The town's abuzz about Darkness's darts bid
A local darts enthusiast for two decades, he’ll be making a long-promised bid to win a coveted professional ‘tour card’ for the biggest darts competitions across Europe. He has entered the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) European Qualification School, being held at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan.
If he succeeds, Michael will not only be top of the heap in The Spout Bar, but will become yet another international sports representative from Kilcullen for his home town to cheer. As it has already done in boxing, canoeing, archery and athletics.
“I think I’m good enough to do it, though it’s a tough one,” the Conroy Park man told the Diary today. “There’ll be 450 others, many of them professionals from across the UK, playing to win one of the 12 tour cards that’ll be given out.”
It’s a four-day effort, and getting through the critical first one will be a key hurdle. “Once you lose a game, you’re gone until the next day. I’ll need to build up enough win points in the competition to make it to the semis or finals, to get a card.”
Michael says he only got serious about competition in the last two years or so. Then he started winning league competitions and people took notice. “Yeah, I know I’m late to it,” the father of two admits. “I've been saying for years that I’d go for it, but only got around to doing it now.” Probably because his friends in The Spout were slagging him about not following through in previous years.
Now that he’s actually made the move, they’re still slagging him. But that’s part of the very collegiate ethos of The Spout and its regulars.
Michael acknowledges strong support from local businesses to help with the expenses of the Wigan trip — the entry fee alone is £450. “They’ve been great, and there’s a great buzz around town about it.” There’s a excitement at home too, especially with his 10-year-old youngest. “The young lad's buzzin', can't believe everyone's talking about it.”
Darts is in one of its popular periods at the moment, shown not least in the recent bespoke throwing area set up in The Spout as part of a revamped band space. “It was always strong here, but what’s particularly good at the moment is seeing the number of younger lads throwing.”
The Wigan event may conceivably open for Michael an opportunity to compete in high stakes competition with some of the top throwers in the UK and Europe. That could be intimidating. “Not really,” he says with a wry smile. “Pressure doesn't bother me at all, I love it. I’ll do my best, and I think I can do it. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn't, it doesn't.”
Whatever the result is in two weeks’ time, Michael will have gone for it. That’s the important achievement. Besides, players who don't win a Tour Card will become PDPA Associate Members and can compete on the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour in 2020, including an extra one added for September 19-20 in Wigan.
The European Qualification School competition will be streamed on the PDC website. There isn’t a facility for a supporters group to go to Wigan, but they'll certainly be watching Michael and cheering back home in Kilcullen.
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