Gerwyn Price

In January 2019, Gerwyn Price was hit with a record fine by the Darts Regulation Authority due to his actions at the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts. In total he was fined £21,500 for his actions during his victory at the Grand Slam of Darts. He was fined £12,000 for gamesmanship in the Final of the Grand Slam of Darts against Gary Anderson. He was fined £8,000 for gamesmanship in his quarter-final game against Simon Whitlock. He was also fined £1,500 for social media posts following his events, which were directed towards the beaten finalist Gary Anderson. His fine was reduced on appeal to a total of £11,500.

In October 2019, Price reached the final of the European Championship beating Ted Evetts, Nathan Aspinall, Vincent van der Voort and Michael Smith on the way. However, he lost the final to Rob Cross 11–6.

In November 2019, Price successfully defended his Grand Slam of Darts title beating Peter Wright 16–6 in the final after defeating Gary Anderson in the quarter-final and recording his first career win over Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final. Price then reached the final of the Players Championship, where he was the top seed due to his performances on the Pro Tour. He was narrowly beaten 11-9 by van Gerwen after missing four darts to take the match into a deciding leg.

Price's 2019 season meant he entered the 2020 World Championship as the second favourite behind van Gerwen. He reached the semi-final by defeating three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant, but he was eventually defeated by Peter Wright, who went on to win the title.

In the 2018 World Championship Price won in the first round of the World Championship for the first time when he beat Ted Evetts 3–0. In the second round Price beat Ian White 4–1. In the third round Price faced the defending World Champion Michael van Gerwen. Van Gerwen won the first two sets but then Price won seven legs in a row to go two sets all and ahead in the fifth set. Van Gerwen won the fifth and sixth set which meant Price lost the match 2–4.

Price started to show some consistency in the televised majors in 2018, reaching the quarter finals of the Masters, UK Open, World Grand Prix and European Championship. He also won a European Tour event in September, the International Darts Open in Germany, just 2 months after having an operation to repair a broken achilles heel. In November, Price, as a 40/1 outsider at the start of the event, won his first televised PDC major by winning the Grand Slam of Darts, with come from behind wins against Simon Whitlock in the quarter finals and surviving match darts to win 16–15, against Mensur Suljović by 16–12 in the semi finals, and against Gary Anderson by 16–13 in the final. With his controversial Grand Slam of Darts victory, Price was the first Welshman to win a PDC televised major.

Following Price's controversial victory in the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts final, he spoke out about how his then 12-year-old daughter, Emily, had received online abuse on Twitter, in relation to his antics in the Grand Slam final. He called on his own followers to report the troll, and said that he wanted the culprit "kicked off of Twitter".

After taking the opening set against Jonny Clayton in their first round match at the 2017 World Championship, Price lost three in a row to be beaten 3–1. He was ranked 20th on the Order of Merit afterwards. He defeated Justin Pipe 10–5, David Pallett 10–4 and Paul Hogan 10–6 at the UK Open to reach the quarter-finals. Ian White was on 20 to win 10–9, but hit a double 15 to burst his score and Price stepped in with a 160 checkout to progress through to the semi-finals where he was locked at 9–9 with Alan Norris. Norris missed three darts to take the 19th leg and Price finished 100 with two double tops, before breaking throw in the next to win 11–9. In his first major final he was 7–2 down to Peter Wright, before reducing his deficit to 8–6. However, Price then lost the last three legs to be beaten 11–6.

Following good performances over 2017 Price was selected as a wildcard for the 2018 Premier League Darts tournament. Despite good draws against world number 2 Peter Wright and 2017 World Grand Prix winner Daryl Gurney, Price failed to register a victory and was eliminated on week nine's judgement night at the Echo Arena Liverpool.

Andrew Gilding won each set in the first round of the 2016 World Championship by three legs to one in beating Price 3–0. In February at the fifth UK Open Qualifier, Price defeated Mark Webster 6–1 and Mensur Suljović 6–3 to reach his first PDC final, but he was denied the title by world number one Michael van Gerwen who triumphed 6–2. In the seventh Players Championship, Price won through to another final and this time took the title by coming back from 3–0 down against Peter Wright to win 6–3. He also took the eighth event as he averaged 108 in the final during a 6–1 victory over Jamie Caven. After knocking out Kim Huybrechts 10–8 at the World Matchplay, Price would face Adrian Lewis in the second round for the second year in a row. Before the match Lewis stated that Price's win over him 12 months ago was lucky and that Price was a "big mouth who's never won anything and never will win anything". The pre-match tension seemed to affect both players as both averaged in the 80s with Lewis prevailing 11–5. Price lost 2–0 in the first round of the World Grand Prix to Benito van de Pas, and 10–2 to Michael van Gerwen in the second round of the European Championship. Wins over Scott Waites and Robert Thornton saw him top his group on his début at the Grand Slam of Darts. He missed one match dart against Brendan Dolan in the last 16 in a 10–9 defeat.

