Tony Brown (darts player)
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Tony Brown (born April 1, 1945) is a former English professional darts player. He reached the World Professional Darts Championships semi-finals four-time, losing twice to Eric Bristow and twice to John Lowe.
He appeared in the first-ever World Championship in 1978 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 2nd round defeat in the 1982 Championships, Brown reached the semi-final again in 1983 - losing to Eric 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 also won the WDF Europe Cup Singles event in 1980. Brown reached the final of the prestigious Winmau World Masters in 1978, losing out to Geordie, Ronnie Davies- Ronnie was from Byker in Newcastle- didnt even sound slightly Welsh
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 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 player's association PDPA (Professional Dart Players Association) along with John Lowe, Cliff 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 1984), the PDPA would be instrumental in the formation of the World Darts Council (now Professional Darts Corporation) and would split the game into two organisations.