Tony Eccles (born 8 January 1970) is an English former 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 and convicted sex offender. Nicknamed The Viper, he played in both the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and ...

(BDO) and 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). He reached the quarter-finals of the

BDO World Darts Championship The BDO World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and held annually from 1978 to 2020. The championship was first held at the Heart of the Midlands Nightclub in the Englis ...

twice and is a former winner of the Dutch Open, British Open and British Pentathlon.

Career

BDO career

He made his debut in the World Championship in 2002 but only won one match in his first five visits to Lakeside. Having lost to Wayne Jones (2002), Erik Clarys (2003) and John Walton (2004) he notched his first ever win at the World Championship against

Tony David Tony David (born 11 September 1967) is an Australian former professional darts player, who played under the nickname The Deadly Boomerang. He is the only Australian player to have been a senior singles world darts champion, having won the 200 ...

in 2005, before falling to Vincent van der Voort in the second round. A first round loss again followed to

Per Laursen Per Laursen (born 16 April 1966) is a Danish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. BDO career Laursen reached the final of the WDF World Cup darts, WDF Wo ...

in 2006, but his best run at the event came in 2007 when he progressed to the quarter finals before losing 4–5 to Mervyn King. Tony led King 3–0 but found himself 4–3 down before taking the match into the deciding set, which he lost. He has had some success in some

Open events away from the television cameras. In 2005, he won the Dutch Open, England Open and Sweden Open and in 2006 took the Norway Open and successfully defended his Sweden Open title. He has maintained a high world ranking as a result of these performances, which helped him to be seeded five for the World Championship in 2006 and four in 2007. In April 2007, he won the Norway Open for the second successive year.

PDC career

On the eve of the

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 ...

in June 2007, Eccles announced that he would be switching to compete on the PDC circuit. At the time of his switch he was ranked number 2 in the WDF and number 4 in the BDO world rankings and began his PDC career placed 151st in their Order of Merit. He made his debut to the World Championship in 2008, losing to

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player who formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Jackpot", he is a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2011 and 2012. ...

4–3 in the third round having led 2–0 and missing darts to lead 3–0. In the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, Eccles, the number 30 seed, faced Dutchman Remco van Eijden. Eccles took a 2–0 lead before van Eijden, who played in the

twelve months previously, came back to level at two sets all before Eccles eventually took the match with a 3–2 win to progress to the second round. He was then beaten by third seed

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. ...

. Eccles was seeded 31 for the 2010 PDC World Championship but lost 3–1 in the first round to

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in a "double-to-start" event (where a pla ...

BDO return

After an injury and average performances on the floor, Eccles returned to the BDO circuit in 2012. Eccles qualified for the 2013 BDO World Championship, winning the first five legs of his first round match against Geert De Vos and missing three darts to win the second set before eventually losing 3–2. The following year, Eccles was drawn against fifth seed

Darryl Fitton Darryl Fitton (born 5 May 1962) is a former English professional darts player. He was nicknamed The Dazzler and worked as an undertaker before embarking on his darts career. Fitton won the 2009 Finder Masters and the 2016 BDO World Trophy. ...

in the first round and won 3–1. He subsequently beat Wesley Harms 4–3 after surviving a match dart in the sixth set and hitting back-to-back finishes of 80 and 122 to stay in the match before going on to win. Eccles was defeated 5–2 against Robbie Green in the quarter-finals. He announced his retirement from playing professional darts after the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship.

Child rape trial

On 24 June 2014, Eccles was convicted at Teesside Crown Court of five counts of rape and five counts of indecent assault on a schoolgirl. On 26 June, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was released from prison on license, on 1 July 2022, after eight years.

World Championship performances

BDO

* 2002: 1st round (lost to Wayne Jones 2–3) * 2003: 1st round (lost to Eric Clarys 1–3) * 2004: 1st round (lost to John Walton 2–3) * 2005: 2nd round (lost to Vincent van der Voort 1–3) * 2006: 1st round (lost to

2–3) * 2007: Quarter-final (lost to Mervyn King 4–5) * 2013: 1st round (lost to Geert De Vos 2–3) * 2014: Quarter-final (lost to Robbie Green 2–5)

PDC

* 2008: 3rd round (lost to

3–4) * 2009: 2nd round (lost to

2–4) * 2010: 1st round (lost to

1–3) * 2011: 1st round (lost to

0–3)

Performance timeline

BDO

PDC

References

External links

Official websiteProfile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, Tony 1970 births British Darts Organisation players English people convicted of indecent assault English darts players English people convicted of rape Living people Sportspeople from Hartlepool Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales