England Darts would like to congratulate all the players who have been selected to represent England for the forthcoming Internationals in 2024.
The changing face and opportunities within the darts scene in England, has made the task of trimming down the many talented players we have in England into the final squads very challenging, and as always everyone will have their own ideas of who should be included, but with the changing face of darts, England need to focus on players who support our system and our events during the year.
Traditionally the county setup has been a mainstay of information used in the process, but rules which were in place during the BDO days where the three countries were affiliated into the county system, and as a result were partially financially supported by the then county system, and more importantly the three countries having a voice into the rules and administration of county darts.
Unfortunately this is not the situation now, which has resulted in our original continuing support of County Darts and the processes we put in place in good faith, are now working against the players being able to achieve the minimum standards we published three years ago in support of the county scene.
Both 2023 and 2022 have been very successful years for our international teams at British, European, 6 Nations and most recently at the World Cup last October in Denmark, along with the fantastic efforts of our Youth Boys and Girls Teams who have dominated at World & Europe Cups, entirely due to our England Youth Grand Prix series, so it becomes ever so difficult in maintaining and defending these historic achievements of our previous squads.
Whilst we thank our previous squads and wish all those who have worn the shirt with pride and honour the very best for the future, and hopefully they continue to support England Darts, we are now are 100% focused on the new squads who will wear the famous shirts into 2024.
England are the most successful Country in World Darts, however maintaining this into the future is reliant on support at events England are involved in organising and funding by all dart players, so please irrespective of whatever other events are in the calendar in 2024, try and support the odd few weekends we run Isle of Man, England Open and British Open events.
Tommy Thompson
Chairman England Darts
