Dennis Priestley

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Dennis Priestley
Personal information
Nickname	The Menace
Date of birth	16 July, 1950
Place of birth	Mexborough, England
Home town	Mexborough, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1989
Darts	13g
Organisation
BDO	1990 to 1993
PDC	founder member (1993)
Current World Ranking	3
BDO Grand Slam Events - Best Performances
World Ch'ship	Winner 1991
World Masters	Winner 1992
PDC Televised Events - Best Performances
World Ch'ship	Winner 1994
World Matchplay	Runner-up 1994, 1995, 1996
World Grand Prix	Semi-finals 2000, 2005, 2006
Premier League	Qualified 1st time 2007
Other Tournament Wins
Tournament	Years
WDC/PDC World Pairs Championship WDC UK Matchplay WDC Samson Darts Classic Gold Cup BDO British Classic World Champions Challenge Dallas Open British Matchplay Welsh Open Pacific Masters British Pentathlon Los Angeles Open British Open Canadian Open Golden Harvest North American Cup Gem City Open (Daytona) Nations Cup (England's captain) Le Skratch-Sarantos Retsinas Memorial Stan James Players Championship JR & Vauxhall 128 Plus Classic	1995 1993, 1994 1994 1991, 1992 1997 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1992 1992 1993 1993, 1994 1996 1996 2001, 2002 2005 2006 2006

Dennis Priestley (born July 16, 1950 in Mexborough, South Yorkshire) is a two-time World Darts Champion and the first player to win both BDO and WDC (now PDC) World Championship Crowns, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is nicknamed "The Menace", in relation to the Dennis The Menace cartoons, and reflects this by wearing Red and Black, and using Red and Black flights. Known for his slow style of play and tremendous mental strength, he is considered as one of the great legends in darts.

1 Early Career (BDO)
2 WDC/PDC Career
3 Other Achievements
4 Setbacks and Bouncebacks
5 Current Career
6 Outside Darts
7 World Title achievements
8 External Link

[edit] Early Career (BDO)

Priestley first caught the eye in 1989 when he reached the final of the News of the World Championship where he was beaten by the experienced Dave Whitcombe.

Priestley won the 1991 Embassy World Championship beating Eric Bristow 6-0 in the final (having defeated defending champion Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals). He won the 1992 Winmau World Masters and also picked up many BDO Open events between 1991 and 1992.

Priestley was one of the players who joined the World Darts Council (WDC) and split from the British Darts Organisation in 1993, going on to win their first-ever World Championship in 1994 see main article: PDC

[edit] WDC/PDC Career

Priestley has been a PDC World Championship runner-up four times, in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000, losing to Phil Taylor on all four occasions. Priestley has also been a three-time World Matchplay runner-up, losing to American Larry Butler in 1994, Phil Taylor in 1995 and Peter Evison in 1996.

His 1996 World Championship Final with Phil Taylor is often regarded amongst the best matches in the history of the PDC. Although Priestley hit 15 180's and averaged 102 in the match, he was edged out 4-6 by the brilliance of Taylor. Perhaps for matches such as these, Phil Taylor stated in his autobiography that Priestley is the "best player [he has] ever faced". Taylor makes a similar reference to Priestley on the biography section of his website.

He also teamed up with Eric Bristow to win the inaugural PDC World Pairs Championship in 1995.

[edit] Other Achievements

Despite living in the shadow of Taylor for much of his career, Priestley nonetheless holds some unique achievements. For one, he is the only man in the history of darts to defeat both Eric Bristow and Phil Taylor in a World Final; indeed, only Priestley, John Part, and Rod Harrington (1991 World Masters) have defeated Taylor in a World Final to date. The fact that Priestley defeated Bristow (6-0 in sets) and Taylor (6-1 in sets) so convincingly en route to his World Championships is also of note. He is also the only man to date to win both the BDO and PDC World Championships at his first attempt; Priestley won the 1991 BDO title in his first appearance in the main draw of the Lakeside event, while he won the inaugural PDC World Professional Darts Championship in 1994.

Priestley was the number-one player in the PDC world rankings between November 1994 and April 1995. In 1993, he broke the Embassy World Championship record for the highest match average (102) in his first-round tie with Jocky Wilson. This record stood until Raymond Van Barneveld averaged 103 against John Walton at the Lakeside in 2004.

In 1997 Priestley won the British Classic in Blackpool, an event notable for being the first BDO event in which PDC players were entitled to enter - as a result of the Tomlin Order - since the notorius 'split' in 1993. Priestley also took the pairs title with Phil Taylor.

[edit] Setbacks and Bouncebacks

The World Matchplay is perenially considered as Priestley's 'bogey' event, as he has never won it despite reaching the first three finals of the tournament. In the 1994 final, he held a 6-1 in legs lead over Larry Butler when the American alerted Priestley's attention to a distraction in the arena; Butler's wily intervention had a noticeable affect on Priestley and the American won 15 of the next 21 legs to seal victory.

The following year, Priestley suffered the first of five final defeats to Phil Taylor 11-16 in legs. The Matchplay appeared to be Priestley's for the taking in 1996 when hot-favourite Taylor was knocked out by Peter Evison, but Evison in turn edged Priestley 16-14 in a dramatic final. Priestley also reached the semi-finals of the event in 1999 but lost to eventual winner Rod Harrington.

Though he has won a number of non-televised ranking events over the years, Priestley has underachieved and on some occasions underperformed on the big stage; his perenial struggle to turn great performances into World titles shows this. In fact Priestley was close to quitting darts in 2004, unhappy with his form and had problems with his sight, but in his usual never-say-die attitude, Priestley returned to top form by pushing Phil Taylor to the limit in a memorable second round match at the 2005 World Matchplay at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool before eventually bowing out in defeat. Priestley managed to retain his form at the 2005 World Grand Prix in Dublin, Ireland reaching the Semi-Finals, beating Roland Scholten, Irish Qualifier Keith Rooney and Wayne Mardle along the way before going out to Colin Lloyd.

[edit] Current Career

2006 has been a successful year for Priestley, rising up the rankings to third - he remains in an excellent form reaching some quarter and semi-finals on the circuit. These performances have assured his position in the 2007 Holsten Premier League Darts, the respected darts competition in which eight of the best players from the PDC circuit compete against each other in a league format, with matches held across Great Britain at different venues.

In July 2006, Priestley fought his way to the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay where he was edged 13-16 in another classic with Phil Taylor. Wins over rising stars Adrian Lewis and James Wade booked Priestley another date with Taylor in the last-four of the World Grand Prix in Dublin; Taylor's 6-3 (in sets) didn't necessarily reflect the closeness of another epic encounter.

[edit] Outside Darts

Away from darts, Priestley is married to Jenny with 4 children and also has a grand-daughter.

During the early years of the PDC, Priestley and Taylor had an agreement where they would share prize money won at events. This agreement ran for several years until the prize money grew to a level where a player could sustain a better living.

Priestley is also highly regarded by Sid Waddell who, in the documentary "the Power and the Glory" commented that "Priestley was the only one (in Darts) who could do anything with him (Taylor)" between 1994 and 1998, while Eric Bristow endorsed the 1996 PDC World Final because "Priestley didn't drop from the 100 average he played against other players" when faced with Taylor.

In the same documentary, Waddell stated that - at the start of the WDC/PDC in 1993 - he thought that "Priestley would have a few years all to himself" on the circuit. Although Phil Taylor's relentless domination of the circuit from 1995-onwards did not allow this to be, Priestley's relative superiority over Taylor between 1991 and 1994 gives requisite justification for such a view.