Let’s Meet the Players! 5 minutes with World Darts Contender Peter Wright

The World Series of Darts is coming to Hamilton and bringing with it the sports breath of fresh ‘hair’, Scotsman Peter ‘The Snakebite’ Wright. He’s the world #4 and one of the most loved players on tour due to his ever-changing colourful mohawk, extravagant clothing and showmanship; although he is naturally shy when away from the oche. He regularly tries different sets of darts as he tweaks the weight, flights and stems, and in the past, he has even used specially designed darts which changed colour depending on the light. He chats with us about Hobbits, travelling constantly and his hair secrets.

Let’s talk about the hair. How did that get started? 

Years and years ago, I said to my wife [hairdresser Joanne] ‘I want to be different from the other guys, how about dying my hair?’  She went ‘OK then’ so we did that for our first tournament. Then I said ,'I like this. Can we change the colour for next week?’ But you can't change it too often because if you keep bleaching it your hair starts falling out. So, we got a new method, we use spray paints.  That’s why we can do the different colours and styles that we do.

We heard it takes a couple of hours to do.

Can be a bit of a burden; we have to get up really early some mornings. Say I'm playing at one o'clock, then me and Jo are up to be out by six o'clock in the morning getting our stuff ready and getting the hair done! So it can be long and tedious. I wish I didn't come up with the idea!

But isn’t that how a lot of people identify you?

Yeah, kids love it. Even the older generation now, actually. They come up to me in the street and say ‘I watch the darts now just because of you. You bring some life into the game.’ Also got lots of kids who watch me play because I'm different from Michael [Van Ger wen] because he's got no hair and I've got hair!

Do you remember hitting your first triple twenty?

I remember when I was starting about thirteen years old, in Mom and Dad's garage, in the freezing cold, I used to have an old ratchety set of darts. I'd throw for two triple twenties then get really nervous, so on the last throw, when you want to hit the 180, it would go nowhere near. What I eventually did was cheating really, I’d actually put two triples in the board first and practice throwing the last one. I can hit it properly now!

Have you ever been to Hamilton?

I haven't, but obviously it's going to be amazing and sell out really quickly I reckon because New Zealand loves the darts. But yeah, I’ve done a little bit of homework… Hamilton, that’s near where The Hobbit was shot. I would definitely love to see that. Get some Hobbits to the darts.

You’ve been travelling the world for years now for tournaments, how do you cope with that?

It's the way you plan your travelling, I think, and your flights. What time you get up in the mornings. Taking a later flight instead of getting up at four o'clock in the morning, stuff like that. When I first started I was terribly tired for the first year or two. But it's planning the right flights and resting as much as you can when you go to your hotel. Get as much rest in as possible. That's the secret way to do it, just to rest and put your feet up.

Who can argue with that kind of advice?

The 2019 NZ Darts Masters, presented by Burger King and TAB, happens at Claudelands Arena Hamilton on Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24.

Tickets are available now through https://premier.ticketek.co.nz/shows/show.aspx?sh=DARTS2019.

2019 NZ Darts Masters, presented by Burger King and TAB

Claudelands Arena, Hamilton

Friday August 23 (1800 local time)

First Round

VIP Tickets $199.90

Table Tickets $94.90

Tiered Seat Tickets $64.90

Saturday August 24 (1800 local time)

Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals & Final

VIP Tickets $204.90

Table Tickets $99.90

Tiered Seat Tickets $69.90

Tickets are available now via https://premier.ticketek.co.nz/shows/show.aspx?sh=DARTS2019.