Russ Bray debunks 'bad boy' image of Gerwyn Price: "One of the most likable men I've ever met"

Russ Bray will soon begin his last World Darts Championship as a referee. However, the 66-year-old Englishman remains active within the PDC.

Luke Humphries starts the World Championship as one of the top favourites after winning three majors recently. "Luke has gotten better and better over the course of the year. He has lost a lot of weight and is paying close attention to what he eats. But most importantly, his training has clearly improved. And the other big thing is self-confidence. He believes he can beat anyone right now, and that is exactly what is happening. He has now won three major tournaments. He is definitely the biggest favourite for the world title," Bray told Sport 1.

Bray is already looking forward to his last World Championship, where he will also officiate the final. "The World Championship is a great tournament anyway, but I just want to have a great time. I want a really great high-level final, like we saw in the Players Championship final between Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries. If you can have a top-level final like that, that would be great. That would be fantastic."

After so many years at the World Championship, Bray finds it difficult to pick out one favourite match. "There have been a lot of great matches at 'Ally Pally,' I can't name one in particular. But Peter Wright winning his first World Championship a few years ago was particularly special. Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis' tournament victories were also special. These were definitely very unique."

Bray may stop being a referee at the highest level, but he will still continue to work for the PDC. "I will fly to Asia, for example, to promote the PDC. I will be the face of the organization and also act a bit as a referee. It's about promoting darts all over the world. I'm also going to India to try to make darts bigger and better there. I've also been invited to Chile in South America."

Anderson-Taylor

There is however, one World Championship moment that Bray will always remember. "There were some funny situations where players tripped over the oche and fell over. Those are funny situations. There were a lot of incidents like that. But a curious thing happened with Gary Anderson. He threw two treble 20s and the third dart hit the barrel of the other. All three darts fell to the ground, so it was a no score in a World Championship final against Phil Taylor, so it wasn't really funny for him at the time. In retrospect, it's kind of funny because it's something so unusual."

Bray is good friends with several people on the PDC circuit, yet one person stands out. "My best friend is Keith Deller, the 1983 world champion, and Phil Taylor is also a good friend of mine. Eric Bristow was also a good friend of mine who unfortunately passed away. I'm actually good friends with all of them because we always travel together. So when we travel to the World Series and many players have their girlfriends, wives and children with them, you get to know the family very well. In our free time, when we are not playing darts, we all sit together to chat or have a drink and dinner together. So I'm pretty much good friends with everybody."

'Bad boy' Price

As an insider, Bray is also well suited to judge "bad boy" Gerwyn Price. "Gerwyn is not a bad boy at all. He's far from it. In fact, he's one of the most likable men I've ever met. Seriously, he walks off the stage and is an absolute gentleman."