Sunday, December 29, 2024
Column CM140
Mervyn King
Birthday: March 15, 1966
Lives in: Bradwell, England
Born in: Ipswich, England
Nickname: The King
Darts: 22-gram Mervyn King
Walk-on Music: King of Kings (Motörhead)
Mervyn King started to play darts when he was 12 years old after his father bestowed him an old paper board with plastic partitions. His father insisted on hanging it up at the right height from the start – King also had to play from an oche at the right distance from the board. King’s father always had a big impact on King’s career and his death in 2010 left King devastated.
By the time King was 13 he had already decided to become a darts pro, and he played in the local league where he defeated good grown-up players. At age 14 he won the league final in front of a crowd of over 1,500. In the same year he threw his first 9-darter in a practice match against his father. It took him until he was 28 to join the BDO Pro Circuit and reach the Last 32 of the World Masters. In 1996, King won his first BDO tournament – the French Open. More titles followed the next year and King qualified for his first BDO World Championship and reached the semifinals. In 2000, he stood in the final of the World Masters and in 2002 he reached the final of the BDO World Championship – but lost both. In 2004, he reached both finals a second time, lost in the BDO World Championship again but won the World Masters – his biggest success in the BDO/WDF system. All in all, King took part eleven times in the BDO World Championship but never managed to win it.
During the 2007 BDO World Championship there were rumors King intended to switch to the PDC – which he countered with the assertion he would “rather… give up playing darts then switch to the PDC.” He even signed a contract with the BDO after he reached the semifinals that he would be back in the 2008 BDO World Championship, a contract the BDO had all players reaching the semifinals sign that year to hinder more and more players from leaving the BDO for the PDC.
Nevertheless, King announced in February 2007 his switch to the PDC and the BDO threatened to take legal action… but nothing happened, and King demonstrated what justified his decision – he advanced his career in the PDC…
That February, he made his PDC debut in my previously mentioned UK Open qualifiers in London (where I saw him play live for the first time).
King had quite a good first year in the PDC and qualified for the World Matchplay where he reached the quarterfinals. He also qualified for the PDC World Championship but lost second round to Roland Scholten. Sixteen times King stood at the oche at the PDC World Championship and once he reached the semifinals – in 2009 – but lost to Phil Taylor.
During his years in the PDC King won several Pro Tour Events, but not a single major event though he reached seven finals – the last one was the final of the 2021 Masters where he lost to Jonny Clayton.
Several times King had to fight injuries, but he always returned and for many years was a dreaded opponent. But good performances became increasingly rare, and he slid down the rankings. He couldn’t qualify for the PDC World Championship 2023/24 nor for 2024/25 and will lose his Tour Card end 2024.
King was a controversial player throughout his career. He blamed air conditioning for interfering with his throw, once that the oche was measured wrong, often that the board was hung slanted and sometimes that the lighting was bad. Other times he complained that Michael van Gerwen celebrated too loud, his opponents trespassed the oche or crossed the exclusion zone while he was throwing.
King didn’t make friends acting this way – especially since most of his allegations turned out to be unfounded. His behavior against James Wade in the Premier League final 2009 was fined by the DRA.
For many years King and Peter Wright have been friends, and they often practice together. King is known for taking practice very seriously and for practicing for long hours. When he takes part in a tournament, he is always among the first to arrive at the venue to prepare himself to be as good as possible.
Not widely known is that King worked as a roundsman for Amazon during the Covid 19 Pandemic.
King is a keen golfer, and he has a passion for fast cars – he had a chance to become a race driver when he was young but decided on darts instead. So, he probably will be able to keep himself busy even should he now turn his back on darts.
