While the News of the World Championship had been running from 1927 and became England’s first national darts competition in 1947, it was the mid to late 1970’s when darts would really gain traction.
The formation of the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and World Darts Federation (WDF) meant that players could begin to pursue darts as professional players and this is the decade that created some of darts biggest legends.
The introduction of major tournaments included the Winmau World Masters, British Matchplay, Butlin’s Grand Masters and the BDO World Darts Championship – while The News of the World Championship was also still a prestigious independent tournament.
In this article, we’re ranking the best darts players from the 1970’s and looking at the most dominant players from an era that defined the modern game.
*We reference some players’ accomplishments in 1980 on this list as some tournaments fell under a darts ‘season’ running 1979-80.
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7. Bobby George
Bobby George makes it onto this list due to a prolific end to the 1970’s.
George is one of the most recognisable figures in darts history.
The first ‘darts millionaire’, George capitalised on darts growing popularity by becoming a key player on the exhibition rounds and later a TV presenter and host for major darts tournaments.
George didn’t get into darts until his 30’s but started picking up some local titles and quickly became a top player by the end of the decade.
In 1979, George won the News of the World Championship and Butlins Grand Masters before going on to win the 1980 Butlins Grand Masters for a second time and finished runner-up to Eric Bristow in the BDO World Championship.
He also won the North American Open in 1978 and made it to the final of the Denmark Open in 1979.
Other players arguably saw more consistent success in the 1970’s, but George really performed on the biggest stages so it’s hard to leave him out.
Especially considering his 1979 final average at the News of the World was 100.20 and he was the only player to win the tournament without losing a leg!
6. Stefan Lord
There are some bigger names on this list but Stefan Lord is an iconic name from darts in the 70’s.
The first European player to really establish himself as an elite darts player, Lord is the only overseas player to win the News of the World Championship. A feat he achieved in both 1978 and 1980.
Lord also won the Denmark open in 1977, was runner-up in the Swedish Open in 1977 and finished 3rd in the inaugural BDO World Championship in 1978.
He also had success in the early 80’s where he twice reached the BDO World Championship semi-final.
He wasn’t the most accomplished player in the 1970’s but Lord’s achievements were incredibly noteworthy at a time when darts was dominated by British players.
5. Alan Evans
In the 1970’s, Alan Evans was one of the most recognisable faces in darts.
He made the final of the first televised News of the World Championship in 1972 whilst also making the final of the ITV televised Indoor League in 1973 and 1974.
This established him as a top player and Evans would then go on to win the first ever British Open in 1975 and followed it up with a title at the World Masters.
He also found success with his country in 1977 where Wales would win the first ever WDF World Cup Team event.
Quarter-final and semi-final finishes at the end of the 70’s would cement Evans as one of the best players of the decade and he even reached the world number 1 in rankings in 1976.
Fun trivia – Evans even has a shot named after him. Hitting three bulls in a shot is known as an Alan Evans as the Welshman reportedly finished on 3 bullseyes 8 times during a tour of Scotland.
4. Eric Bristow
You might be surprised to see one of the greatest darts players of all time not higher up on the list, however, in the late 1970’s Eric Bristow was just a young man getting started in darts.
Most of his success came in the 1980’s when he became a household name and dominated darts, but in his early 20’s Bristow still showed more than glimpses of what was to come…
He won the Winmau World Masters twice (1977 & 1979) whilst also making it to the finals of the British Matchplay and Butlins Grand Masters, both in 1977.
Bristow had just turned 20 years old in 1977 and was already reaching finals in major competitions, showing the talent that would take him to the very top of darts just a few years later. On the circuit he won the British Open (1978) and North American Open (1979).
He was also an established player for England Winning the WDF Europe Pairs in 1978 then went on to win the WDF World Cup Teams and Pairs title in 1979.
Playing just a few years in the 70’s Bristow won as much (if not more) than most players throughout the decade with only a few being arguably more successful.
3. Bill Lennard
A player that not too many fans may have heard of, Bill Lennard is a bit of a darts legend for anyone who followed the game pre-1980.
“Mr Consistency” is often considered to be a darts player born 10-15 years too early as he was a prolific exhibition and county player in the 1950’s-60’s before seeing mainstream success in the 1970’s.
Lennard’s best season came during 1975-76 where he won the first ever British Matchplay title and also lifted the News of the World trophy to a packed Ally Pally crowd – reported to be 12,000 with millions more tuning in on ITV.
The video above shows how electric the crowd was for that News of the World final!
Lennard would also have semi-final finishes at the World Masters and British Matchplay, a runner-up in the 1979 Butlins Grand Masters and lifted the WDF World Cup Team title alongside Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Tony Brown.
On ability, Bristow was ahead of Lennard even at a young age but during the 70’s it can be argued that Lennard was the bigger name at the time.
2. Leighton Rees
Leighton Rees is best known for becoming the first ever BDO World Champion in 1978 where he beat John Lowe 11-7 in the final.
That wasn’t a one-off tournament though as the Welshman was one of the most accomplished players throughout the 1970’s.
He won the televised Indoor League twice in 1974 and 1976, was runner-up at the News of the World Championship and British Pentathlon in 1976, won the inaugural WDF World Cup Singles and Team in 1977 representing Wales and won the Butlins Grand Masters in 1978.
Rees would also reach the final of the BDO World Championship in 1979 where he met John Lowe for the second consecutive year but would finish as the runner-up in this encounter.
Rees had several deep tournament runs in the late 70’s and as you can see he had a stacked resume alongside holding the world number 1 ranking in 1978.
It can easily be argued that he was the best player in the decade, however, we feel there was one other that took that spot…
1. John Lowe
One of the greatest players of all time, John Lowe established himself as arguably the player to beat in the 1970’s.
Lowe was in dozens of finals in the mid to late 70’s and would secure all the major titles within that period.
1976 Winmau World Masters, 1977 Butlins Grand Masters, 1978 British Matchplay and 1979 World Darts Championship concluded all BDO majors at the time.
During that time he was also runner-up at the first BDO World Championship and a runner-up at the Butlins Grand Masters, both times to Leighton Rees.
Lowe also won the British Pentathlon three times (1976, 1978 & 1979), the British Open in 1977, the Denmark Open in 1978 & 79, and was prolific for England winning the WDF World Cup Pairs in 1977 and 1979, the WDF Europe Cup Pairs in 1978 and the WDF World Cup Teams in 1979.
Lowe would go on to become one of the most accomplished players of all time and it all started with great success in the 1970’s.
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There were some other very solid players in the 1970’s so honourable mentions also go to Rab Smith and Tony Brown who just narrowly missed out on inclusion.
Rab Smith was a Scottish player who won the British Matchplay and had quarter-final runs in the World Championship in the late 70’s.
Tony Brown was a runner-up in the Winmau World Masters (1978), twice runner-up in the British Matchplay and had a 3rd place finish in the 1979 World Championship.
He also played as part of the England team alongside Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Bill Lennard. Had Brown won a major title he’d surely be on this list.
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