Stephen Maish (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional darts player who competed in

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) events. He used the nickname Mr Magic for his matches.

Career

Maish made his televised debut at the 2003

UK Open The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has an unseeded open dr ...

beating Vic Hubbard but lost 5–0 to former World Champion

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 ...

. He then played in his first

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, beating former

World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...

semi-finalist Tony Payne of the United States in the first round and then beat four-time World semi-finalist

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 ...

in the second round before losing in the third round to Wayne Mardle. He followed this with victory in the UK Open Scottish Regional and began his 2004 UK Open campaign in the third round, but was drawn against Phil Taylor who eventually beat him 8–3. In 2005, he reached the final of the Irish Masters, losing to

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number nine; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2010. ...

. He lost in the 2005 UK Open to Andy Hayfield and failed to qualify for the Las Vegas Desert Classic and World Grand Prix. He did however play in the 2006 PDC World Darts Championship, but lost in the first round to Jason Clark. He made then made two finals, the first being the UK Open North West Regional losing to

Alan Tabern Alan Tabern (born 29 September 1966) is an English darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is nicknamed "The Saint". Darts career A left-hander, Tabern made his PDC World Championship debut in 2006 with ...

. The second was the Antwerp Open which he lost to defending champion

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached a peak ranking of world number three in the darts world ranki ...

. He then made the fourth round of the 2006 UK Open, starting in the third round stage with a win over

Colin Osborne Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won two ...

and eventually losing 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 ...

. Maish then got his own back on 'Jaws' in the 2006 World Matchplay in which Lloyd entered as the defending champion. Maish beat him 10–6 in the first round. He ended up losing in the next round to Chris Mason. Maish then had a poor run of form leading up the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship, and the poor form continued, losing in the first round to South African Wynand Havenga. This was followed with a first round exit from the inaugural US Open, losing to Canadian Dan Olson. He did however qualify for the Las Vegas Desert Classic for the first time, losing in the first round to defending champion

John Part John Part (born 29 June 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator, who competes in World Seniors events. Nicknamed "Darth Maple", he is a three-time World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Champions ...

. Maish qualified for the

2008 PDC World Darts Championship The 2008 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 15th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place between 17 December 2007 and 1 January ...

, he defeated former World Champion

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 ...

but lost in the second round to

Tony Eccles Tony Eccles (born 8 January 1970) is an English former professional darts player and convicted sex offender. Nicknamed The Viper, he played in both the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He reached t ...

. Maish suffered a first round exit in the

2009 PDC World Darts Championship The 2009 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 16th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 1 ...

, losing 3–0 to

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957) is an English former professional darts player. He is nicknamed "The Heat" and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he has as yet failed to c ...

VAT fraud trial

On 5 December 2017, Maish was jailed for two years for conspiring to cheat the public revenue. He and his five other conspirators fraudulently claimed £2.4 million in VAT repayments.

World Championship results

PDC

*2004: 3rd Round (lost to Wayne Mardle 2–4) *2006: 1st Round (lost to Jason Clark 2–3) *2007: 1st Round (lost to Wynand Havenga 2–3) *2008: 2nd Round (lost to

3–4) *2009: 1st Round (lost to

0–3) *2010: 1st Round (lost to

Co Stompé Jacobus Wilhelmus "Co" Stompé (born 10 September 1962) is a Dutch former professional darts player. He was nicknamed The Matchstick because of his almost bald head and very thin appearance. He was also one of very few darts professionals, who pl ...

1–3) *2011: 1st Round (lost to Mark Webster 0–3)

References

External links

Official Website

Profile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maish, Steve 1963 births English darts players Living people Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders English fraudsters PDC ranking title winners British sportspeople convicted of crimes