Richie Burnett: Former world champion's 'last dance' on the oche

Former world champion Richie Burnett says he is heading for a "last dance" on the oche as he prepares to return to the PDC ProTour.

Burnett, 54, won his PDC tour card back at qualifying school in Milton Keynes in January, and will be involved when the 2022 ProTour starts in Barnsley on 5 February with the first Players Championship of the year.

He was one of 32 out of more than 650 players to win a tour card and secure a spot on the PDC circuit for 2022 and 2023.

Burnett's is quite some comeback story. He has suffered in the past with depression and served a drugs ban, while he came through Q-school despite a knee problem which left him struggling to walk.

"It was tough. I couldn't walk for three days beforehand going up there and I couldn't lock my leg," he says.

"So when my leg could lock again after the first day I thought 'I've got to make the most of this'. I did and I was absolutely over the moon.

"There's always something wrong with me - that's the way I am. It gives me something to moan about it and actually it kept my mind off the darts and helped in a crazy way.

"But maybe you have to be crazy sometimes to do these things. Everybody in the darts world will say you don't get crazy from me, but you get a little bit close."

Richie Burnett reached three BDO world darts championship finals in the 1990s

28 years not out

Burnett first played darts in the BDO back in 1994. He won the 1995 World Championship on his debut, defeating current PDC world champion Peter Wright on the way to lifting the title.

He started playing PDC tournaments in 1997 and his best result was reaching the World Matchplay final in 2001.

The player from Cwmparc in the Rhondda Valley has struggled with depression and hit rock bottom in 2015 when he was banned from the sport for 18 months after testing positive for cocaine.

"You get a bit embarrassed thinking back, but that's where you were at the time so there isn't much you can do about it," he says.

Burnett is no longer in that place and is proud of how he has turned his life around and got back to what he loves doing - playing darts.

"I'm a strong enough person to come out of it and here I am," he adds.

"I only look forward and never look back. Maybe this ProTour might be a big help for me or it might not, but at least I've got the chance and that's what I'm proud of."

This is not Burnett's first comeback. He won a tour card at Q-School back in 2017 after completing his ban but dropped off the tour in 2018.

This time he says he is in a better place mentally.

"I wasn't ready to give darts up, I've got to give it one more go," he says.

"It's my last dance. As long as I try my best - and I'm practising like you wouldn't believe - I'm just looking forward to it."

Burnett turns 55 next week but is not the oldest player on the tour this year - Scotland's Ross Montgomery, 59, also won a tour card at Q-School.

With all his experience, Burnett is under no illusions about how challenging life on tour can be.

"You've got to be on it and I'm going to try my damnedest and try 100%, that's all I can do," he says.

Wright's world championship triumph last month at the age of 51 proved that if the talent is there, darts is not only a young player's sport.

"I feel like 51, some days I feel like 41 and after the weekend I wake up on a Monday morning and feel like I'm 71!" Burnett says with a smile.

"Age doesn't matter. Experience is everything in darts and I've got that in abundance."

Richie Burnett beat Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 to win the 1995 World Darts Championship at Lakeside

Burnett is a popular figure amongst fellow players, with fellow Welshman and current world number eight Jonny Clayton thrilled to see him back on tour.

"He's one of the characters of darts, he's so funny and he's got stories after stories," says the reigning Premier League champion.

"He's one of my friends in darts but as a player he's fantastic and for Wales it's absolutely brilliant too.

"Richie will be coming out this year with a bit of a bee in his bonnet, he'll want to do well, so we'll have to look out for him."

Ally Pally return?

Burnett does not want to set targets for the year ahead.

He does though acknowledge that he would love to walk onto the oche again at Alexandra Palace, home of the World Darts Championship.

Success on the ProTour could lead to qualification for darts' flagship event.

"Hopefully by the halfway line of the year, if I'm in a good position, I'll see if it's feasible or not," he says.

"I know it's difficult but I know if I give 100% I can look myself in the mirror and say I've done my best and that's all I'm going to do.

"I'm hoping to keep in good health, have a good knee, a good head and enjoy myself and make people laugh along the way. If I have a laugh as well, I know they will."