Michael Seward "Mike" Gregory (16 December 1956 – 19 April 2022) was an English professional
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 reached the final of the
Winmau World Masters
The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...
twice and also reached the final of the
Embassy World Darts Championship in 1992 – losing to
Phil Taylor in a match regarded amongst the greatest matches ever played.
Darts career
Gregory was one of the top ranked players from the mid-1980s through to the early 1990s, having been
seeded in the top four at the World Championships on seven occasions – although he never won the World title.
His major breakthrough was beating John Lowe in the semi-finals of the 1983 British Open in which he finished runner-up to Eric Bristow. He lost again to Bristow in the final of that year's World Masters tournament. He made his World Championship debut in 1984 and reached the quarter-final, losing heavily 0–5 to
Jocky Wilson
John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012) was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning pro in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again ...
.
Gregory lost at the quarter-final stage of the World Championship in 1987, 1989 and 1993. He made his first semi-final in 1990, losing to
Eric Bristow
Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player.
He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
and his only final appearance came in 1992 – when he lost an epic match 5–6 in sets to Taylor. Having missed six darts for the title – two each for double 20, double 8 and double 10, which he has since jokingly referred to as the
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterio ...
– the match went all the way to a sudden death leg, which comes when the players reach 5–5 in both sets and legs. It was the first time this had happened in the World Championship's 14-year history and the match is often mentioned in discussions about the greatest darts match; Taylor himself listed this as his greatest ever match. Gregory won the bull-off to throw first in the decider, but had a bounce-out on his first turn and Taylor comfortably sealed the win. Gregory would become the only man to have lost a World Championship final having had darts at double to win, and remained so until
Mark McGeeney
Mark McGeeney (born 28 June 1972) is an English professional darts player from Coventry, Warwickshire. He currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.
Career
BDO
In August 2010, McGeeney won the Weoley Castle Open, beati ...
did so in
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
.
Whilst he was never a World Champion, he won many televised titles of the era, including the 1984 Unipart British Professional (beating both Jocky Wilson and John Lowe), the 1986 MFI World Matchplay, as well as becoming one of only seven players to win the
News of the World Darts Championship
The News of the World Championship was one of the first major organised darts competitions, which began in 1927. It became England's first national darts competition from 1947, as the years went by it gradually became international essentially ...
twice (in 1987 and 1988), joining Tom Barrett (1963–64 and 1964–65) and Eric Bristow (1983 and 1984) as the only other players to win it in consecutive years.
Major controversy
Mike Gregory was a controversial figure in a dispute which threatened darts during 1992–93. Darts had enjoyed a
boom-and-bust
Business cycles are intervals of expansion followed by recession in economic activity. These changes have implications for the welfare of the broad population as well as for private institutions. Typically business cycles are measured by examini ...
period during the 1980s and 1990s. At first, sponsors and television companies could not get enough of the game with many major tournaments appearing on the screens. Despite the number of tournaments, the game had a poor image in the eyes of many – players were allowed to smoke and drink alcohol on stage during matches. The decision of ITV to scrap their
World of Sport programme after September 1985 was the first serious blow, as the programme had covered darts on a regular basis. In the summer of 1988, both the BBC and ITV decided in quick succession to axe all their coverage of darts from the start of 1989, with the exception of the World Championship on the BBC. This massive slump in television coverage, combined with the poor image of darts to sponsors, made it very difficult for professional dart players to make a living from the sport.
The players formed the World Darts Council (WDC – now known as 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 ...
) in January 1992 with the intention to promote the game more on television and enhance their earnings which had severely diminished in the previous few years.
The top 16 players including all the former World Champions stuck together in the WDC and Gregory won their first ever tournament, the 1992 Lada UK Masters which was televised regionally on
Anglia Television
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
, with Gregory defeating
Dennis Priestley
Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...
in the final. The players planned to wear WDC logos on their sleeves during the 1993 World Championship as a show of solidarity – but the governing body, 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) told the players to remove them. Later in the tournament, the WDC players issued a statement, saying that they would only participate in the 1994 World Championship, if it came under the auspices of the WDC, and that they only recognised the WDC as having the authority to sanction their participation in darts tournaments worldwide.
