Russ Bray has claimed that the rule is rare (Image: Getty)
Russ Bray has revealed that if a player consistently delays his opponent by walking the wrong way off the oche, they can be deducted a leg in a match. The English referee, also an ambassador for Ladbrokes and the Professional Darts Corporation, has worked in the sport since 1996 and has called some of the most popular tournaments in history.
Bray was the caller when Phil Taylor hit the first-ever televised nine-darter. In November 2023, the 67-year-old announced that he would step down from full-time refereeing after 28 years at the end of the – and he was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame shortly after.
Given his long career in the sport, Bray is extremely well-versed in the rules – and he has explained in detail one such instruction darts stars must follow or face consequences.
Bray said: “Things happen on stage where often the referee will have to step in; if a player is constantly stepping into the encroachment area, or saying something on their way back from collecting their darts.
“The other one is when players collect their darts and walk off to the left of the oche… every player has to walk off to the right, and every player knows that. If you walk off to the left, you’re walking past all of the cameras, and so you’ll be blocking the view of the board. That’s why everyone has to walk off to the right, because of the cameras.”
Bray noted that these rules may not be in place in lower leagues, but they are designed to respect the broadcasters and the viewers at home. He added: “There might not be rules in pub leagues for that kind of thing, but for the professionals, with respect to the broadcasters, players have to walk off to the right.
Walking across the oche the wrong way could land a darts player in trouble (Image: Getty)
“There are two cameras to the left of the stage, one camera above the board, and one camera, coming out of the wall, cutting across the stage, so you can see the players from all angles. Everything is on the left-hand side.”
The esteemed darts referee also noted that if a player walks off to the left and then cuts back to walk off to the right, they would be delaying the game and their opponent – and if they continued to do this, it would result in an automatic leg deduction.
“Sometimes you’ll have it where a player walks off to the left, and then cuts back across the oche to walk off to the right – the correct way – but they’re delaying their opponent by doing that. It very rarely happens, but it does happen,” said Bray.
“If I’m refereeing a game, and a player kept walking off to the left, I’d obviously give them a warning at first, but if I warned them enough times, then they’d lose the leg.
“If you wanted to take it to its most extreme level, if you’re not going to listen to me, you’ll lose a leg. And if you do it again, you’ll lose another leg. That’s how you penalise someone in that scenario – like I say, that’s taking the scenario to its extreme, but it can happen, in theory.”