Location: Fareham, Hampshire, England
Summary: A personal story about meeting World Darts Champion Les Wallace twice, including the night I unexpectedly beat him at pool in front of a packed club.
About Les Wallace.
Les won the 1997 final against Welshman Marshall James, having already knocked out Bob Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Paul Williams and Mervyn King on his way to the title.
At the time, Les lived near Southampton, but he often showed his pride in his Scottish roots by wearing a Scotland rugby shirt, or occasionally a tartan kilt, during matches. Knowing this, and for a bit of fun, I turned up wearing my Welsh rugby shirt. As luck would have it, he arrived in his Scotland shirt, so we looked like we were about to play in the Five Nations rather than watch a darts exhibition.
Working Mens Club.
Not long after lifting the trophy, he appeared at the Hill Park Memorial Working Men’s Club in Hampshire, where I was a member.
Les spent the evening giving a darts demonstration, showing trick shots and playing against members of the club’s dart teams. During a break, he walked past me at the bar and spotted my Wales rugby shirt. On his way back, I stopped him to tell him how much I enjoyed watching him play. He thanked me and carried on walking until I called after him, “You are a great dart player, it is a shame you know nothing about rugby though.”
He stopped, turned around and came straight back to challenge me to a game.
I explained that I used to be a decent dart player myself and had even been invited to trial for the Hampshire county team in 1990. Unfortunately, a serious car accident the week before left me blind in one eye, and I never played well enough again to continue. I told him I would happily give him a game of pool instead.
Without hesitation, he extended his break and challenged me to play for a pint. The table was cleared, the cues were chalked, and suddenly the whole club was watching me take on the reigning World Darts Champion at pool.
Les won the toss and broke, sinking several balls straight away. As he walked past me, he leaned in and said that dart players often played pool before and after big tournaments to unwind, and that he was the dart players’ pool champion.
I did not tell him that I was the club pool captain.
We traded pots for a while, but eventually I cleared the table and doubled the black to win. Les was gracious, congratulated me warmly, and bought the beer he owed me. My mate Derek then danced around the table announcing to everyone that the World Champion had just lost to a bloke with one eye.
Les took it in good humour. I cannot remember how he got on in the rest of his darts matches that night, but I have never forgotten beating him at pool.
Meeting Les again
Years later, the Hampshire darts team began playing their home matches at the Hill Park Memorial Working Men’s Club, and Les came along to support them. I was standing at the bar watching the darts when he came over and started chatting as if we had known each other for years.
We talked about Hampshire darts, and I asked whether he still played. He said he only played in his local pub these days but still enjoyed watching the county team now and then. Then, without any prompting from me, he said he remembered our pool match and once again bought me a beer for beating him all those years earlier.
A gentleman & a champion
Les Wallace was a brilliant dart player and, in every interaction I had with him, a complete gentleman. He would have beaten me easily at darts, before or after I lost my eyesight, but I can always say that I beat the World Champion at pool and won the bet we had on it.
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