A darts legend ditched the Blackpool party scene to focus on his game after sending Phil Taylor packing at the World Matchplay.
Peter Evison, who won the Winter Gardens tournament in 1996, was a darting force in the 1990s, regularly taking down giants like Eric Bristow and Taylor. The Fen Tiger also revelled in the seaside town’s nightlife during the tournament, enjoying the perks of being a top player with free-flowing Champagne and VIP access to the hottest spots.
Now 60, Evison looks back at those days fondly. He recalled: “We’d all be out. You only had to say you’d be at a venue and you’d be getting Champagne and stuff like that. You had to know when [to stop]. You’d look at the time you were playing. You needed at least six or seven hours sleep [the day before a match] so you had to be half-sensible.”
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Explaining his fearless mindset before his match against Taylor, Evison added: “I had a good record against Phil. I thought, ‘I’ve only got to play like I can and I’ll beat him’. You get those players who you don’t mind playing, no matter how good they are. He’s only got three darts, the same as everybody else.
“You’re playing the dartboard, not the person. Some people had a fear of playing certain people, but not me. I think that was one of my best wins. It’s one of the venues he loved playing at.”
Taylor didn’t handle his 8-1 defeat well, as Evison recalled: “He disappeared very quickly. He didn’t even say a word to me. He knew he’d got his a*** kicked. He just wanted to disappear and get out of the way.”
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Rather than celebrate dumping out Taylor, Evison focused on the prize instead of the parties. “I did things differently,” he said. “I didn’t go out drinking or partying. I knew I had to knuckle down. I just had a couple of drinks at the bar and went to bed early.
“I felt good the whole the week. I was in bed early every night, whereas usually in Blackpool I’d go to a few bars and have a bit of fun. I was behaving myself that week.”
Asked if his partying had cost him further major titles, Evison admitted: “Probably, yeah. But you can’t have any regrets. I had some really good times and won tournaments all over the world doing what I was doing. You’ve just got to believe in your own ability and I thought I could beat anyone.”
Evison went on to defeat another darts legend in the final, Dennis Priestley. “What a game,” Evison reflected. “It was typical Dennis, nitty-gritty. He thought he had me, I thought I had him, all the way through the game. He left a double and I took out 96 to win it. Otherwise, I think we’d have been in extra-time.
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“You know you’ve got play well to beat them [the top players]. You’ve got to put them under pressure because they’ll fold. The only one who didn’t fold was Priestley. He didn’t know when he was beaten. That’s what people love about him.
“I roomed with him for a year when we were playing pairs together. We’d have little press-up competitions. He was a bit older than me, but no matter what I’d done, he’d beat me by one. He was so competitive!
“It was the same with him as with me – we hated losing at anything. Be it a card game or throwing pennies against the wall. We just didn’t want to lose and thats how we were wired.”