SHERR NOT READY YET
Icon Fallon doesn’t deserve PL place claim Part and Huybrechts
FALLON SHERROCK is tipped to become the first woman picked for the Premier League – although both John Part and Kim Huybrechts insist she doesn’t deserve a place yet.
The Queen of the Palace bowed out of the William Hill PDC World Championship in the first round against Steve Beaton before Christmas.
But Sherrock’s pulling power at the box office, in TV ratings and as a standard-bearer for female players, make the former hairdresser a tempting choice for Sky Sports and the Professional Darts Corporation, who pick six of the 10 Premier League players as wild cards.
Three-time world champion Part (bottom, right) – a Sky commentator who will be going to Q School later this month to try to regain his PDC tour card at 55 – insists the Premier League could be an “unforgiving” experience for her.
And outspoken Belgian Huybrechts, (top, right) whose two seasons on the Premier League roster saw him finish bottom of the pile in 2015 and 2017, says the “hype” around Sherrock does not match her achievements.
Defending champion Glen Durrant suffered a wipeout last season – played nine, lost nine – when the regular Thursday night travelling circus was forced behind closed doors in Milton Keynes.
Part, the Canadian who won the first world championship staged at Alexandra Palace in 2008, said: “Commercially, yeah, it would be good in a lot of ways to have Fallon in it, but I don’t think it would be good for Fallon.
“And I am not sure it is fair to the other players, and that is the biggest issue. You cannot undercut somebody that maybe is entirely deserving without question in favour of something which might be pure publicity. In some ways, that is bad publicity.”
Huybrechts warned: “She’s very good but the hype is getting a bit too big. Let the girl be who she wants to be. She’s got a whole lot of pressure now for a tour card at Q School. Let her play darts and do what she’s good at. Forget the media circus, just let her play darts.
“Premier League? She has a good chance with Sky. Does she deserve it? I don’t think so. There’s a whole lot of players that have done a lot better tournaments and they never got into the Premier League.”