Leighton Rees

Leighton Thomas Rees (17 January 1940 – 8 June 2003) was a Welsh professional darts player. He is best known as the first BDO World Professional Darts Champion, having won the inaugural 1978 BDO World Darts Championship and was a former World No. 1 player. He was one of the sport's most successful players throughout the 1970s, and retired from the game in 1991.

Early life

Rees was born in hospital in Mountain Ash and grew up in the village of Ynysybwl, Glamorgan, where he spent most of his life. He attended the local Mill Street School in Pontypridd where one of his teachers famously declared on his report card that he would be "good only for reading the sports pages of the South Wales Echo". After leaving school he found work in the store room of a motor spares company, a job he did for over twenty years until he became a professional darts player in 1976.

It was during his time working as a store man that Leighton found the sport of darts, becoming a regular for his local pub and county, and playing for Wales in 1970. It was not until 1972 though that he gained any real national attention. Sid Waddell, who later became a commentator for the BBC and Sky Sports, was at the time producer of Yorkshire Television's The Indoor League – a show with pub games tournaments. Waddell and his researchers had heard reports of a trio of great darts players in the South Wales valleys, an area that was quickly becoming a hotbed of talent for the sport. Waddell had already seen Alan Evans of Rhondda play at the Alexandra Palace during the 1972 News of the World Championship, the first darts tournament televised across Britain. The other two names mentioned were Tony Ridler of Newport and Leighton Rees of Ynysybwl.

Waddell quickly offered all three the chance to play on The Indoor League, which started being televised across Britain from 1973, and they did not disappoint, Ridler and Evans both scored a number of 180s in their matches, but although he did not perform as well in 1973, it was Leighton Rees who stole the show. Over a lager and a cigar he told presenter Fred Trueman, in his soon to be famous brand of dry humour, stories about himself and Evans hustling the English. Rees went on to have the most success of any darts player in The Indoor League, becoming the only player to win the darts tournament twice.

Darts career

After twice winning the darts tournament on The Indoor League in 1974 and 1976, Rees turned professional in 1976 and reached the final of that year's News of the World Darts Championship, losing to Bill Lennard from Manchester. Rees was also part of the 1977 Wales team that won the very first World Darts Federation World Cup alongside Alan Evans and David "Rocky" Jones.

Rees' finest hour however would come in 1978 at the inaugural Embassy World Professional Darts Championship, in Nottingham. Seeded third he easily dispensed with Australian Barry Atkinson in round one at a score of 6–0 before taking on his close friend, Welsh team-mate and fifth seed Alan Evans in the second round. It turned into a classic with both players averaging over 90 per three darts (almost unheard of in those days). Evans took an early lead with a couple of 180s before Rees recorded the championship's first ten-dart finish (also the first televised) before eventually running out a 6–3 victor. At the time the BBC's executive producer Nick Hunter proclaimed it as the match that made darts live up to all their expectations and cemented it as a National TV item for years to come.

In the semi-final Rees actually struggled to beat a determined American, Nicky Virachkul 8–7 in the semi-finals but showed a whole different set of battling qualities to pull through into a final against his close friend John Lowe. Rees would again average over 90 with Lowe not far behind in a final that was won 11–7 by Rees, achieving his only World Championship title.

In the defence of his title in 1979, Rees returned to the final, again beating Evans along the way before this time losing to Lowe by 5 sets to 0. A quarter-final in 1980 and a last-16 place in 1981 followed, after which Rees could only manage round one exits in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1990. Despite this his matches nearly always resulted in full arenas and he remained one of darts most popular competitors.

It is because of this that he is credited alongside the likes of Lowe, Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson, Jocky Wilson, Cliff Lazarenko and now Phil Taylor as bringing darts to the masses via the television screens. He had a good record on ''Bullseye'', scoring more than 301 with nine darts on at least six appearances in eight and thus having his charity money doubled.

Rees also wrote an autobiographical account of his life in 1979, titled ''On Darts'', which included tips on playing the game.

Personal life

In 1980, Rees married Debbie Ryle, a Californian, in Las Vegas while he was competing in a tournament there. Eric Bristow was best man. Despite being the first world champion, it could be argued that Rees missed out on darts' glory years. The prize for his title was £3,000 and as the prize money rose and tournaments began to spring up all over UK television channels, Rees' form began to slide and by the 1980s he never managed to match the continued success of Lowe, Bristow and Wilson. Rees was forced to make his living from playing exhibition matches with his compatriot and great friend Alan Evans.

Death

Rees quit his exhibition work after having a pacemaker fitted and also had a heart bypass operation in his later life. He returned to the stage of the World Championships to make the draw for the event in the year before his death. He died in his home village, Ynysybwl, in 2003, aged 63. Leighton Rees Close in Ynysybwl is named after him.

World Championship results

BDO

* 1978: Winner (beat John Lowe 11–7) (legs)
* 1979: Runner-up (lost to John Lowe 0–5) (sets)
* 1980: Quarter-Finals (lost to Bobby George 1–3)
* 1981: 2nd Round (lost to Ceri Morgan 1–2)
* 1982: 1st Round (lost to Angus Ross 0–2)
* 1983: 1st Round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–2)
* 1985: 1st Round (lost to Russell Stewart 1–2)
* 1987: 1st Round (lost to Mike Gregory 0–3)
* 1990: 1st Round (lost to Eric Bristow 0–3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 6 (2 titles, 4 runners-up)

WDF major finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

References

External links

Leighton Rees' profile and stats on Darts DatabaseBBC website report on Rees's life and death
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Leighton
1940 births
2003 deaths
Welsh darts players
BDO world darts champions
People from Ynysybwl
British Darts Organisation players