Wikipedia

Ritchie Gardner

Richard Gardner (born 1958/1959) is an English former professional darts player who had some success during the 1980s, and was one of the 16 top players who formed a breakaway organisation during an acrimonious split in the game during 1992–94.

Ritchie Gardner
Personal information
Nickname"Machine Gun"[1]
Born1958 or 1959 (age 65–66)[2]
Home townEngland
Darts information
Playing darts since1978
Darts14 Gram Unicorn Signature
LateralityRight-handed
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO1982–1992
PDC1992–2006 (founding member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 16: 1987, 1988
World MastersQuarter Final: 1990
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 24 Group: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
World MatchplayLast 32: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998
Other tournament wins
TournamentYears
Belgium Open
MFI World Pairs		1984
1988

Career

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Gardner showed some promise during early days of televised darts – although the only title he won was the Belgium Open in 1984, which was a non-televised event. He reached the last 16 of the Winmau World Masters in 1985 and then qualified for the World Professional Darts Championship for the first time in 1986 where he lost in the first round to Terry O'Dea. It was the first year the tournament was staged at the Lakeside Country Club.

He failed to progress beyond the second round in his visits to Lakeside, but did come up against some legends of the game including Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson and Mike Gregory. He managed to reach the quarter finals of the World Masters in 1990 – but by this time, that tournament was no longer televised. Only the World Championship remained on the screens during that era, which was one of the reasons that many top players became unhappy with their lack of television exposure.

Gardner was amongst the group of 16 players who "defected" from the British Darts Organisation between 1992 and 1994 as one of the founder members of the World Darts Council (now the Professional Darts Corporation – PDC), and he received more television exposure between 1994 and 1999 at their World Championship, but never managed to progress beyond the group stages.

He also competed in the WDC/PDC's World Matchplay tournament in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998, but never won a single match. After the 1999 World Championship, he faded from the scene and no longer competes on the darts circuit; although he did compete at a couple of PDC Open events in Eastbourne in 2005 and 2006 but never progressed beyond the very early rounds.

World Championship performances

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BDO

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PDC

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Performance timeline

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Tournament 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
BDO World Championship Did not qualify 1R 2R 2R DNQ 1R DNQ DNP
Winmau World Masters 1R 1R DNQ 1R 4R 2R 2R 2R DNQ QF 2R DNQ DNQ
British Professional DNQ 1R 2R 2R DNQ 1R 1R 2R 2R Not held
MFI World Matchplay Not held DNQ QF DNQ Not held
PDC World Championship Not yet founded RR RR RR RR DNQ RR
World Matchplay Not yet founded 1R 1R 1R Prel. 1R DNQ
News of the World Did not participate SF Did not participate
Performance Table Legend
DNP Did not play at the event DNQ Did not qualify for the event NYF Not yet founded #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

Television appearances

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Bullseye

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In 1988, Gardner appeared on Bullseye scoring an impressive 325 in the Bronze Bully charity round. The £650 raised was donated to the body scanner appeal at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham. He also won the MFI World Pairs with Jocky Wilson in 1988. [3]

References

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  1. ^ "Ritchie Gardner – Mastercaller".
  2. ^ "Ritchie Gardner – Mastercaller". Archived from the original on 4 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Bullseye TV Game Show – Hall of Fame".
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