Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952
) 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. 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 the stage.
[Hartley, Alan J. (2004) ''Darts for Everyone'', p. 71]
Early life
Lazarenko was born in
Liss, Hampshire, growing up in
Greatham, where his parents ran a garage.
[Gripton, Peter (2008) ''Greatham Memories'', Las Atalayas Publishing, , p. 72] He honed his darts skills in his local pub, The Queen.
He later moved to
Wellingborough
Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene.
Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...
. Before becoming a professional darts player in 1975, he worked as a builders labourer.
Darts career
Lazarenko first appeared in a televised match on the show ''
Indoor League'' in the 1970s.
He went on to win several singles and pairs titles.
He won the British Open in 1980, winning it again later in the decade, and reached the semi-finals of the
BDO World Darts Championship four times.
In
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
, he lost out to
Bobby George;
the
next year he gained revenge on George by beating him in the quarter-finals, eventually losing to world champion
Eric Bristow.
In
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
, he reached the semi-finals again, this time without losing a single set en route, winning the opening round against
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
's
Paul Lim (2–0),
the second round against the Swede
Stefan Lord (3–0),
and the quarter-finals against
Northern Irish
The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...
player
Fred McMullan (4–0),
but was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals by fellow Englishman
John Lowe 5–3.
He reached the semis again in
1990, but once again fell short of the final, losing 5–0 to eventual winner
Phil Taylor.
Big Cliff made a habit of winning the Dartsathlon (an event made up of having 15 darts at various doubles, trebles, Bullseyes, 25s, and 501 legs) in the early–mid 80s, winning the event four times in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986.
He also won the Autumn Gold Masters in 1984 and 1986, the British Matchplay in 1979,
British Gold Cup in 1984, Jersey Open in 1982 and 1983, and the Danish Open in 1981 and 1983. He came to the fore, however, with his 1977 win in the Marlboro Masters.
Lazarenko was one of the sixteen players who defected from the BDO to form the PDC. Although he managed to maintain his popularity with the fans, he never managed to repeat his performances in the
PDC World Darts Championship, with several first-round exits to his name, and only managing a quarter-final at best in
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
.
In other PDC tournaments, however, Lazarenko showed great promise: he reached the semi-finals of the
1995 World Matchplay, beating
Dennis Smith,
Shayne Burgess, and
Nigel Justice along the way, before losing to
Dennis Priestley.
He was also a Matchplay quarter-finalist in
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
.
In the mid-2000s, Lazarenko suffered from ill health, losing a lot of weight, and ceased competing in darts tournaments.
However, in the
2007 UK Open Darts at the
Reebok Stadium in
Bolton
Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...
, Lazarenko made a return to the big stage, and won two matches in one night, en route to the second round. He then won another game the next night, before falling in the third round.
In 2008 it was announced that Lazarenko would compete in the BetFred League of Legends along with players including Bristow, Lowe, George, and
Bob Anderson. Lazarenko reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing to
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 ...
.
In popular culture
In the 1981 film ''
An American Werewolf in London
''An American Werewolf in London'' is a 1981 comedy horror film written and directed by John Landis. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, the film stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne and ...
'', a darts match between
Rab Smith and Lazarenko is featured on TV in the flat of the character played by
Jenny Agutter.
World Championship performances
BDO
* 1978: First round (lost to Hillyard Rossiter)
* 1979: First round (lost to
Terry O'Dea)
* 1980: Semi-final (lost to
Bobby George)
* 1981: Third place (beat
Tony Brown, lost to
Eric Bristow in semi-finals)
* 1982: Second round (lost to
Nicky Virachkul)
* 1983: Quarter-final (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, ...
)
* 1984: First round (lost to
Ceri Morgan)
* 1985: Semi-final (lost to
John Lowe)
* 1986: First round (lost to
Dave Lee)
* 1987: Quarter-final (lost to John Lowe)
* 1988: Second round (lost to Paul Reynolds)
* 1989: First round (lost to
Wayne Weening)
* 1990: Semi-final (lost to
Phil Taylor)
* 1991: Second round (lost to
Dave Whitcombe)
PDC
* 1994: Group stage (lost both group games to
Alan Warriner and
Richie Gardner)
* 1995: Group stage (beat
Graeme Stoddart
Graeme Stoddart (born 30 July 1959) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His nickname was Shark.
Career
Stoddart represented Holland in the 1984 European Cup. He came to pro ...
but lost to
Peter Evison)
* 1996: Group stage (lost both group games to
Shayne Burgess and Phil Taylor)
* 1997: Group stage (lost both group games to Peter Evison and Steve Raw)
* 1999: Quarter-final (lost to Shayne Burgess)
* 2000: First round (lost to
Dennis Smith)
* 2001: Second round (lost to
Roland Scholten)
* 2002: First round (lost to Roland Scholten)
* 2003: First round (lost to
John Part)
* 2004: Second round (lost to
Steve Maish)
Career finals
BDO major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Performance timeline
References
External links
Jocky Wilson vs Cliff Lazarenko 1983 World Darts Championship QF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarenko, Cliff
1952 births
Living people
British people of Russian descent
British people of Ukrainian descent
English darts players
People from Liss
Professional Darts Corporation founding players