Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the

Las Vegas Desert Classic The Las Vegas Desert Classic was a darts tournament, organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and was held each year in July from 2002 until 2009. Its original venue was the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada from 2002 to ...

, in 2003, and twice held the number one ranking. He also reached the

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, ...

final in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, 2002 and 2006, losing to Phil Taylor on each occasion. Declining form led to him losing his place on the PDC tour in 2011. Manley was nicknamed "One Dart" by commentator

Tony Green Anthony John "Tony" Green (born 29 January 1939) is an English sports commentator and television presenter. Darts career A former amateur player, who played county darts for Lancashire, he was the BBC's lead commentator when they showed t ...

after hitting the winning double on numerous occasions with his first dart during his first televised appearance at the 1995 Unipart European Masters, where he eventually lost in the final to

Mike Gregory Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for Warrington from 1982 to 1994, and won 20 caps fo ...

. Manley was also known for his walk on and personality. Described as someone whom "darts crowds love to hate", his antics sometimes led to run-ins with fellow players.

Darting career

Manley made his debut in 1996 PDC World Matchplay Last 40 to

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He was also called "Cookie" by his friends on the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was raised in Hammersmith and atte ...

, 5–2, in Last 32 to Dave Kelly 8-2 and Last 16 his losing to Jamie Harvey, 8–3. Manley's controversial personality rather than the quality of his darts was often the most notable part of his career and continued poor form resulted in his failure to secure a PDC tour card in 2012. Manley lost several major sponsors including darts manufacturer Unicorn as a result. Manley is perhaps most famous for his long-running feud with Phil Taylor resulting from his refusal to shake Taylor's hand after losing 7–0 to him in the 2002 PDC World Darts Championship final. He has finished runner-up to Taylor in two other World Championships - losing 6-2 in

and 7-0 in 2006. His biggest tournament win was

2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic The 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic was the second major Professional Darts Corporation Las Vegas Desert Classic darts tournament. It was held in the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada in early July. 26 players competed in the tourna ...

when he beat

John Part John Part (born June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, a ...

16-12 in the final. He is also the chairman of the

Professional Dart Players Association The Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) is an organisation for professional dart players within the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Its intention is to look after the interests of all professional players through an annually electe ...

,Peter Manley - Team Unicorn
from Unicorn, retrieved 19 February 2009 a position he has held for six years.PDPA Board Members
from the PDPA, retrieved 22 February 2009 Manley attempted getting a PDC Tour card in the Q-School in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 but was unsuccessful.

Crowd popularity

Manley's refusal to shake Taylor's hand after his 7-0 World Championship thrashing in 2002 led to darts fans booing him for many years. The boos became more ironic and good-natured when in 2005 Manley changed his entrance theme from Chumbawamba's ''

Tubthumping "Tubthumping" is a song released by British rock band Chumbawamba from their eighth studio album, ''Tubthumper'' (1997). It is the band's most successful single, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart. It topped the charts in Australia, ...

'' to

Tony Christie Anthony Fitzgerald (born 25 April 1943), known professionally as Tony Christie, is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his recording of "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo", a double UK chart success. Career 1960s to 1970 ...

's "

Is This the Way to Amarillo "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It is about a man traveling to Amarillo, Texas, to find his girlfriend Marie. Written by two Americans with a strong country-western lyrical theme, the s ...

". By the end of his career Manley was seen by darts crowds as being more of a 'pantomime villain' rather than subject to genuine animosity which had occurred previously. Manley has gone on to say that whilst the booing and crowd reaction was hard for him and his family to take in the early days, it helped him as his career went on and ensured his popularity on the exhibition circuit.

Controversy

Despite being chairman of the Players' Union (the

- PDPA), Manley was often the subject of controversy with fellow players. Most notably Taylor in the aforementioned incident, and also in the

2006 PDC World Darts Championship The 2006 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 13th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) since it separated from the British Darts Organisation (BDO). It was held from 19 December 2005 to 2 January ...

. During that tournament, Manley was accused of gamesmanship against Dennis Smith and in a later round against Taylor's protégé,

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

. Manley muttered words to his opponent, resulting in Lewis leaving the stage in anger. Despite serving as Mardle's best man at his wedding Manley also had a notable spat with the former PDC professional player

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

. Mardle accused Manley of being a cheat in his autobiography. Manley has also had notable spats with the likes of Roland Scholten,

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

, Rod Harrington,

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and

Wynand Havenga Wynand Havenga (born 6 September 1965) is a South African former professional darts player. Career He made his television debut at the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship as a qualifier, having beaten almost 100 players to win the South African M ...

World Championship results

PDC

* 1997: Prem round (lost to Chris Mason 0-3) * 1998: Quarter-finals (lost to

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 ...

3-4) * 1999: Runner-up (lost to Phil Taylor 2-6) * 2000: Semi-finals (lost to

2-5) * 2001: 1st round (lost to Jamie Harvey 2-3) * 2002: Runner-up (lost to Phil Taylor 0-7) * 2003: 2nd round (lost to

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname ...

1-4) * 2004: Quarter-finals (lost to Bob Anderson 2-5) * 2005: 3rd round (lost to

Josephus Schenk Josephus Schenk (born 19 August 1980, in Zutphen) is a former Dutch professional darts player. Career Schenk began playing in the Professional Darts Corporation made his PDC World Darts Championship debut in 2005 where he defeated American Dar ...

2-4) * 2006: Runner-up (lost to Phil Taylor 0-7) * 2007: 2nd round (lost to

3-4) * 2008: Quarter-finals (lost to

Kirk Shepherd Kirk Shepherd (born 5 October 1986) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He was the youngest player ever to reach the final of the World Professional Darts Championshi ...

4-5) * 2009: 1st round (lost to

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (B ...

2-3) * 2010: 2nd round (lost to Mark Webster 2-4)

WSDT

* 2022: 2nd round (lost to Phil Taylor 1-3)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 5 (1 title, 4 runners-up)

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

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

Peter Manley's official website
*
Player profile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manley, Peter English darts players 1962 births Living people Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders Las Vegas Desert Classic champions