Richard Gardner 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 ...

player who had some success during the 1980s, and was one of the 16 top players who formed a breakaway organisation during an acrimonious split in the game during 1992–94.

Career

Gardner showed some promise during early days of televised darts - although the only title he won was the Belgium Open in 1984, which was a non-televised event. He reached the last 16 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 ...

in 1985 and then qualified for the

World Professional Darts Championship The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split ...

for the first time in 1986 where he lost in the first round to

Terry O'Dea Terence "Terry" O'Dea (3 May 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Australian professional darts player who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. Darts career O'Dea rejoined of the BDO in March 1978. O'Dea played in ten successive BDO World Darts Champions ...

. It was the first year the tournament was staged at the Lakeside Country Club. He failed to progress beyond the second round in his visits to Lakeside, but did come up against some legends of the game including

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 f ...

. He managed to reach the quarter finals of the World Masters in 1990 - but by this time, that tournament was no longer televised. Only the World Championship remained on the screens during that era, which was one of the reasons that many top players became unhappy with their lack of television exposure. Gardner was amongst the group of 16 players who "defected" from 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 ...

between 1992 and 1994 as one of the founder members of the

World Darts Council 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 ...

(now the Professional Darts Corporation - PDC), and he received more television exposure between 1994 and 1999 at their World Championship, but never managed to progress beyond the group stages. He also competed in the WDC/PDC's World Matchplay tournament in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998, but never won a single match. After the 1999 World Championship, he faded from the scene and no longer competes on the darts circuit; although he did compete at a couple of PDC Open events in Eastbourne in 2005 and 2006 but never progressed beyond the very early rounds.

World Championship performances

BDO

* 1986 1st round (lost to

1-3) * 1987 2nd round (lost to

0-3) * 1988 2nd round (lost to

0-3) * 1991 1st round (lost to

2-3)

PDC

* 1994 Last 24 group (lost to

Alan Warriner Alan Warriner-Little (born Warriner; 24 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Iceman, he is a former World Grand Prix champion and a former runner-up at the World Professional Darts Championship. Darts ca ...

1–3), (beat

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 the stage ...

3–1) * 1995 Last 24 group (lost to Bob Anderson 1–3), beat Jerry Umberger 3–1) * 1996 Last 24 group (lost to

2–3) &

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 ...

0–3) * 1997 Last 24 group (lost to Steve Brown 2–3) &

1–3) * 1999 1st round (lost to

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

0–3)

Performance timeline

Television appearances

''Bullseye''

In 1988, Gardner appeared on '' Bullseye'' scoring an impressive 325 in the Bronze Bully charity round. The £650 raised was donated to the body scanner appeal at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham. He also won the MFI World Pairs with Jocky Wilson in 1988.

References

External links

Profile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Ritchie English darts players Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Professional Darts Corporation founding players British Darts Organisation players