Russ Bray (born 22 June 1957) 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 ...

referee who works 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). He is also known as "The Voice", due to his unique style of calling and his shouty voice. Russ was previously a traffic cop.

Darts career

According to Bray himself, his calling career began one night when the regular caller failed to show for a county match. Bray was then contracted to call for the PDC in 1996 and was given his debut at the World Matchplay in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. He was the caller when Phil Taylor hit the PDC's first-ever televised nine-darter in 2002 at the same event. He has called seven more nine-darters live on TV since then including the first televised nine-darter outside of Europe by Mervyn King in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa. Bray was a county player for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

and subsequently played on the pro circuit. He teamed up with

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 ...

to win the Norway and Finland pairs. Bray also hit the bullseye on a standard dartboard from 10 feet, outdoors, on

's North Pier, thus achieving a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

in the process. Bray beat the day's previous best of 9' 6" which was achieved by fellow PDC official Scott Gibling.

Other work

Bray has made use of his raspy voice in various other forms of media. He was the referee in the PDC's first ever video game, ''

PDC World Championship Darts ''PDC World Championship Darts'' is a sports video game published by Oxygen Interactive and developed and designed by Mere Mortals. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and PC. The game features ten professionals from the Professional Darts Co ...

'' and also became the voice of ''Feasters'', a microwave food chain. He has also provided voiceover work for advertising from Coral, Ladbrokes, Cash Converters & McCoy's Crisps. Additionally, he has also provided his voice and his name to Russ Bray Darts, a mobile app. Bray has since made an appearance in boxing as the voice on ''Sky Sports Fight Night'' in October.

Personal life

Bray currently resides in

Soham Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census. History Archaeology The region between Dev ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

with his wife, Sue. He is a lifelong supporter of football club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

References

External links

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Official website
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Russ Living people 1957 births Darts people People from South Ockendon