Darts: Snakebite's kit as sharp as his arrows

Hairdresser Joanne Wright gets husband Peter's Mohawk pointing the right way before the big tournament. Photo / Nick Reed

World's most colourful darts player lugs 12 stage outfits with him around the globe.

Darts being the game it is, the world's best players travel very light, equipment-wise.

In the case of Scottish star Peter "Snakebite" Wright, think again. Wright, his wife, Jo, and her father needed 10 suitcases for the PDC Darts Masters tour, which concludes with a star-studded tournament at Auckland's Trusts Arena, starting tomorrow night.

That's because Wright, the world number four, is the sport's showman with an eye for fashion that mixes early punk rock with Crunchy the Clown.

He packed 12 stage outfits for the four tournaments in Japan, Australia and Auckland, while hairdresser Jo needs a huge array of products such as hair extensions, dyes, spray cans, glitter and three airbrush machines. It's all used to create a character essential to the 44-year-old's success.

The garish outfits, Mohawk hair and skull-art scream extrovert, but don't be fooled. Jo says Wright is a shy bloke who thrives via his colourful and demonstrative stage character. She lovingly spends nearly four hours doing the hair and body art before every competitive outing and explains, "I was sick and tired of him losing on stage.

"The only way to get him to play good was to build him up on to cloud nine. I'm not just doing his hair for three or four hours. It's knowing what to say, to give him confidence."

Peter 'Snakebite' Wright in all his glory at the Sydney Darts Masters. Photo / Russell Pritchard for PDC

Wright, a world championship finalist two years ago with $2 million in winnings, says: "I suppose people have split personalities - that is the person I would like to be all the time. I'm pretty shy until the character comes out to play.

"I used to watch the darts years ago and everyone was roughly the same. I said if I made it, I wanted to stand out, to be something different."

Wright doesn't drive, so Jo ferries him everywhere. As his unofficial sports psychologist, if the carrot isn't working, she wields a stick named unwelcome social commitments.

"In Germany once I said if he lost early I was taking him to a beauty show to meet [singer] Peter Andre. It didn't work that time and he had to meet Peter. That was comical."

But it's her make-up skills that are most obvious. When Wright was taken with their daughter's hair design seven years ago, Jo agreed to give him a low-key blue hair-rinse that has grown like topsy. It now includes painting his trademark "Snakebite" on one side of his head, and a design matching his clothes on the other. Loudmouth sportswear, whose other famous client is golf's John Daly, provide the outfits.

If some scoffed at first, opponents and darts icons like Eric Bristow might now offer mild support according to Wright.

"I think deep down, some were jealous they didn't think of it first."