Gregory won the second WDC Lada UK Masters in November 1993, defeating
Bob Anderson in the final, and the WDC had just signed a contract with
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
to broadcast its own
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
and
World Matchplay, starting in 1994. In late November 1993, Gregory had a change of heart and decided to return to the BDO. Chris Johns was the other player who had gone back to the BDO (before Gregory), but the other 14 stayed united. Gregory's decision to jump back to the BDO caused controversy, as the WDC players felt as if he had let them down, mainly as he had not told them of his decision in advance.
After the split
The last BDO tournament in which the "rebel" players competed was the Finland Open in April 1993. Gregory's return to the BDO was in time for the 1994 British Open, which was staged on New Year's Day, and he reached the semi-finals. He was not able to compete at the
Embassy World Darts Championship in 1994, as the tournament draw had been made before he decided to return to the BDO. Later in 1994, he won the Norway Open and Belgian Open.
In 1995, he returned to the Lakeside for the first time since the split as the number five seed. He reached the quarter-finals, losing 3–4 to
Martin Adams
Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...
.
His other WDF titles came in 1995, winning the Swiss Open and the Belgian Open. Gregory then won his last televised title in September 1995, when he won the Unipart European Masters tournament, which was held at Lakeside and broadcast on the BBC. In the semi-final, Gregory defeated the reigning BDO World Champion,
Richie Burnett
Richard Mark "Richie" Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former World No. 1 who won the 1995 Embassy World Darts Cha ...
, and beat
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 ...
in the final.
After Gregory's Unipart European Masters triumph, his form quickly faded. He suffered first round defeats in each of his next three appearances in the BDO World Championship at Lakeside – in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Since 1999, Gregory has failed to qualify for the competition. Other than a quarter-final appearance at the 2001 Welsh Open and a defeat to Davy Richardson in the final of the 2003 Scottish Open, he has not featured in the latter stages of Open events since 1999. His last appearance at a major WDF event being the 2005 Scottish Open, when he reached the last 16.
Gregory played county darts for Somerset and also played for Radstock in the Somerset Super League, where he appeared with the PDC player
Steve Grubb.
Death
Mike Gregory died on 19 April 2022, at the age of 65. He had been battling dementia in the last few years.
World Championship results
BDO
* 1984: Quarter Finals (lost to
Jocky Wilson
John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012) was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning pro in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again ...
0–5) (sets)
* 1985: 1st Round (lost to
Bobby George
Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King ...
1–2)
* 1986: 1st Round (lost to
Keith Deller
Keith Kelvin Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship and Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier ever to ...
0–3)
* 1987: Quarter Finals (lost to
Jocky Wilson
John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012) was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning pro in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again ...
3–4)
* 1988: 1st Round (lost to
Chris Johns 0–3)
* 1989: Quarter Finals (lost to
Jocky Wilson
John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012) was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning pro in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again ...
3–4)
* 1990: Semi Finals (lost to
Eric Bristow
Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player.
He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
2–5)
* 1991: 2nd Round (lost to
Eric Bristow
Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player.
He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
0–3)
* 1992: Runner Up (lost to
Phil Taylor 5–6)
* 1993: Quarter Finals (lost to
Bobby George
Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King ...
2–4)
* 1995: Quarter Finals (lost to
Martin Adams
Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...
3–4)
* 1996: 1st Round (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 ...
0–3)
* 1997: 1st Round (lost 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 ...
2–3)
* 1999: 1st Round (lost to
Martin Adams
Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...
1–3)
Career finals
Independent major finals: 2 (2 titles)
Performance timeline
References
External links
Mike Gregory profiledartsdatabase
Mike Gregory interview on darts split (2008)superstars of darts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Mike
1956 births
2022 deaths
English darts players
Sportspeople from Bath, Somerset
British Darts Organisation players
Professional Darts Corporation founding players