Three things are guaranteed in life:
- Death
- Taxes
- Gerwyn Price appearing in a darts bust-up compilation
Gerwyn Price has been one of the best and most entertaining darts players in the world for several years now.
The 2021 World Darts Championship winner and world number 1 has been an ever present in PDC major finals since winning the Grand Slam of Darts in 2018.
While his ability is clear, there’s another side to Gerwyn Price that we’ve got used to seeing over the years and that is his outbursts and bust-ups.
When Price gets going, he’ll rile up his opponents, the refs, the crowd, the glass of water on his table…
In all seriousness, Gerwyn Price has had some iconic bust-ups in darts and while he’s named ‘The Iceman’, there are a lot of occasions when he is anything but cool!
We’ve compiled his best bust-ups in the list below.
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Gerwyn Price vs Adrian Lewis – World Matchplay (2016)
This might have been the first time we truly got a glimpse of what was to come from the ‘controversial’ Price character in the coming years.
Price had beat Lewis in the previous years World Darts Championship and leading into this match, Lewis was quoted as saying:
“He’s a big mouth who’s never won anything and never will win anything”
That prediction didn’t turn out quote so well did it 👀
After shaking hands to start the match, Price started to get the crowd going as Lewis looked on bemused and gestured to raise the level higher.
There was obvious tension from the get go and as Lewis went a few legs up, Price wouldn’t even make eye contact with him.
After winning a few legs, each player would stay on the oche to celebrate before collecting their darts to get a reaction out of the other player.
Lewis would win the game 11-5 and as Price was walking off, Lewis gave him the ‘slow clap’ but surprisingly Price didn’t react to this.
Even more surprising is that Price isn’t the key person in this bust-up. Lewis would say in his interview afterwards:
“The reflection there was that I was rubbish and that just shows why he is a nobody, simple as that.
“Difference between greatness and not so great and that just showed tonight.”
Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts – World Darts Championship (2022)
During the 2022 World Darts Championship, Price was the defending champion and in a third round tie against Kim Huybrechts, tempers would flare.
The pair were tied at 3-3 in sets and it was down to sudden death to progress. As Price went 3-2 on legs and was a leg away from the win we saw him unleash a trademark roar to the crowd and cameras.
Huybrechts was not happy with this and signalled to the referee who would go over to speak to Price.
Price would not react well to this and immediately got into the face of Huybrechts who didn’t want to retaliate.
You can see from a different camera angle that Price quickly calmed down and patted Huybrechts on the back to calm the situation down and he’d go on to win the game 4-3.
In his post-match interview, Price addressed the heated exchange saying Huybrechts would hit a double and ‘give it large’ a couple of times so Price just did it back to him saying that’s 1-1, you do it to me and I’ll do it to you.
Gerwyn Price vs The Crowd – World Grand Prix (2021)
When it comes to Price and bust-ups, no one is safe and on this occasion Price decided to not have an exchange with his opponent (like usual) but instead went after the crowd…
At the 2021 World Grand Prix, Price would beat Dave Chisnall 3-0 in the quarter-finals and after being booed during the game, he took the post-match interview as an opportunity to snap back.
Price would fume and say:
“The crowd are a bit rubbish again, as you can hear, but I won so no matter what they do I’ll keep winning.
“The crowd are absolutely pathetic but I won”
He would finish the interview and then lift his arms to flex at the crowd.
🤣🤣 Classic stuff from the Welshman!
Gerwyn Price vs Peter Wright – World Darts Championship (2020)
In a semi-finals match at the 2020 World Darts Championship, Price and Peter Wright would have some unexpected tension on the oche.
After taking the first set, Wright gave Price a playful tap on the arm and Price didn’t acknowledge him at all, he looked fuming when he turned to walk away for the break.
Wright would continue to mount the pressure but after making it 1-1 on sets, Price would let out a roar and then bump Peter Wright who would stare him down as he left the stage.
The pair would exchange sets until Wright finally made some distance by going 5-3 on sets.
There was no obvious clash between the two but after Wright won 6-3, Price refused to shake his hand and walked off.
Worth noting that Wright also didn’t initiate any handshake attempt but he likely wouldn’t care as he’d go on to become World Champion that year!
Gerwyn Price vs Daryl Gurney – Premier League Night 15 (2019)
🏴 𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗪𝗬𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡! 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 3, 2021
Gerwyn Price fulfils his destiny, reaching the pinnacle of world darts as he is crowned world number one and World Champion.
Congratulations, Gerwyn 👏 pic.twitter.com/5VXLt6zkIp
In 2019, Price and Daryl Gurney (another fiery player should we say) really got into it when they finished their Premier League match in a draw.
The handshake resulted in pulling and pushing before both players went head-to-head in a heated exchange of words.
When watching it in real time, this is one of the rare occasions when you genuinely thought a fight was going to break out between players.
Security had to come between the pair as each time one went to walk away, it escalated again.
It seemed to come out of nowhere, unlike other Price incidents where we see a lot of tension on the oche. In his post-match interview he even said:
“I don’t know what was going through his head”
Gerwyn Price vs Gary Anderson – Grand Slam of Darts Final (2018)
Price’s most infamous moment by far came during the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts final against Gary Anderson.
This would be his first PDC major title and had tempers flaring as the pair would have a heated exchange during the 15th leg.
It later came out that Gary Anderson accused Price of unsportsmanlike conduct with over-exaggerated celebrations in order to put him off.
How did Price respond?
Well, he just kept winding him up basically every time he won a leg. Giving him a ‘shush’ gesture along with a ‘mouthy’ hand gesture.
Anderson was visibly furious during the 27th leg of an incredibly closely contested match in a first to 16 leg race. He stepped back from the oche mid throw and was ranting after he finished the throw.
How did Price respond to this?
In the next leg he hit a good cover shot with 2 x T19’s and then bumped into Anderson while celebrating before collecting his darts. It wasn’t even a checkout, they were only midway through the leg.
He then just kept celebrating as though he’d won the World Championship 🤷🏻♂️
Anderson isn’t one to shy away from conflict but this was a bit much and Price was later fined £21,500 and received a suspended three-month ban for the incident.
For all of Price’s darting ability and fiercely competitive nature, he doesn’t half divide opinion in the darts community!
Regardless, you can’t say it’s ever dull viewing when watching the Welshman and while he’s had a 2024 campaign to forget, don’t be too surprised if we see him ignite some controversial moments again in the near future…
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