Stephen Maish (born 22 November 1963 in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

) is a retired English 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 ...

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

Career

Maish made his televised debut at the 2003

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of see ...

beating

Vic Hubbard Victor Hubbard (born 18 November 1952) is an English former professional darts player who competed members in the 1980s. Career Hubbard qualified for the 1986 World Professional Darts Championship, beating Tony Payne in the first round befo ...

but lost 5–0 to former World Champion

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

. He then played in his first

PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Cazoo World Darts Championship, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), is a World Professional Darts Championship held annually in the sport of darts. The P ...

in 2004, beating former World Masters semi-finalist Tony Payne of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

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 the stage ...

in the second round before losing in the third round to

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil T ...

. 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 Phil Taylor may refer to: * Phil Taylor (musician) (1954–2015), English drummer, best known as "Philthy Animal" Taylor * Phil Taylor (darts player) (born 1960), English darts player * Phil Taylor (American football) (born 1988), American footbal ...

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, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

. He lost in the 2005 UK Open to Andy Hayfield and failed to qualify for the

Las Vegas Desert Classic The Las Vegas Desert Classic was a darts tournament, organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and was held each year in July from 2002 until 2009. Its original venue was the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada from 2002 to ...

and World Grand Prix. He did however play in the

2006 PDC World Darts Championship The 2006 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 13th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) since it separated from the British Darts Organisation (BDO). It was held from 19 December 2005 to 2 January 2 ...

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

. 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 number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nine ...

. 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 tw ...

and eventually losing to

Colin Lloyd Colin Edward Lloyd (born 7 August 1973), nicknamed Jaws, is an English retired professional darts player. He is a former world number one ranked player and has won two major television titles in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – the ...

. 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 The 2007 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 14th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The tournament took place between 18 December 2006 – 1 Janua ...

, and the poor form continued, losing in the first round to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

Wynand Havenga Wynand Havenga (born 6 September 1965) is a South African former professional darts player. Career He made his television debut at the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship as a qualifier, having beaten almost 100 players to win the South African M ...

. This was followed with a first round exit from the inaugural US Open, losing to

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, ...

. 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 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 ...

but lost in the second round to

Tony Eccles Tony Eccles (born 8 January 1970) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Viper, he played in both the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He reached the quarter-finals of the BD ...

. 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 19 D ...

, losing 3–0 to

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957 in Enfield) is an English retired professional darts player. He is nicknamed ''The Heat'' and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he ...

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

2–4) *2006: 1st Round (lost to Jason Clark 2–3) *2007: 1st Round (lost to

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, making him look like a matchstick. He was also one of ...

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