Now here are two players who are more than deserving of induction into the Bang On Target Hall of Fame – a place reserved for exceptionally talented arrow smiths still waiting to land that elusive maiden major TV title. Or sadly for both men, neither has managed to conquer the Euro Tour either, although each has rattled the crossbar twice.
Both are named Ryan. Both are English. Both are roughly the same age. Yet there is one rather obvious difference between the pair, and that’s in the hair department. Searle’s is very long. Joyce’s – well, there barely appears to be any.
So let’s start alphabetically, with Mr Ryan Joyce.
RYAN JOYCE
If you were asked to design a laid-back Geordie professional darts player who breezed through the daily tribulations of life on the circuit with all the effort required to make a Pot Noodle, you’d probably end up with an exact clone of Ryan Joyce.
Yes, on occasion the 40-year-old looks as though he’s been dressed by a charity shop worker and borrowed one of Derek Trotter’s flat caps, but boy can he play darts. That statement was purely rhetorical, otherwise he wouldn’t be getting a mention here.
For almost a decade now, the Newcastle man has quietly plodded around the PDC circuit without ever looking remotely in danger of losing his Tour Card. In fact, he is in about as much peril of relinquishing his jungle status as a lion would be if challenged to a duel by an Etruscan shrew with a broken ankle.
Just two Pro Tour titles adorn Ryan’s résumé, both Players Championship triumphs. On the major stage, he’s enjoyed a couple of semi-final runs, while there have also been two near misses on the Euro Tour. The latest came at the Baltic Sea Darts Open, where he fell to Luke Woodhouse. Annoying for Ryan. Not so much for Woody.
If I had to pick three words to describe the highly-talented Joyce – and without a shred of sarcasm – I’d go with solid, placid and gritty. He’s the darts equivalent of a hard fought 1-0 victory. Somebody who often impresses. Just perhaps not on a fashion shoot or catwalk.
RYAN SEARLE
A couple of years younger than his namesake above, Searle is instantly recognisable on the oche, largely because he resembles a drummer who has ditched his sticks, wandered away from his band and somehow ended up throwing tungsten for a living.
Nicknamed Heavy Metal, it could be down to the fact his darts weigh more than a forklift truck being driven by a sumo wrestler, or perhaps his love of that particular genre of music. With Black Sabbath’s Paranoid as his walk-on tune and the appearance of a man who permanently belongs in a mosh pit it all fits into place.
Honours wise the Devonian is the more decorated of the two Ryan’s. Eight Players Championship titles sit proudly on his CV, including one during the current 2026 campaign. Like Joyce, the 38-year-old rocker has twice finished runner up in Euro Tour events. To make things even spookier, one of those near misses came very recently when Ross Smith edged him out at the International Darts Open. That was sheer misfortune as oppose to giving this article an even weirder sense of symmetry.
As for the majors, his best run ended in agonising fashion when Peter Wright snatched victory in a thrilling last leg decider in the 2021 Players Championship Finals. Ouch. On the plus side, it wasn’t exactly a long trek home, although that would have offered precious little comfort at the time.
One other thing worth mentioning with Searle is that he is visually impaired. We’re not talking Stevie Wonder levels of head swaying musical genius, merely someone who wasn’t blessed with the eyesight department when they were handing those out.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Being able to see is quite an important aspect of professional darts. And you’d be absolutely right. Having the eyesight of a bat wearing a sleep mask would be perfectly acceptable if you were, say, a food taster at Cadbury’s or a professional masseur, occupations which depend far more on other senses. But Ryan manages perfectly well.
After years of throwing tungsten at the same target, he generally knows where everything is. And if he’s ever unsure, he can always ask referees Owen Binks, Kirk Bevins or Huw Ware, who, rather ironically, unlike Ryan, wear glasses. That said, Heavy Metal prefers the contact lens route and, for someone who can see about as well as a dodgy Blackpool promenade fortune teller claims she can, he’s doing alright.
Welcome to the Hall of Fame, lads.
And if you think this whole thing is completely pointless, I’ll remind you that Willie O’Connor had a chuckle when he was inducted the other week and then promptly produced his best Pro Tour run in years. So think on.
