Sport
Michael Smith fears animals running riot on PDC Home Tour debut
As Colossus launch PDC Home Tour pools, Phil Lanning caught up with darts superstar Michael Smith ahead of his PDC Home Tour debut.
Michael Smith admits he fears his dogs and rabbits “running riot” when he makes his PDC Home Tour debut.
The World No.5 is a darting Dr Doolittle with a mini zoo at his St.Helens abode which he shares with wife Dagmara and oche stars of future kids Junior and Kasper.
Bully Boy, 29, joins the PDC Home Tour online streaming event tonight against Martijn Kleermaker, Harry Ward and Matt Clark.
But he revealed he’ll have to put his animals into their own lockdown, saying: “We have five dogs, three rabbits, two tortoises and all my Koi fish. So I’ve got to lock away the dogs and put the rabbits outside because I can’t have them running riot in the games room when I’m playing!”
“My boys would definitely want to be in on it too, so Junior will probably be in the games room with me when it’s live. I’ve got to lock all the kids and animals away in my own mini lockdown, it’s going to be hard.”
“It’s going to be weird playing on my own. There’s nothing there, you are trying to be competitive but there’s no one standing in front of you, just waiting to hear them shout their score. I’ve been playing online darts every day now anyway, so I’ve got used to it.”
Smith also believes darts could need VAR after a cheat storm broke out during a Jelle Klaasen online clash on Thursday night.
The former BDO world champion took out a 70 finish with tops but social media kicked off as some people claimed his dart didn’t go in the double 20. With poor camera quality, it was hard to tell if it had gone in or not. The Darts Regulation Authority confirmed they would not be investigating the incident.
Smith added: “It does bother me because players are cheating themselves more than anyone, it’s not a proper game. You rely on your talent that’s why I’ve never done tactics when I’m playing proper. If your talent’s not good enough, it’s not good enough.”
“I think tactics are cheating. Other players can try to put you off, that’s classed as cheating in my eyes. They are going to have to get VAR. Last night with Jelle because his camera was a bit poor, everyone went mad saying he’s cheating and he had to try and explain himself.”
“Now he’s going to get abuse for so long it’s going to be even worse. Now even when we go back playing everyone will be watching him closely. When you hear game shot, players will be double checking what’s he got and that’s unfair.”
Smith has also been raising money for his local hospital in St.Helens and personally delivering food and drink to frontline workers.
He said: “If we donated it, the real frontline workers won’t see it. Every other day we are going to Costco and bulk buying protein bars and drinks.
“We then drop them off directly to NHS hospital in St.Helens front door so all the key workers have go that food and drink waiting for them. We did that yesterday with £600 worth of stuff. I’ve still got £4,400 left.”
“I raised the money by doing two days of live stream playing people for £10 best of three, £20 best of five. I then did one raffle with Paul Gallagher from Preston North End and also with Daryl Clark from Warrington rugby league. I also did two raffles with all my stuff, signed shirts which went over £1,100 both times.”
“It’s not enough money for what the NHS need but it’s the least we can do at this moment in time to try and do something good.”
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