Leonard Gates’ inspiration for Ally Pally antics | Other | Sport
For the third time in four years, Leonard Gates stole the hearts of the Alexandra Palace crowd. The United States native, who appeared at the PDC World Championship in 2022 and 2024, went up against Mickey Mansell in his first round tie on Friday afternoon.
Going in as the outsider for his third successive Ally Pally encounter, Gates knew he needed to perform well to give himself the best chance of beating world No.45 Mansell – but he also knew the fans were always going to be on his side.
As soon as Gates strolled up to start his walkout, the crowd were hooked. Chants of ‘USA, USA, USA’ could be heard around the palace while he signed autographs and took photographs. And then when Gates walked on to “Too Hot ta Trot” by The Commodores, the noise level inside the arena went up another notch.
He walked on to the Ally Pally stage shaking his hips from side to side, moving his shoulders so smooth like he was on Strictly Come Dancing and pointing his fingers in the air with a beaming smile on his face. But when Gates got up the steps and started to make his way across to the oche, not many could believe what happened next.
The 55-year-old, nicknamed the ‘Soulger’, grabbed a pair of skiing goggles from his pocket and stuck them on. ‘Iconic’ was the word used in the press room and that is the perfect word to describe it, as Gates ambled across the stage and danced at every opportunity, giving the 3,000+ crowd inside Ally Pally a real show-stopper performance.
As Mansell was about to come on stage, Gates continued to dance, throwing his arms up in the air and getting his final act in before his opponent emerged. You could tell the he was having the time of his life – even if he had a huge task on his hands.
But Gates didn’t let nerves impact him at all. He got out of the blocks and took the first set in a fifth leg decider, averaging close to 98 and hitting six 140+s.
Although Mansell nabbed the second set to level it 1-1, Gates produced another stunning set to re-take the lead, producing a 99.6 average and hitting five 140+s.
However, the pendulum swung once again as Mansell took the fourth set to make it 2-2 and take a tense affair into a fifth and deciding set.
But, as he has shown on a number of occasions in the past, Gates bounced back and stormed to a 3-0 win in legs in the fifth set, sealing a 3-2 win against Mansell.
Overall, Gates averaged close to 87 and hit just 27.8 per cent of his doubles – a return that will need to improve if he wants to progress further.
For now, though, Gates will just be enjoying another memorable showing – both on and off the oche – at Ally Pally.
After hitting the winning double, Gates couldn’t help but to get his goggles back on before printing a stamp on the scorepaper at the side of the darts board. He is a show-stopper and this was the latest piece from the San Antonio star.
“This is my third year here and I know the crowd is feeling the ‘Soulger’. So it’s a confidence-booster, it’s a wonderful crowd, both whether they are for or against you,” Gates said in his post-match press conference. “They are just great, it’s as simple as that.”
“From the first year I came here and how I saw they accepted me, whatever antics I did and they started chanting, ‘USA’, I knew they liked me,” Gates added. “It’s definitely a plus that I have the crowd on my side. That is wonderful.”
Next up for Gates is the winner of Nathan Aspinall’s clash against Lourence Ilagan on Friday night. Gates will be eyeing up a place in the third round for the first time – having been knocked out at that stage in his previous two attempts – with his last coming against Aspinall in December 2024.
When asked about the propositition of coming up against Aspinall, Gates said: “When we’re in the back room I’m going to follow him round, I’m going to shadow him and going to let him know my hand is in your pocket.
“I’m going to do something to disturb him and throw him off of his game…”
