Iconic Darts referee Russ Bray has named his top three players of all timeahead of this year’s World Championship.
Bray, known for his famous gravelly tone, first became a caller for the PDC in 1996 and has since become known as “the Voice” of darts.
Ahead of last year’s World Championship, Bray announced his intention to step away from his full-time refereeing career and become an ambassador for the PDC.
The 66-year-old is still seen on stage at World Series events but will not be refereeing the action this year at Alexandra Palace.
Throughout his storied career, Bray has worked alongside several of the game’s most iconic names, but named three who stood out in particular.
‘Eric Bristow for what he did in the eighties,’ Bray told Sky Sports’ Love The Darts podcast.
‘He was untouchable at that time, as such. A wonderful character and was a very close friend of mine.
‘Phil Taylor, obviously, has to be on the list for what he’s done for the game and how he’s brought the game up and where he got it to. Incredible.
‘And the other one would probably be Michael van Gerwen,’ Bray ended. ‘Because what he did was he followed Taylor.
‘Once Phil had sorta finished, MVG was untouchable for two or three years, he was fantastic. Again, he brought the game up to that next level.’
During his era of dominance in the late seventies and eighties, Bristow, who passed away in 2018 aged 60, won five WDF World Championships and five World Masters.
Taylor, meanwhile, has long been seen as the sport’s best-ever player having won 85 major titles during his storied career, including 16 World Champions.
‘The Power’ remained world number one for a staggering 13-year period and was also the first person to hit two nine-dart finishes in the same match.
As the Englishman began to slow down in his latter years, it was Van Gerwen who assumed the mantle of the world’s best player having burst through as a fresh-faced teenager in the mid-2000s.
Still ranked within the world’s top three, the Dutchman is a three-time World Champion and two-time runner-up – most recently in 2023 in an epic contest with Michael Smith.
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