Price’s former rugby league coach on World Championship victory: “That's unbelievable and what a great story it is for him”
PDCThursday, 07 January 2021 at 09:01
Gerwyn Price claimed the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship this past weekend as he completed the feat of going from professional rugby player to going to the peak of darts.
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Dave Clark, who at one time coached Price for South Wales Scorpions back in 2013 didn’t know about Price’s rise and so was shocked to see the former rugby player reach the top in darts.
"I got a text message off someone who lives locally to me saying 'do you remember this player?'," Clark told Sky Sports.
"I said 'Yeah, I do - why?' and he said 'Oh, he's in the final tomorrow of the World Darts Championship'. I said, 'You're joking!'.
"Then someone got in touch and said he'd won it and I was like 'Oh my God!'."
He also discussed what Price was like and how compared to his Oche persona he was quiet as well as comparing his career path from rugby to darts.
"He wasn't really a boisterous person at training, he was quiet, just got on with his job and was really professional in what he did," Clark added.
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"He played through the middle, so his mentality was quite tough, and he was strong to handle the contact and physicality of the game. He was a great kid, pleasant and a really good professional.
"Someone was telling me about him playing darts who'd watched him a few times and said he liked a bit of banter and likes to wind up the other players - how funny is that?"
"He's taken a good career path and a positive one," Clark said. "World Darts Champion in seven years? That's unbelievable and what a great story it is for him.
"To go from rugby union to rugby league then back to rugby union, then go to something like darts, it's not like a team sport.
"It's quite singular in that you're your own responsibility, your focus is more individual and if you make a mistake it's more on yourself rather than collectively as a team.
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"He's gone in a totally different direction from a team sport, and it just shows what you can do when you focus and concentrate. Look what's he's done for himself - it's fantastic."
Samuel GillChief Content Officer
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
In his current role, Samuel works closely with editors and writers to ensure content meets clear journalistic standards, with a focus on source verification, editorial consistency, and timely updates when new, confirmed information becomes available.
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- 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
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
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- It's great to see Mark Webster looking well,he's a top ladrick6715-08-2026
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