Jocky Wilson

Darts split Wilson joined the other top professionals who split away from the ruling British Darts Organisation in 1993 to form the WDC (now Professional Darts Corporation). He was not able to recapture the form that took him to two world championships however, and only participated in two PDC World Championships, failing to win a single match. He lost both group games in 1994 (to Dennis Priestley and Graeme Stoddart) and again in 1995 (to Priestley and Lowe).

One of the highlights of Wilson's three years in the WDC was him reaching the final of the 1993 WDC Skol UK Matchplay in March 1993, Despite his withdrawal from darts, in August 2009, the PDC announced a new tournament called "The Jocky Wilson Cup" in which Scotland's best players played England's best. England beat Scotland 6–0 in the inaugural tournament in December 2009. His funeral was held on 2 April at Kirkcaldy Crematorium.

Many stories of Jocky Wilson tell of his heavy drinking. John Lowe said of Wilson "one minute he could be the nicest man on Earth and the next extremely offensive, to say the least. I've lost count of the amount of times he'd come up to me and said 'Sorry about last night'. I would always reply 'why? What did you do?' and he'd say 'oh it wasn't you then?' He would then proceed to apologise to everyone he'd been with the previous night, until he found out if he'd upset anyone". In 1982, Jocky was banned for several months for "insulting behaviour" towards an official. Just before going onstage for a World Cup match in 1983, Jocky Wilson ran towards Eric Bristow and kicked him hard. The two were separated by officials and entered the stage to play their match. After Eric had beaten him, Jocky said "I've got to try to beat you somehow". Bristow said "One minute I wanted to tear him apart, the next we were at the bar having a drink". Bristow said "deep down, I think he liked me, and I had a soft spot for him". Away from the darts world, Wilson was very different. "He was a lovely, quiet, firm family man," said Denis Madden, who conducted Wilson's funeral service. Madden went on to say "Jocky Wilson never wanted to become famous or in the spotlight. Jocky would be the first to tell you that work in its own right was a means to an end, all he wanted out of it was to provide well for his wife and family."

Personal life In 1982, during the Falklands War, Wilson was banned from competing in darts tournaments after he clashed with an official during a championship. According to Wilson's obituary in The Scotsman, this resulted from a remark allegedly by the official relating to Wilson's wife, He received a ban of several months which stopped him from defending his Unipart trophy title.

Wilson frequently consumed sweets and generally refused to brush his teeth, stating: "My Gran told me the English poison the water". He had lost his last tooth by the age of 28. Following his 1982 World title win, he paid £1,200 for dentures, but later complained that the dentures made him belch when drinking.

1. 1980 British Matchplay (1) Leighton Rees 2–0 (s)

2. 1981 British Matchplay (2) Cliff Lazarenko 2–0 (s)

3. 1981 British Professional Championship (1) John Lowe 6–5 (s)

4. 1982 BDO World Championship (1) John Lowe 5–3 (s)

1. 1982 World Masters Dave Whitcombe 1–2 (s)

5. 1983 British Professional Championship (2) Dave Whitcombe 7–2 (s)

2. 1983 Butlins Grand Masters (5) Eric Bristow 1–5 (l)

6. 1986 British Professional Championship (3) Dave Whitcombe 7–6 (s)

3. 1986 MFI World Matchplay (1) Mike Gregory 1–5 (s)

7. 1988 British Professional Championship (4) Ray Battye 7–2 (s)

8. 1989 BDO World Championship (2) Eric Bristow 6–4 (s)

4. 1990 World Masters Phil Taylor 2–3 (s)

WDF major finals: 3 (3 runners-up) Legend World Cup (0–2) Europe Cup (0–1) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 1978 Europe Cup Singles John Lowe 1–4 (l)Runner-up 2. 1981 World Cup Singles John Lowe 3–4 (l)Runner-up 3. 1983 World Cup Singles Eric Bristow 2–4 (l)

Note

Performance timeline Wilson's performance timeline is as follows:

WDF + WDF majors performances Tournament Event World Cup 1977 Euro Cup 1978 World Cup 1979 Euro Cup 1980 World Cup 1981 Euro Cup 1982 World Cup 1983 Euro Cup 1984 World Cup 1985 Euro Cup 1986 World Cup 1987 Euro Cup 1988 World Cup 1989 Euro Cup 1990 World Cup 1991 Euro Cup 1992 WDF World Cup & WDF Europe Cup Singles DNP DNP Pairs? ??? Team Overall

PDC Tournament 1994 1995 PDC World ChampionshipRRRR World MatchplayQF2R