I was a World Darts Championship finalist as 1,000-1 outsider – but now work as an electrician after crippling dartitis
KIRK SHEPERD once reached the World Darts Championship final as a 1,000-1 outsider.
But he is now working as an electrician after suffering from crippling dartitis.
Sheperd, 38, looked to have the world at his feet when he made the grand stage at Ally Pally back in 2008.
The ace was making just £5.25 an hour as a sheet metal factory worker when he realised his greatest dream.
Sheperd averaged 89.70 as he defeated Terry Jenkins, Peter Manley and Wayne Mardle.
His incredible run ended in the final as he lost 7-2 to John Part.
But that still didn’t stop Sheperd from becoming a new darts hero.
He told The Daily Star: “It was a fantastic run, one of the greatest weeks of my life.
“What kept me going was being the underdog – I was riding the wave, I went up on that stage fearless and relaxed because I had nothing to lose, and I didn’t want it to end.
“But I went from being a normal lad working in a factory to back-page headlines and a nice big pay cheque.”
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However, Sheperd freely admits that with fame and fortune came a new reckless lifestyle.
He added: “After that, the devil came for me. I went a bit doo-lally and got carried away by it all.
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“I went through a crazy phase because I had suddenly come into all this fame and didn’t know how to deal with it.
“I’d gone from nowhere to a big final, without reaching the last 16 or quarters of other competitions along the way, and I had nothing to fall back on by way of experience.
“In hindsight, reaching that final at Ally Pally was too much, too soon. It was my first-ever success at a major tournament and I wasn’t ready for it.”
Sheperd, who did not have a manager, soon began gambling and hitting the bottle.
It quickly affected his form on the oche.
Sheperd ended up living in squalor in a “flea-ridden one-bed flat” four years after his performance at the Worlds.
And as he also tumbled down the rankings, he ended up suffering from crippling dartitis – a mental block which prevents players from letting go of the arrows.
Sheperd explained: “I don’t know where it came from, but I haven’t picked up a dart in about three years. I was just stood there on the oche one day, I went to throw a dart and my arm wouldn’t go forward.
“I knew straight away what it was and tried to play through it, but I went to an event and got beat 6-0. I went home and told the missus, ‘I’ll never throw another dart again’.
“It was causing me stress and anxiety, this game I had been playing and all of a sudden it was giving me panic attacks.”
Sheperd eventually handed back his Tour card and became a recluse, failing to leave the house in 18 months.
But after counselling and support from the PDC and players’ union the PDPA, he is now in a “much better place”.
Kirk, who has qualified as an electrician and is father to three boys aged 16, 14 and seven, admits he could even pick up his darts once again.
He added: “I might have left darts, but darts has never left me.”