Jonny Clayton ended up in a car chase after his celebrity friend landed him in hot water… ‘He’s going mental’

EXCLUSIVE: Jonny Clayton couldn’t believe what was happening after his friend sparked a road rage incident.

While he’s made many a fantastic memory in darts, some of his wildest moments have occurred away from the spotlight.

Jonny Clayton and Nigel Owens ended up in a car chase

Long before he ever became a darts phenom, Jonny Clayton played rugby and football, with the Welshman showcasing his skills on the field rather than the oche.

In his younger years, he formed a tight bond with Nigel Owens, who’d go on to have a very successful career as a rugby referee.

However, while they’ve both achieved an enormous amount, in their teenage years, they once found themselves in a spot of bother.

In an exclusive interview with Sporf, via Ask Gamblers, the 2021 Premier League darts champion reminisced: “I could write a book about Nigel. We are best friends, and he’s just one of a kind.

“I remember playing football as an under-16. Nigel had just passed his test, and he had this little yellow car, a Honda Civic.

“You could have seen it from the moon. — so we were playing football down Swansea kind of way. We got battered. We’re back in the car, travelling home, and Nigel thinks that he’s some kind of driver. And he’s not the best driver. Why he sits behind the wheel of a tractor, I’ll never, ever know. But in this little Honda Civic, there’s like four of us in there.

“He thinks there’s a gap on this roundabout, and he says I’m getting through it. If we were on a pushbike, we wouldn’t have got through that gap. So he bumps this guy’s bumper off the back of his car. And you’re thinking, ‘This guy’s going mental, isn’t he’?

“So he’s reversed, and he’s chasing us down the road. Obviously, all of us in the car were only young, so Nigel pulls over because this guy is going mental.

“He’s on the side of us. He gets out of the car, and Nigel says, ‘I’m really sorry, really sorry’. Now, this guy is giving him what for; he’s proper telling him off.

“So Nigel’s up against the car, we’re inside the car, and we are kids, really. So anyway, the guy, after giving it to Nigel, shouting, swearing, whatever, giving him what for, jumps back in the car and off he goes.

“Now, Nigel jumps back in the car, and he said to us, ‘See that? That’s the way you handle situations. He’s s— himself and look, he’s gone’.

“I’ve never laughed so much in my life because Nigel, I think he was nearly s—— himself. It was so funny. It was really good.”

Jonny Clayton mocked Gerwyn Price before winning the World Cup of Darts

Together, Clayton and Gerwyn Price, have won the World Cup of Darts for Wales twice.

And ahead of their first-ever match as a team, ‘The Ferret’ made a playful jibe at his friend’s expense.

Clayton chuckled: “We won the World Cup, and it was a special moment, and to be a part of it with ‘Gezzy’ was fantastic.

“But I remember the first time I played in the World Cup, and it’s just banter between myself and Gezzy, just messing about backstage, whatever. So, we go down ready to play, and I was talking in Gezzy’s ear, and I said, ‘Could you do me one favour? Can you walk on first’? And he goes, ‘Why is that, Jonny’? I said, ‘Well, I’ve never been booed in my life, and I don’t want to start here today’.

“He just laughs at that, and we went on, and we had a great career in the World Cup. Hopefully it carries on because lifting the World Cup with Gezzy is brilliant.”

Featured Image Credit: Taylor Lanning/PDC