Price was knocked out of the preliminary round of the 2015 UK Open 5–2 by Matt Padgett. On his way to his first quarter-final of the year, Price eliminated Adrian Lewis 6–4 with an average of 105.78 at the second Players Championship event, but he went on to lose 6–2 to James Wade. At the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, Price defeated two top 16 players in Robert Thornton and Simon Whitlock to play in his second career European Tour quarter-final, where compatriot Jamie Lewis narrowly won 6–5. In total during the first half of 2015 Price lost in four quarter-finals on the Pro Tour, and reached the semi-finals of the eighth Players Championship where he lost 6–4 to Adrian Lewis. These results sealed his qualification for the World Matchplay through the Pro Tour Order of Merit with Price seeing off Michael Smith 10–4 in his début in the event. He then produced the performance of his career to date as he defeated two-time world champion Lewis 13–10, but could only average 88.17 in his first major quarter-final during a 16–7 defeat by Peter Wright. Price met Smith again in the first round of the World Grand Prix with the tie going to a deciding set in which Price established a 2–0 leg lead. He would miss two match darts as Smith levelled and in the final leg Price was unable to score a point as he missed a total of 15 darts at doubles in the double-start event. He led Ian White 9–8 in the second round of the Players Championship Finals, but went on to lose 10–9.

Price played as a hooker for Welsh Premier Division sides Neath and Cross Keys as well as rugby league with South Wales Scorpions. He also had a brief spell at Pro12 side Glasgow Warriors as injury cover for their first choice players. He ended his rugby career in 2014 in order to concentrate on playing darts full-time.

Price began playing darts for his local side Markham Welfare, before playing in the Super League for Aberbargoed. Welsh darts professional Barrie Bates advised him to enter Qualifying School to join the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in January 2014 and Price was successful in the second event. He won six matches on the day concluding with a 5–3 victory over Rowby-John Rodriguez to earn a two-year tour card. He qualified for the 2014 UK Open, and lost 5–2 to Aden Kirk in the second round. He twice reached the last 16 stage of Players Championship events during the first half of 2014, losing to Michael van Gerwen and Stephen Bunting. In July, Price averaged 98.32 in beating former world number one Colin Lloyd 6–2 at the European Darts Open. In the second round he led Gary Anderson 2–0 but went on to lose 6–3. At the 13th Players Championship, Price saw off Lloyd, Kirk, James Wade and Wayne Jones to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time, where he was edged out 6–5 by Adrian Lewis.

The £12,750 he earned in Pro Tour events during 2014 saw him finish 39th on the Order of Merit to claim the eighth of sixteen places that were on offer to non-qualified players for the 2015 PDC World Championship. Price missed one dart at tops to level at one set all against Peter Wright in the first round and was beaten 3–0. His successful year saw him start 2015 ranked world number 59.

Price qualified for the European Darts Trophy in Leipzig during mid September. There, he beat Bernd Roith 6–3 in the first round to face Steve Beaton in the second round. Thanks to a great performance, which included the tournament's highest finish of 167, he saw off Beaton 6–3 and won against Vincent van der Voort in the following round. He nearly qualified for the 2014 World Grand Prix, for which a place in the semi-finals was needed, but was beaten 6–3 in the quarter-finals by Andy Hamilton. Price's impressive start to his darting career continued by reaching his first semi-final at the 19th Players Championship where he lost 6–3 to Ian White.

Victories over Finland, Ireland and Russia helped Price and Mark Webster into the semi-finals of the World Cup. A pair of 4–2 wins over the Belgian team of Kim and Ronny Huybrechts saw them play in the final, where their only point came courtesy of a Webster win over Raymond van Barneveld as they went down 3–1 to the Dutch.

In 2010, Price was punched outside a pub in Bargoed which required 42 stitches to his forehead and five to his chin, as well as suffering a brain haemorrhage and nerve damage to an eyebrow. His attacker received a 12-month jail term. This happened whilst working as a bouncer in Yates’ bar. Price also received a suspended sentence for assaulting another man in a related incident.

Gerwyn Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league footballer, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. He broke into the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit in 2016 and soon afterwards won his first Pro Tour title. In 2017, he was the runner-up at the UK Open, Price's first major event final, and has also competed in the prestigious Premier League Darts tournament on two occasions, finishing 10th and 5th, in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Price achieved his biggest and most controversial victory in darts to date by winning the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts tournament, his first televised PDC major. He retained the title at the 2019 tournament. Price has also played rugby union for Welsh Premier Division sides Neath and Cross Keys, Pro12 with Glasgow Warriors and rugby league with South Wales Scorpions. He is the second darts player to be called The Iceman after Alan Warriner-Little.