Darts interview: Fallon 'Queen of the Palace' Sherrock on her Ally Pally record, receiving an MBE and more
On the eve of the World Championship, sportsboom.com spoke to Fallon Sherrock about changing the game, her love for Alexandra Palace, meeting Prince William, and what advice she'd give young girls hoping to follow in her footsteps.
On how far she's come
"I am so proud of myself, what I've done, you know, everything. Take me back a few years ago, I'd be like, no, I'll never do anything like that. It's so exciting to go back to Ally Pally and relive all the memories and just be involved in all of it because it's changed my life. It's changed the women's game, it's changed darts in general; the whole world knows about it more now.
"I always thought it'd be like Lisa or Trina or you know, Anastasia or anyone like that. They were always the like pioneers for the women's game. Like it was always seeing them on the TV and stuff, and I remember growing up and I was like, okay, right, I wanna kind of play darts as well and all that, but I never thought I'd be the one that kind of changed everything."
On winning at the World Championship
"I've always been like good at playing darts. I remember we had the qualifiers for the Worlds and I'd seen the year prior Lisa come through the qualifiers and Anna play it and I see them play on TV and I was like, I really, really want to do that. I wanna play at Ally Pally, like they have.
"So I played in the qualifiers the next year and I was so determined that I was practicing so much. And I was like, okay. So then when I qualified I was so happy. But yeah, I was like, I want to do this, I wanna do this. I didn't expect it to change the way it did.
"I thought it was just a game of darts, you know, and then I won the game and within, I don't know, it must have been about 10 minutes, I don't even think I've got off the stage. And my manager said, the whole world's got mental, everything just like went insane and I never thought that would've happened for me just playing a game of darts. To me it's just darts.
"They put me straight into the press room and then when they were sitting there saying, oh, this person's tweeted, this person's tweeted, I was (like) sorry, what was going on here? And I I think when I got back to see my mum and dad they were so happy and that, but it was really when I got back to the hotel, that it all sunk in because they were like, oh, you've gotta go on Good Morning Britain at six o'clock in the morning. And this is like, I don't know, like one o'clock in the morning I'm like, oh my god, I've gotta be up in a few hours.
"And it literally from the next day it was like bang, bang, bang each interview. Like I cannot remember that next day at all. It was just so manic. And I think I was at one of them, one of the interviews and Twitter had actually gave me a blue tick and that was all I ever wanted. I wanted my blue tick and that was it. That was me done. I was like, right. That's how I know the whole world's changed."
On getting an MBE
"Oh, I was so nervous getting it. I was like, because I didn't know they didn't tell you who you were gonna meet. So we were there and then they said it was like Prince William. So I obviously I wanna meet the king, everyone wants to meet the king, but the main person I actually did wanna meet was William.
"I remember I was in these heels, I'm in this dress and my feet are hurting because I've walked so much. And I was like, right, okay, don't, you know, mess up, don't fall over. Like, just think. And I literally froze when, when he went to like, you know, he goes to speak to you. And I was like, I froze. I've never been so nervous. I'd rather play on Ally Pally. I was just speechless.
"Do you know what the worst bit is? They put us in a room and they were telling you all of this and I couldn't hear what was going on. Like it was kind of like echoing. And I was like, oh, just follow the next person in front of me. Like that'd be fine, I'll just follow what they're do. And they literally called my name out as the first person. I was like, oh no, this could only happen to me. I dunno what I'm doing. I'm just gonna have to wing this."
On the women's game
"I do think with the standard of the women's game now, it is gotten a lot better than what it was a few years ago. I do think there's only a few players that probably could compete against the men on a regular basis but give it a couple more years when there's more women able to hit high 90 averages and stuff.
"I think now the men's game as well is getting higher and higher. The levels are just increasing. So I do think you need to kind of run about a 95 to a hundred average consistently to even keep up with them. But the women in a few years will get better.I reckon probably another five years or something.
"Obviously the more opportunities that women get, that's where it's gonna happen. And that's why I give it, you know, a few more years, five years and stuff like that. Because the more opportunities we get, the more match practice you're gonna get on the big stages."
On advice for young girls
"I'd say join like a youth club or something because that's what I did. And you learn to enjoy it. You start with your local leagues and stuff, learning the game and that. But then when you start joining like a youth team and that's when you get all the like younger kids, like same ages, you know, they're all talking about the same stuff. They're all like playing games with you on the practice boards and stuff and you learn to enjoy it.
"Then you wanna go to darts, then you wanna, oh okay, realise, oh I'm quite good. I'm gonna go to local competitions. And then that's when it starts spiralling into something. Yeah, just having the whole thing of I'm gonna go play and enjoy it and want to go is the main thing."
On social media abuse
"I've just learned to kind of like ignore it or not. But I think that's just social media in general. I think a lot of people hide behind their social media accounts, because they never say it to you in person. With today's society and all that they, what people put online is like not very nice anyway.
"They just pick and pick and pick. We should be able to do whatever we want without getting hate.
"I just ignore it. I don't go on my social (media). I use it if I need to, but like my comments and you know, inboxes, nothing like that. I don't read them. People can message all they want, but I'm not gonna read it.
"But I've just had to kind of learn how to deal with that. I mean, at the start I'd read everything and it get demoralising and stuff. I think with, like I said, with today's society, it's gonna happen regardless which sport you play, who you are.
"I mean even the top players get it and they, you know, they could be winning world titles repetitively, but they'll still get it."
On Alexandra Palace
"I just thrive on it because it gives you kind of like a buzz and like with the electric atmosphere, it kind of gives you like an adrenaline rush as well. But it's just so good to kind of be part of, as long as you don't get kind of dragged into it all, especially when they start singing songs.
"If you start singing songs with 'em and stuff, you get distracted and then obviously that's when everything goes wrong. But in general, if you sit there and kind of thrive off it, like I do, I love it. I just, to me, I can't hear anything. Like, to me it's like a whole big blur and it's amazing.
"I don't look out. I'll be honest, if I started looking out, I'd be like probably distracted and stuff. I don't know if anyone's dressed up in a fancy dress or if they're normal or where someone is.
"I actually live about an hour away. I don't live too far. I live in Milton Keynes. It's another city like London obviously just not as manic. So during Ally Pally I'll stay at home. Then obviously the day before I'm supposed to play, I'll go down the night before or the day before kind of get into the, you know, do any interviews that I need to do or anything like that and just kind of get into the atmosphere, do all that before and then chill and then play with darts.
"I never used to wear pink. I remember I used to wear blue and I used to love my blue shirt and stuff like that. And it was because Kuru played before me at the world. She wore a blue shirt before I did. And I was like, she's got a blue shirt on. I did not wanna go up in the same colour, so I put my other pink one on and obviously then it's now stuck.
"Now it's like my lucky colour so I'm not gonna change it!"