good, and he never got off the board all night.”
Despite being battered, Norton kept coming back the following weeks determined to beat the mystery player.
Only then did Norton realise he had been sparring with one of the best players on the planet.
He added: “So I phoned my mate and I said, ‘He is good.’
“He said, ‘Yeah, are you coming next week?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I have to beat this bloke.’ This went on for several Wednesdays.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
- 2026 – Luke Littler (2)
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Luke Littler
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries
“Then I said, ‘Curly, this bloke, he is an animal. Where is he from?’
“He said, ‘You idiot, it’s Gary Anderson.’
“I said, ‘Who the bloody hell is Gary Anderson?’
“He said, ‘Don’t you watch the telly?’ I went, ‘Well, I have never watched darts on the telly, no.’
“He said, ‘He is on the telly every week and he is famous.’
“So here I am — I played Gary Anderson for three weeks not even knowing who he was.”
