BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Alan Norris: former Lakeside finalist and multiple time Players Championship winner

In this column, we regularly go back in time with a particular darter. Today we do so with Englishman Alan Norris.

Alan Norris was born on February 21, 1972 in Yeovil. Due to his work, he spent a lot of time in Sweden in the early 2000s and also played for that country for a while at the beginning of his darts career. In 2007, he won the National Championship in Sweden by beating Daniel Larsson in the final. He made his TV debut a year later at the Welsh Open, a tournament broadcast live on British channel Setanta Sports. After a win early in the tournament against Martin Adams, he reached the semifinals, where he eventually lost to Gary Anderson. That same year he also reached the quarterfinals in the Norway Open, Denmark Open and the Zuiderduin Masters, among others.

Debut at BDO World Championship

These strong performances allowed him to make his debut at the BDO World Championship in early 2009. At the iconic Lakeside Country Club, he immediately pulled off a win in the first round by sending thirteenth seed Steve West home 3-0. In the second round, Scott Waites proved too strong however, 4-0.

Norris, nicknamed "Chuck" referring to his namesake and actor Chuck Norris, was back at the BDO World Championship a year later. This time, however, things immediately went wrong in the opening round after a 3-2 defeat to Norwegian Robert Wagner. Later that year, he did win his first major international title with the French Open (victory in the final against Kim Huybrechts).

In 2011 Norris successfully defended his title at the French Open and he also won the Luxembourg Open. At the beginning of 2012 he attended the BDO World Championship for the fourth consecutive year and this time he got past the second round for the first time. After wins against Benito van de Pas and Dean Winstanley, he was beaten 5-1 in the quarterfinals by the later world champion Christian Kist. Notably, in that match he missed a dart for a nine-darter, it would have been only the second nine-darter ever at the BDO World Championship. Later that year Norris reached the final of a BDO major for the first time, eventually losing to Stephen Bunting in the final of the Zuiderduin Masters.

World Championship final

After a somewhat lackluster 2013, Norris headed to the Lakeside with necessary doubts. Moreover, as an unseeded player, he was by no means given a gift in the first round with defending champion Waites. Norris, helped by an average of over 93 and 50% on his doubles, pulled off the win though and triumphed 3-0. After wins against Glen Durrant and James Wilson, he faced Jan Dekker in the semifinals. In what was described as perhaps the best match of the tournament, Norris won 6-5. In the final, however, Bunting proved too strong 7-4.

Driven by his World Cup final, Norris won several international titles later that year and also got to make his debut at the Grand Slam of Darts. Norris survived his group there, but then had to lose 10-5 to Kim Huybrechts at the last 16.

Transfer to PDC

After losing to Darryl Fitton in the second round of the BDO World Championship in 2015, Norris decided it was time to move to the PDC. On the first day of Q-School, he immediately captured his Tour Card. That same year, he won his first PDC ranking title by defeating Kim Huybrechts in the 18th Players Championship of the year in the final.

His strong performance in his debut year with the PDC allowed him to compete at the 2016 World Darts Championship. In the opening round there, he pulled off a major shock by beating sixth-seeded Robert Thornton 3-0. Norris also defeated Joe Murnan and Mark Webster to reach the quarterfinals on his debut. There he lost dramatically 5-4 to Jelle Klaasen. Norris had everything in his own hands, but lost the last five legs of the match. Later that year he caused a sensation at the Players Championship Finals by hitting the first nine darter in the history of that tournament.

In 2017, he defeated that same Klaasen in the final of the German Darts Championship. That year, he also won his two Players Championship by beating Peter Jacques 6-1 in the final. Norris, meanwhile, had worked his way up to the world's top 16 and also reached the semifinals of the UK Open and the quarterfinals of the World Matchplay in 2017.

Afterwards, however, things slowed down, which was quite understandable. Norris' wife was battling cancer and in early 2019 he came out with the terrible news that his wife had lost this courageous battle. Norris withdrew from the world of darts for a while and lost his Tour Card in 2020. Since then, including early this year, he did make a few attempts to regain that Tour Card, but without success for now.