Matthew Clark (born 4 April 1968) is an English

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

player who competes for the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

(PDC) and formerly played for the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

(BDO). He uses the nickname "Superman" for his matches.

Darting history

Matt Clark first started playing darts at the age of 19 at his local village

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

,Matt Clark's December 2006 report
from Matt Clark's official website, retrieved 23 July 2008 and after a few years was playing for the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

county team. At the age of 24 he began moving towards pro darts attending the Dutch Open where he made the quarter finals of the pairs and singles competitions. Clark appeared in the

BDO World Darts Championship The WDF World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the World Darts Federation. It would previously organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO), who held it 43 times from 1978 to 2020. The champio ...

eight successive years, reaching the quarter-finals in 1996. He switched to the PDC in 2004 and quickly reached the top 32 in the world rankings. He made his

PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Cazoo World Darts Championship, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), is a World Professional Darts Championship held annually in the sport of darts. The PD ...

debut in 2006 and reached the second round, losing to eventual champion Phil Taylor. He entered the 2007 tournament as the number 31 seed, but lost in the first round to

Mick McGowan Michael McGowan (born 1 February 1973) is an Irish professional darts player who last played in events for the British Darts Organisation (BDO). Career McGowan last played on the PDC pro tour in the Killarney Pro Tour 1 in October 2013 and his ...

. In 2008, Clark lost in the first round to

Roland Scholten Roland Scholten (born 11 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). Nicknamed The Tripod and The Flying Dutchman, Scholten turne ...

. Despite losing, Clark won more legs than Scholten, Clark winning 12 to Scholten's 10. However, he gained revenge on Scholten having qualified for the 2008 World Matchplay through the Players Championship Order of Merit and defeating him 10–4 in the first round. He continued to defeat veteran

Peter Manley Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twi ...

13–6 in an upset and reached the quarter-finals, his best performance in the competition, before being defeated by defending champion

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

, despite checking out at 161 which was the highest checkout of that year's tournament. Prior to the Matchplay Event Matt lost 3 stone in weight which forced him to change his throwing stance. Clark suffered a first round exit in the

2009 PDC World Darts Championship The 2009 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 16th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 19 D ...

, losing to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

in a sudden leg death which Clark missed one dart at double 12 to win. After losing his PDC Tour Card at the end of 2017, Clark decided to play the some of the BDO Tour and the PDC Challenge Tour. A final in the Luxembourg Open and a quarter-final in the Belfry Open were followed by an agonising loss in the BDO World Championship qualifiers when he was one win from qualifying. Clark also made a quarter-final on the Challenge Tour in 2018 before re-entering PDC UK Q-School in January 2019. A last 16 exit on day two put him in a good position to win back his Tour Card, and he did it by right on the third day, beating

Gavin Carlin Gavin Carlin (born 6 February 1985 from Derry) is a professional Northern Irish darts player who currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation events. He attended UK Q-School in 2019, where he won a two-year Tour Card after finishing ...

5–2 in the final to seal a two-year PDC Tour Card. Matt Clark also took part in the PDC Home Tour, on Saturday 25 April 2020, missing out on winning his group by one leg. The other three players in his group consisted of Harry Ward, Martijn Kleermaker and Michael Smith.

World Championship results

BDO

* 1996: Quarter Final (lost to

Les Wallace Les Wallace (born 22 February 1962) is a Scottish retired professional darts player. He adopted the nickname "McDanger", coming out for his matches dressed in a traditional kilt. He won the 1997 BDO World Darts Championship which is one of th ...

1–4) * 1997: 1st Round (lost to

Andy Fordham Andrew Fordham (2 February 1962 – 15 July 2021) was an English professional darts player, commonly known as The Viking. He won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship and the 1999 Winmau World Masters. Darts career Fordham made his first ap ...

2–3) * 1998: 1st Round (lost to Mervyn King 0–3) * 1999: 1st Round (lost to Paul Williams 2–3) * 2000: 2nd Round (lost to Chris Mason 2–3) * 2001: 2nd Round (lost to

1–3) * 2002: 1st Round (lost to

Marko Pusa Marko Pusa (born 15 April 1977) is a Finnish former darts player. Career Pusa made his televised debut at the 1999 Winmau World Masters, reaching the semi-finals with wins over Andy Gudgeon, former World Champion Steve Beaton and Andy Jenkin ...

1–3) * 2003: 1st Round (lost to

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

1–3)

PDC

* 2006: 2nd Round (lost to Phil Taylor 1–4) * 2007: 1st Round (lost to

1–3) * 2008: 1st Round (lost to

2–3) * 2009: 1st Round (lost to

2–3) * 2010: 1st Round (lost to Mervyn King 0–3) * 2014: 1st Round (lost to

Vincent van der Voort Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

1–3)

Career statistics

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held

Performance timeline

References

External links

Matt Clark's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Matt 1968 births English darts players Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders