Dartoid’s Column

Monday, September 14, 2026
Column 724
The Soulger. the Showman and the Man Behind the Dance

Let’s get the uncomfortable part out of the way first.

I have said Leonard Gates should be banned from darts. I said it publicly. I meant it. But how Gates’ behavior might be dealt with is up to the …

Monday, August 31, 2026
Column 723
Darts in Nepal

Sadly, it seems now is an appropriate time to rerun this 20-year-old column…

The Indian Airlines Airbus A-340 touched-down gently at Tribhuvan Field outside Nepal. The temperature was a welcome 75 degrees, downright chilly compared to my last stop in the sweltering New Delhi heat. Around …

Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Column 722
Celebrating the life of Kelly “Rags” Ragland

I’ve written far too many of these – columns about people from the darts world who were here one day and, suddenly, weren’t. This is one I never expected to write.

Kelly “Rags” Ragland died on August 5. He was only 58 …

Saturday, August 1, 2026
Column 721
The Absurdity of Banning Lawn Darts While Celebrating Holidays with Explosives

Every Independence Day, millions of Americans celebrate by setting off – or gathering to watch – explosives. It’s a tradition so familiar that few people question it. We simply accept the injuries, deaths, fires, pollution, terrified animals, sleepless …

Thursday, July 30, 2026
Column 720
Beat Luke. Win a Half-million Quid!

On October 30, Netflix will give twenty ordinary British darts players the opportunity of a lifetime… or, depending on your point of view, the opportunity to be publicly humiliated.

The concept is gloriously simple.

Beat Luke Littler in a single leg of 501… …

Saturday, July 18, 2026
Column 719
John Lowe MBE – the Classiest Man in Darts

I first met John Lowe in the mid-1990s at an exhibition he and Cliff Lazerenko staged on Cape Cod following the Witch City Open. Like just about every player in the room, I was a little awestruck.

At the time, …

Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Column 718
Darts in the Olympics?

Recently, I woke up, poured a cup of coffee, and learned – somewhere between the second sip and my dogs demanding breakfast – that flag football is now an Olympic sport.

Flag football!

In the Olympic Games!

Now, I don’t want to sound unreasonable (at …

Monday, June 29, 2026
Column 717
John Part – a memory for your birthday (has it really been 23 years!)

In 1999, I sat down in a bar outside of Toronto to interview John Part. He’d won the Embassy in 1994, was ranked 6th by the World Darts Federation and was holding down the number …

Monday, June 1, 2026
Column 716
The Old Guard, the New Breed… and the Space In Between

There was a time – not all that long ago, though it now feels like it belongs to a different century – when a professional darts player looked like he’d just wandered in from a long afternoon at …

Monday, May 11, 2026
Column 715
Dartoid’s Book – Get It While It’s HOT!

I went hunting the other day…

Not for trouble (though that has a way of finding me), and not for a d16 (though that continues to elude me), but for a book by my late friend George Silberzahn – a man …