Doncaster darts star Darren Johnson hopes it's third time lucky at Lakeside 2025

The Mexborough thrower heads to the spiritual home of darts for this year's WDF World Championships looking to finally seal a victory there after losses in 2023 and 2024.

The 60-year-old spoke to the Free Press ahead of this year's event, which run from November 28 until December 7. "It's more of a hobby for me now but at the same time I've still got a World Championship to aim at," says Johnson, who is retired from work and who is first up on stage in Frimley Green this Saturday (November 29) when he faces New Zealand's Caleb Hope in the first round.

Whilst the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) circuit offers the bright lights and big crowds, as well as vast sums of prize money for the players, the WDF is an altogether different prospect.

Most players juggle playing and travelling to events around full-time work. The crowds are modest, the atmospheres are less shouty and the prize money is a world away from the riches of the PDC.

Johnson explains: "This year I've been to Switzerland, Belgium, Slovakia, Denmark - so there's a fair bit of travelling involved. I travel with other players which keeps the costs down when you can share a house or an airBnb rather than a hotel room on your own. But unless you're financially secure, there's no way you would be able to do all the tournaments and travel because the prize money is just not there.

"If you win a tournament you get barely £1,000 - but you do it for the love of the game, not the money."

For decades the Lakeside event came just after the New Year, which presented the obvious problem of following on from the PDC showpiece - of which the quality was undoubtedly higher, given the full-time nature of its participants.

It's now found a settled home in the late November to early December slot, and acts as a nice pot-boiler, so says Johnson, before the festive period hits and the Ally Pally extravaganza takes centre stage.

"I think the reason they changed it is that the event always followed the PDC Worlds and so obviously the standard in the PDC is much higher," he says. "Especially when you go from the Ally Pally final one day and the next it's a first round match at Lakeside. There's a big drop-off.

"So for me, this is an ideal time to play. You might get a few of the office party-types and extra ticket sales through that and then it's a good run-up to Ally Pally I guess. The Lakeside is the darts venue that most people, certainly my age, grew up watching."

Speaking of ages, it would be remiss to not mention two players at the opposite end of the scale to Johnson who are taking the darts world by storm.

Luke Littler has swept up pretty much every trophy out there since arriving on the scene in recent years whilst fellow young sensation - and another Donny thrower - Beau Greaves is also starting to turn heads in the PDC now.

Johnson says they are blazing a trail for more young superstars - and he has first-hand experience.

"There's been so many changes to the sport since I've started playing. Many people's first introduction to darts was in the pub and so they'd never play it until they were 18. Now, it's absolutely unbelievable because there's young kids everywhere.

"And they're brilliant players. There's academies all over the country now and there's even some kids aged nine or ten throwing nine-dart finishes.

"It's fantastic to see. I got beat a couple of months ago by Lawrie Mitchell, who was 14. He beat me in a final, with nearly a 100 average. He's another Littler!"

Johnson is particularly proud of Greaves' exploits. He adds: "I've played Beau since she was about 10 and even then you could tell there was something special about her. I'd play often against her at Balby Bridge WMC. Even at 12, 13 she was brilliant. It's incredible the level she's got to. And I genuinely think there's more to come. And I tell you, they are frightened to death of her!

"She's got the perfect temperament for darts, which will take her a long way."

As the Lakeside spotlight fast approaches, Johnson admits that stage nerves can come to the fore - even as he enters his seventh decade.

"The very first time up on stage I was shaking like a leaf!" he adds. "And I still get nervous, but you have to put yourself in that position more and more - don't hide away from it. The more you do it, the more you learn how to deal with it.

"It's a buzz. That adrenaline can sometimes bring the best out of you."

He'll certainly be hoping that is the case on Saturday afternoon.