Michael Smith says becoming world champion gave him the best year of his life – but now it leaves him with a £500,000 ranking problem.
Bully Boy finally reached the darting holy grail when he defeated Michael van Gerwen, in a match which included the famous ‘perfect leg’, to become 2023 champion and end years of pain.
Smith had previously reached two world finals and lost them both – and doubters suggested that he might never claim darts’ biggest prize.
But the stars aligned for him at Alexandra Palace and he was sure to celebrate – though he believes that is part of the reason why he has struggled to replicate the form since.
“The first 12 months after winning it were the best 12 months of my life,” Smith says. “I stepped away from darts, no Pro Tours, no Europeans, I just had fun. I must have had eight or nine holidays throughout the year, but in the last year I have been paying the price for that.
“I have been struggling to find different rhythms and different forms and also who I am as a person. It was a bit of a catch 22 really, trying to find it all again.
“But you know what, I’d do it all again. I just know the next time I win the Worlds, I am going to do a Humphries and keep on playing and playing and playing, because that guy is absolutely killing it.
“I did the wrong thing. I think it might have been because I had been to the final twice before and lost them both, so after I won it I just thought I’m going to go and enjoy myself now. It was immature, but I just wanted to have fun.”
The struggle for form since has left Smith set for a dramatic drop down the world rankings if he does not perform at Ally Pally this Christmas.
The £500,000 prize money that he won will be erased from the Order of Merit, given two years will have passed since his success.
But Smith insists that does not add any extra pressure going into this year’s tournament, despite the fact a poor run could provisionally leave him dropping as low down as 15th in the world rankings.
“The only pressure that is added to me is when I get asked the question about pressure,” he says. “Everyone else is thinking about me defending half a million, other than me. I am defending half a million but I don’t have to give it back if I get beaten in the first round. The money is still sat there safe, it is invested.
“I don’t give two flying… you know what I’m going to say! I think this is my 13th year at the Worlds and every single year I show up. I have had a couple of shockers in there but I’ve had three finals, more quarter-finals, some last 16s.
“The Worlds for me is the best thing. If I get beaten first round – which everyone might expect with the way I have been playing in the last couple of months – so what? It’s a free hit.
“Hopefully I win it, that’s my plan, but if I make quarters or semis, that is not what I want, I’m there to win things, but it would keep the bankroll and rankings ticking over.”
Smith is acutely aware of the challenge which faces him if he wants to become world champion once again. He does not have to play either Luke Humphries or Luke Littler until the final, given he is in the other side of the draw, but he knows the overall standard of the game has drastically improved – particularly in the past year.
Smith says: “I think when Michael and I played that perfect leg, we took it to another level, but since then, the two Lukes have taken it to another level yet again.
“You see the kids now, like Wessel Nijman, he is unreal; look at the Grand Slam, he had about a 107 tournament average and didn’t win a game. He will get his chance and that opportunity. We have all worked for it, it doesn’t just happen overnight, so as long as he knows that, he will get there.
“The thing with darts right now though is that there are even more kids coming and we don’t know them yet. With the JDC things, there’s probably a 12-year-old kid out there now who is banging in 100 averages. That is the frightening thing about darts.”
As darts continues to grow, there have been murmurings from Barry Hearn that Matchroom and the PDC might have to look to leave Ally Pally in order to let the sport reach its full potential.
But Smith pleads for management not to move – and fears the unique atmosphere would not be able to be recreated elsewhere.
“Ally Pally is the pinnacle,” he says. “As soon as the final is done on the 3rd January, you have the fourth off and then on the 5th you start getting ready for Ally Pally next year.
“I saw an article about wanting more fans and it might be a different venue, but I think it would be criminal if you take Ally Pally away from darts. It might not be what Barry or Eddie (Hearn) think, but it is what I think.
“It is the same with going to Blackpool for Winter Gardens (for the World Matchplay). That is all you know it by.
“My youngest boy is seven and he doesn’t say ‘you won the World Championship’, he says ‘you won Ally Pally’. That is all they know.
“We have to stay there and I’ll say it again, it is the pinnacle of our sport. I really hope it does stay there, the fans there are the best in the world. You see so many costumes out there.
“I never look out in the crowd but the one time I did, I heard a cheer and I looked over, saw the Jamaican bobsleigh team running up and down the aisle with a cardboard bobsleigh, it was one of the best things I have ever seen.
“That is what you are guaranteed to see at the Worlds with Ally Pally, everyone having a party, it’s Christmas and you get to see the best 96 players in the world.”
