Darts' pettiest rivalries: floorboard feuds, infamous handshakes and the sport's most entertaining clashes

Darts has long been a theater for rivalries that fuel the sport as much as its precision. Across decades, feuds have flickered from sly gamesmanship to outright clashes, played out in the glare of arena lights and on televised stages. The close quarters, the roar of thousands of fans, and the pressure of title battles create a volatile mix that can turn routine matches into defining moments for players and fans alike. While the sport’s bests push for trophies, their exchanges—on stage and off—have become part of darts lore and have helped sustain public interest in a circuit that often runs year-round.

Few moments in modern darts are as indelibly etched as the era-defining feuds between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld. The most infamous handshake in darts history came at the 2012 World Championship semi-final, when Taylor edged past Barney in a tense 6-4 victory. After the decision, Barney’s refusal to loosen his grip and the way the exchange unfolded on camera became a defining image of the sport’s volatile dynamics. Taylor later said he deeply regretted his behavior and offered an apology. The moment underscored how quickly pride, national pride and the high-energy crowd can fuse into a combustible atmosphere. The tension between the English legend and the Dutch fighter was amplified by earlier stagecraft, including Barney’s Dutch-flag moment that some observers say helped turn the London crowd against him that night. The pair would, over time, move past that incident, maintaining a complicated mix of respect and rivalry as Barney continued to compete at a high level and Taylor eventually stepped back from the sport.

The 1980s gave rise to another enduring rivalry built on stark contrasts in personality and approach. Eric Bristow, nicknamed The Crafty Cockney, dominated the era, while John Lowe, known as Old Stoneface, offered a counterpoint—calm, unflustered and relentless. Their clashes were the stuff of legend, highlighted by Lowe’s dramatic 7-6 comeback after trailing 6-0 in a marquee match. Lowe’s place in history was also marked by the first televised nine-dart finish in 1984, a moment that yielded a substantial prize and helped cement the sport’s dramatic arc. The two men were part of a broader era of prize-money arrangements and onstage rivalries; in a controversial move, Bristow ended a pre-tournament arrangement to share prize money just before Lowe’s nine-darter, costing Lowe £51,000. Lowe later recalled the moment with a mix of practical disappointment and sportsmanlike humor, noting that Bristow’s manager claimed Bristow was the better player. The dynamic between Bristow and Lowe illustrated how personalities and business decisions could intersect with onstage battles, adding texture to darts’ growth spurt during the 1980s.

Another focal point in modern darts has been the confrontational edge introduced by Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson. The 2018 Grand Slam of Darts final saw Price rally from behind to claim the title, but the match was marred by a high-tension atmosphere between the Welshman and the Scottish veteran. Price’s conduct drew formal sanctions, including a £12,000 fine and a suspended ban, reflecting a broader pattern in which Price’s intensity—frequently expressed through celebrations, exchanges with opponents and on-stage exchanges—became a defining feature of his persona. The friction carried beyond the Grand Slam and into subsequent years, with memories of that 2018 clash coloring how opponents approached Price and how he approached others on the circuit.

Adrian Lewis has also been at the center of several heated moments across his career. In 2006, a confrontation with Peter Manley culminated in Lewis storming off stage after a dispute that Manley later described in retrospective detail, noting that both players were fined in the aftermath. Manley’s reflection included a memorable assertion about Lewis’s financial cushion from the moment, highlighting how rivalries can intertwine with the psychology of the game and the financial stakes involved in professional darts. The Lewis–Manley feud helped illustrate how disputes can have lasting echoes for players’ reputations and for how the sport’s governance handles contentious moments.

The antipathy between Lewis and Wade (as described in round-by-round exchanges) added another layer to the sport’s modern catalog of tense encounters. In a separate high-stakes moment, Wade and Lewis clashed over a seemingly minor but status-defining issue: a loose floorboard that Lewis claimed disrupted his rhythm. The exchange spilled onto the stage as Lewis stomped around on the red carpet and even dragged the match referee to the problem area, illustrating how a floorboard can become a symbolic battleground in a game built on rhythm and timing. The incident underscored the persistent theme that even seemingly trivial quirks of the venue—the stage floor, crowd behavior, and referee conduct—can influence the outcome of a match when the sport’s top players are locked in a tight contest.

Another notable floorboard moment occurred in 2021 during a high-profile match between Lewis and Peter Wright. Lewis contended that Wright’s focus on a creaky floorboard took him out of his rhythm, and he directed harsh words toward Wright, calling the situation a strategic ploy and accusing his opponent of trying to derail him. Wright’s prosecution of the tactic as part of his game plan reflected the nuanced psychology that has long characterized darts: players use any perceived edge to gain a mental upper hand, and fans have come to expect such theater as part of the spectacle. While both players remained competitive at the highest levels, these exchanges reinforced the sport’s reputation for producing personalities who thrive on psychological dueling as much as on the scoreboard.

Across these rivalries, the throughline is clear: the darts circuit, with its year-round calendar and dense clustering of rivalries among the world’s best, fosters tensions that can be as consequential as any trophy. Yet the sport’s leaders and veterans insist that behind the feuds lies a deep respect for skill, discipline and the shared pursuit of excellence. Phil Taylor, who retired in May, and Raymond van Barneveld, who remains a top-level competitor, both contributed to a culture in which triumph and scrutiny walk hand in hand. The most memorable moments—whether a dramatic handshake, a dramatic floorboard dispute, or a tense exchange after a close call—have helped darts capture the long arc of its modern history, making the sport not only about darts but about the psychology of competition itself.