Anthony Brown (1 April 1945 – 22 September 2022) was an English 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. He came close to winning the world championship on a number of occasions, reaching 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 ...

s semi-finals four times, losing twice to Eric Bristow and twice to John Lowe.

Career

Brown appeared in the first-ever World Championship in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

as the number 8 seed, but surprisingly lost to Australian namesake Tim Brown. Brown then went on to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship for three successive years - 1979, 1980 and 1981. After a surprise second-round defeat in the 1982 Championships, Brown reached the semi-final again in 1983, losing to Bristow. He also enjoyed success in other major tournaments, winning the televised British Open in 1979 and Yorkshire Television's Indoor League darts competition in 1977. He won the first two Darts World KO Cup tournaments held in Oldham – these were subsequently sponsored by Dry Blackthorn Cider from 1983 to 1989. He defeated Nicky Virachkul in the 1980 final. He also won the WDF Europe Cup Singles event in 1980. Brown reached the final of the prestigious

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is a darts tournament, initially organised by the British Darts Organisation from 1974 and later by the World Darts Federation. It is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments. The tournament w ...

in 1978, losing out to Welshman Ronnie Davies. Brown enjoyed team success with England – winning the WDF World Cup team event in 1979 and 1981 and the WDF World Cup pairs with

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 1981. He also teamed up with Lowe and Bristow to enjoy Nations Cup triples success for England in 1979 and 1980. Brown was one of the players who helped form the players' association PDPA (Professional Dart Players Association) along with Lowe, Lazarenko and Dave Whitcombe. The association was set up with the intention of promoting more televised tournaments. Although Brown was not part of the darts scene in the 1990s (his last World Championship appearance was at the 1984 BDO World Darts Championship), the PDPA would be instrumental in the formation of the World Darts Council (now

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 ...

) and would split the game into two organisations. Brown moved back to his home town of Dover, and was back playing in the local league, the Dover Invitation Darts Leagu

World Championship results

BDO

: First round (lost to Tim Brown (darts player), Tim Brown 3–6) (legs) *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

: Semi-final (lost to John Lowe 2–3); Third place: (beat Alan Evans 2–1) (sets) *

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 ...

: Semi-final (lost to Eric Bristow 3–4); Third place: (beat

2–0) *

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

: Semi-final (lost to John Lowe 1–4); Fourth place: (lost to

1–2) *

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

: Second round (lost to Dave Miller 0–2) *

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

: Semi-final (lost to Eric Bristow 1–5); Fourth place: (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, ...

0–2) *

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

: First round (lost to John Lowe 0–2)

Career Finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

References

External links

Profile and stats on Darts DatabaseTONY BROWN – 1945-2022 – A TRIBUTE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Tony 1945 births 2022 deaths English darts players Sportspeople from Dover, Kent British Darts Organisation players