Robert Charles Anderson (born 7 November 1947) is an English former professional

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

player who won the 1988 BDO World Darts Championship. Nicknamed The Limestone Cowboy, He was the World No. 1 player for over three years in the late 1980s.

Before darts

Anderson threw his first darts maximum (180) at the age of just seven, with brass darts with feather flights. He became a champion athlete during his teenage years, and was selected as a javelin thrower for the British Olympic team of 1968, however, broke his arm before the team left for Mexico, an injury which ended his javelin-throwing career. He then turned his attention to football – playing to a moderately high standard for Lincoln United, Guildford City,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

and Farnborough Town. During this time, he had continued to play darts socially and decided to take up the game more seriously when his injury jinx struck again – this time a broken leg in 1970 ended his football career.

Darts success

Anderson's career peaked in 1988 when winning the World Professional Championship. He took on John Lowe in the final and won 6-4 in sets, posting a 92.7 average, and winning £16,000. He won the

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is a darts tournament, initially organised by the British Darts Organisation from 1974 and later by the World Darts Federation. It is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments. The tournament w ...

in 1986, 1987 and 1988 – the first man to win the Masters in three successive years. Two years after his world title success, Anderson underwent surgery to fix a back problem that threatened his darts career. He returned to the game professionally but never reached the same heights he had achieved in the late 80's. However, in 1992, he was chosen as the captain of England, which was one of his proudest moments in darts. Anderson was amongst the players who formed 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 Wor ...

– an organisation (originally known as the World Darts Council) which separated from the existing governing body, the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and ...

in 1992–93. Anderson reached the final of the first WDC event, the Lada UK Masters, in November 1993 – losing to

Mike Gregory Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English professional rugby league footballer and coach. As a player, Gregory played either as a second-row or loose forward, and spent most of his club career at Warrington, ma ...

. In 1996, Anderson won the WDC World Pairs event alongside Phil Taylor. Anderson and Taylor defeated Chris Mason and Steve Raw in the final. His world ranking stayed sufficiently high to earn automatic qualification for most major PDC tournaments, and he went on to reach the semi-finals of the

PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Paddy Power World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport of darts. The championship begins in December and ends in January and has ...

in 2004 and 2005. Anderson was also the driving force behind the Bob Anderson Classic, a major darts tournament held every October. The tournament started in 2002 and ran until 2005. In 2008, Anderson took part in the BetFred League of Legends which was shown live on

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland and in Tbilisi, Georgia, broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and the Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Iris ...

, to play along with the likes of

Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "the Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player and one of the most recognisable and successful players of the 1980s. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Fed ...

Keith Deller Keith Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship. He also won the Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier t ...

, John Lowe,

Cliff Lazarenko Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height (193 cm / 6'4") and weight (over 127 kg at his peak), he is known for being a colourful character on and off ...

, and

Dave Whitcombe David Whitcombe (born 27 June 1954) is an English former professional darts player who won several major tournaments, he was twice a winner of the Winmau World Masters (1982 and 1985) and lost to Eric Bristow in two World Championship finals i ...

. Anderson went on the capture the League of Legends title in 2008, beating

in the final.

Outside darts

Bob married Sally Attwater on 8 April 2004. he chose former World Champion dart player

as his best man. Anderson has two children, Jennie and David. He lists his hobbies as

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

, and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. Anderson lives in the Somerset sea-side resort town of

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

World Championship results

BDO

*1984: 1st Round (lost to

Stefan Lord Stefan Lord (born 4 December 1954) is a Swedish former professional darts player who competed in events of the British Darts Organisation (BDO) in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and is one of the country's most successful players. Career He compe ...

0–2) *1985: 2nd Round (lost to

1–3) *1986: Semi-Finals (lost to Dave Whitcombe 4–5) *1987: Quarter-Finals (lost to

Alan Evans David Alan Evans (14 June 1949 – 12 April 1999) was a Welsh professional darts player and former World No. 1 who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. Evans was one of the early faces of television darts and had some tournament success in the 1 ...

3–4) *1988: Winner (beat John Lowe 6–4) *1989: Semi-Finals (lost to

Jocky Wilson John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012) was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning professional in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, ...

4–5) *1990: 1st Round (lost to Jann Hoffmann 2–3) *1991: Semi-Finals (lost to

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He 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 was ni ...

2–5) *1992: 2nd Round (lost to Graham Miller 2–3) *1993: Quarter-Finals (lost to

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. Nicknamed "the Bronzed Adonis", Beaton formerly formerly competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO), World Dart ...

1–4)

PDC

*1994: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 2–4) *1995: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 1–4) *1996: Group Stage (beat Gerald Verrier 3–1) & (lost to

Jamie Harvey Jamie Harvey (born 15 August 1955) is a Scottish former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. Originally nicknamed “The Tartan Terror” he later used ...

2–3) *1997: Group Stage (lost to

1–3) & (beat

Gary Mawson Gary Mawson (born May 17, 1963) is a Canadian-born American professional darts player. He currently resides in Fort Myers, Florida. Mawson played darts for the US in 2004 and the years immediately following, having previously played darts for Ca ...

3–1) *1998: Group Stage (lost to Shayne Burgess 0–3) & (beat Gerald Verrier 3–1) *1999: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4) *2000: 1st Round (lost to

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 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twice he ...

0–3) *2001: 1st Round (lost to Rod Harrington 1–3) *2002: 1st Round (lost to

3–4) *2003: 2nd Round (lost to

Colin Lloyd Colin Edward Lloyd (born 7 August 1973), nicknamed Jaws, is an English former professional darts player. He formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation events, where he was ranked world number one from April 2005 to January 2007 (except ...

3–4) *2004: Semi-Finals (lost to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. He competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments from 1992 to 2001, before switching to the Profession ...

0–6) *2005: Semi-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 2–6) *2006: 1st Round (lost to

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, West London. He was educa ...

2–3) *2007: 1st Round (lost to

Darren Webster Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an English darts player who is nicknamed Demolition Man. Career Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beating Co Stompé in the final. Originally nicknamed The Sniper, Webster reached the quar ...

1–3) *2008: 1st Round (lost to Jason Clark 2–3)

WSDT

* 2022: 1st Round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3) * 2023: 1st Round (lost to

Andy Jenkins Andrew Jenkins (born 11 March 1971) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was nicknamed "Rocky" due to his rough personality. Jenkins has reached high rankings in the PDC ...

0–3)

Performance timeline

References

External links

*
Bob Anderson's Official WebsiteTeam Unicorn biography page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Bob Living people 1947 births BDO world darts champions British Darts Organisation players English darts players People from Clevedon Professional Darts Corporation founding players Sportspeople from Winchester