Clayton showcases 'The Ferret Lounge' at local rugby club: "You can't beat that"
PDCThursday, 17 March 2022 at 12:30
Jonny Clayton is now one of the best darts players in the world but his first love is rugby and in the small village of Pontyberem where he is initially from, he still goes down to watch the local team when he's at home.
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"Obviously with darts being so busy, I don't get much of a chance but I came down last week and I enjoyed it. I was thinking to myself, I'm sure I could still do this but the reality is no I couldn't tie my laces so those days are long gone," he said on The Darts Show.
A team he used to play for and one that spawned 'The Ferret' nickname for him and also a club that celebrates his success with 'The Ferret Lounge' spawned in his honour.
"The nickname came a big thing of rugby, I was 9 stone soaking wet, it was one of those nicknames that kind of stuck. But around the corner is the Ferret Lounge so you can't beat that. It's my club, the Jonny Clayton club. I feel quite important walking into this part of the rugby club.
"A few photos of me and trophies but probably this is the favourite so far with the Premier League and hopefully there will be one more with the World Championship pretty soon."
It has been a whirlwind story for the 47-year-old who began his sporting life in rugby like his World Cup teammate, Gerwyn Price before finding out he had a talent for tungsten.
"Rugby was everything to me. Darts was a Thursday night thing, I got to play super league, county and I got my first Welsh cap and as I got better, my attitude towards darts became a bit more serious. Let's give it a go.
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"I thought I'm going to give Q-School a go and I got through on my last day and that's where the story began. Who would have thought I could have been World Number Eight."
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- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
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