Lifelong West Ham United fan Russ ‘The Voice’ Bray will call his last and arguably most eagerly anticipated PDC World Darts Championship final of his long and illustrious career on Wednesday evening.
The South Ockendon-born referee has become one of the most recognisable faces of the sport, with his gravelly tones and signature ‘Onnnnne hundred and eighty!’ call known the world over.
Now 66, Bray is retiring from the oche after calling ‘Game, Shot and the Match’ to either new World No1 Humphries or teenage sensation Littler at London’s Alexandra Palace, and is planning a trip to London Stadium in February to cheer on his beloved Hammers after going on a well-earned holiday to rest his vocal chords!
“It is a lovely feeling that people put a tag on you like the 'voice of darts',” he explained, speaking ahead of his final final. “I have been very, very lucky because my voice has been so different so it makes it obvious.
“People walk down the street and shout 'game on' or '180' and it's lovely. It's good, for someone to do that means they are recognising what you do and I take it as a compliment. 'My calls are part of the game. Every referee says ‘Game on’ and every referee says ‘180’. It's just that mine has been recognised by everyone.
“You try to make a game as exciting as you can. My calls are all natural, nobody told me to do it like that, I just wanted to be different. It is a spectacle and to be part of that is very important.
“I am going to finish at the very top, there is nothing bigger than calling the final of the World Championship on the Ally Pally stage, to finish there will be pretty nice.”
With Wednesday night’s final arguably generating more interest than any match in darts history, Bray will undoubtedly be part of that spectacle.
However, when the game is called, Bray will lay down his microphone and, while he will continue as an ambassador for the PDC, he will have his weekends free again to watch West Ham in action, six decades after catching his first Green Line bus from South Ockendon to Upton Park as a boy.
“My favourite player as a boy was Bobby Moore,” he confirmed. “Well, there were actually quite a few… I’m from the Bobby Moore era but I like Billy Bonds, Frankie Lampard Senior, Harry Redknapp, Hurst and Peters obviously, but my real true favourite was Bobby.
“He epitomised what the game was, he was a gentleman, he was a brilliant footballer, his timing was impeccable and his delivery was absolutely second to none. If he’d have been Brazilian, they’d have praised him even higher. That’s the truth, isn’t it? I never actually got to meet Bobby Moore. I met Martin Peters, and I’ve met Geoff Hurst at golf events over the years, but I never actually physically met Bobby, and he’s one person I’d love to have done so.”
Bray’s favourite West Ham manager also hails from the same era, when he and his pals used to duck under the turnstiles to see their heroes in action on their way to winning the FA Cup for the first time exactly 60 years ago.
“Ron Greenwood was Claret and Blue through and through and he just knew what he was doing,” Bray observed. “It was old-fashioned managing. He didn’t have a big squad like they do now. Everyone respected him, and he seemed a really fair guy as well, knew what he was talking about, was a good coach, a good manager, and everyone enjoyed playing under him.”
Bray even had dreams of emulating his heroes and playing football himself, as a goalkeeper, and he was also friends with one future West Ham favourite at school, and later found himself playing darts with the ‘Crafty Cockney’ himself, Eric Bristow.
“Geoff Pike (pictured, above) and I were in the same year,” he explained. “Me and Pikey played together at school and he went to the Hammers and I went to the Orient as a goalkeeper in my youth. One goal that he scored was a header at Manchester United. We beat them 2-0 in the FA Cup back in March 1986. Brilliant!
“Funnily enough I used to play for West Ham in the London Super League all those years ago, at The Lamb in Plaistow. I didn’t do too bad. I played pairs with the late, great Eric Bristow, so I didn’t do bad!”
