Russ Bray (born 22 June 1957) is an English

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 ...

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 Wor ...

(PDC) as an ambassador. Known as "The Voice", due to his unique style of calling and his raspy voice, he was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame in 2024. Russ previously worked as a police traffic officer. Bray stepped down from being a full-time referee following the 2023-24

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 ...

final following a 28 year career.

Darts career (1996–2024)

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 town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

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

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa. Bray was a county player for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

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 and one of the most recognisable and successful players of the 1980s. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Fed ...

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 British reference book published annually, listi ...

in the process. Bray beat the day's previous best of 9' 6" which was achieved by fellow PDC official Scott Gibling. In November 2023, Bray announced that he would retire from full-time refereeing at the end of the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, but would continue to work with the PDC as an ambassador. His last televised ranking match was the 2024 world final, in which Luke Humphries defeated

Luke Littler Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number two. Nicknamed "the Nuke", Littler is the rei ...

to win his first world title. On the occasion of his retirement, Bray was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame by PDC chief executive Matt Porter.

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'' 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 parishes in England, civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 road, A142 between Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely and Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket. Its population ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

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

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

References

External links

*
Official website
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Russ Living people 1957 births Darts people People from South Ockendon Professional Darts Corporation Hall of Fame