"Darts is in my blood so hopefully I’ll be around for a few more years yet" - Steve Beaton reacts to end of professional career after failure to qualify for Ally Pally

Sadly there will be no fairytale farewell to the legendary professional career of Steve Beaton. In his final season on the PDC Pro Tour before retirement, the 60-year-old Englishman failed to quality for the World Darts Championship via the last chance qualifier on Monday, bringing an end to his career.

The 1996 BDO world champion at Lakeside, Beaton has been an ever present at World Championships for more than three decades, holding the record for the most consecutive appearances at the season ending showpiece of the darting calendar with 33 straight showings. After a last leg decider loss to Darren Beveridge in his opening match of the last chance qualifier for this year's edition, that legendary streak has sadly been snapped.

"Can’t really say much about today I’ve tried like always but life moves on," the Bronzed Adonis reflected afterwards in a post on his official social media. "Got to say a huge thank you to everyone for all the support as always. By the way I’m only slowing things down a bit - hate to say it but we all get older."

Whilst, as mentioned, this does bring an end to the professional career of Beaton, his time spent playing competitive darts is not yet complete. The 60-year-old has already been announced as a competitor at next year's World Seniors Darts Championship and given the fact Beaton did more than enough to keep his PDC Tour Card if he'd wanted, he'll surely start as one of the pre-tournament favourites.

"Darts is in my blood so hopefully I’ll be around for a few more years yet," he concludes. It seems also though, that despite his retirement, Beaton has completely shut the door on PDC darts. "See how 2025 goes maybe I’ll have to come back again," Beaton's message finishes intriguingly.