In Memory of Kyle Anderson: 1987-2021

In a period of time where we've become sickeningly familiar with premature loss, it almost felt like there were no more shocks. On Tuesday morning, the darts world was shown that this wasn't the case at all.

The death of Kyle Anderson at the age of 33 is a sucker punch. Immediately after the news broke, the tributes poured in. They all told of the same thing; a caustically funny yet caring and loveable man, who was a pleasure to be around.

I met Anderson once, at a university darts event where he'd kindly agreed to play some matches against participants on the stage and hand out the trophy. Instead of plodding through the task, he was open and engaging, willing to stand and play or just sit and chat with anyone (and, true to form, played everyone off the board.)

Through friends and acquaintances who knew him better came the same stories. Take the opportunity to read Jack Garwood's touching tribute to his former housemate, and see the tweets from his darting colleagues - there was only one Kyle Anderson, remembered the same way by everyone.

As Nathan Aspinall put it so well: "A fantastic dart player and an even nicer bloke."

It's an easy fact to lose among the well-earned tributes for Anderson as a person, but the Australian was also an incredibly talented thrower.

Dominating the Australian scene gave him a couple of shots at the PDC World Championship early in his career. The first time, he gave Steve Beaton a scare; the second, he threw a historic nine-darter on the Alexandra Palace stage - just the seventh in the history of the tournament.

That paved the way for Anderson to join the Pro Tour, via a first-day victory at Q-School. It didn't take long for him to reach the Order of Merit top 64, and qualify for the World Matchplay. He qualified for the Matchplay four times, also appearing at the Grand Prix twice and reaching the UK Open quarter-finals in 2016. At his peak, Anderson resided comfortably in the world's top 32.

It was 2017 where he truly began to catch the eye; first of all came a first Pro Tour title at Players Championship 17. Not long later came an emotional first televised title, back down under at the Auckland Darts Masters. Anderson then powered into the European Championship semi-finals, producing a second televised nine-darter in an all-time classic with Michael van Gerwen that went down to the wire.

Anderson's journey had its bumps, certainly; homesickness and illness played their part, as did visa issues that scuppered the back end of a promising 2016 campaign. When he chose to relinquish his Tour Card at the start of the year, there was a sense of 'what might have been' - though in typical style, he handed back his Tour Card in the hopes that a new star would be able to use it to achieve their dreams.

His abundance of talent wasn't in doubt for even a moment. The two-nine darters tell their own tale. There's also the unofficial world record average of 134.84, posted in 2015, and snippets of excellence such as a bull-bull-bull 150 checkout. At his peak, the Australian's scoring was hard to match.

But while the loss of a great darts player is one thing, losing Anderson himself is so much more. The wider darting world finds itself bereft of a great ambassador for the Australian game. Anderson - nicknamed 'The Original' was also a pioneer for Aboriginal Australians.

What hurts most is that the young family who Anderson ended his darting career to look after finds itself without a great father. Whether or not he may have one day returned to the PDC circuit pales in comparison.

Anderson leaves us with plenty of wonderful memories, however - from friends and loved ones who knew him well to darts fans who recall that momentous nine-dart leg at a raucous Alexandra Palace, Kyle Anderson made his mark on all who knew him.

He'll be greatly missed.