“I just burst into tears” – Scott Williams reveals devastating dartitis low after 12-match losing run

Scott Williams has revealed that he broke down in tears during a ProTour event as his battle with dartitis left him questioning how he could continue earning a living from the game.

The former World Championship semi-finalist went 12 Players Championship events without winning a match during a punishing period in which he struggled to release the dart. Even victory offered little relief, with Williams recalling how he walked away from the board and cried in front of his wife and manager after beating Tyler Thorpe.

“It got so bad. I cried on a ProTour,” Williams told Online Darts during Operation Bullseye at Bradmore Farm. “I beat Tyler Thorpe 6-4 and I had five bullseye checkouts, and not through the normal routes either. I had 114 and ended up on the bull. On 80, I went for tops-tops, hit a 20 and thought: ‘No, you know what? Ten, bullseye,’ and hit it."

“I hit five bullseye checkouts against him and then just walked away. I was struggling so badly. I sat down and my wife was there, along with Rab, my manager, and I just burst into tears," he added. “I don’t know why I was doing it or how it happened. I just became so emotional.”

Williams suffered another emotional breakdown after losing 6-4 to Andrew Gilding soon afterwards, having felt capable of winning the match comfortably. “I played Andrew Gilding, I think it was the next day, in the first game,” he recalled. “I lost 6-4 and I could easily have won it 6-0. Again, I burst out crying because it was so tough. The thing that I love nearly as much as my family and football had caused me so much pain and aggravation.”

Williams estimated that he had earned only £10,000 to £12,000 on the tour during the year, with his release problems repeatedly following him into competition. “It has been tough trying to get through everything. Mentally, it is so difficult,” he said. “Then you have people constantly putting you down over it and not believing you. They see it and go: ‘Oh, mate, he’s putting it on.’ I can assure you, I wasn’t putting it on. I’ve earned £10,000 or £12,000 on the tour this year, which is not good enough. That is down to not being able to release the dart and throw it properly, and constantly thinking about it.”

The results left Williams confronting the financial consequences of losing the throw on which his livelihood depended. “I went through three months, I think it was, where I played 12 ProTours without winning a game,” he continued. “That was the first time I had ever done that and it was so difficult."

“Luckily, I have sponsors and other money coming in from different revenue streams, but you still think: ‘How am I meant to survive if I can’t throw this dart?’" he recalls. “That has pushed me. The motivation to do things for my family has really helped.”

Nathan Aspinall approached Williams during a tournament in Leicester after enduring his own highly publicised problems with releasing the dart. "I didn’t need to, actually. Nath came to me,” Williams said. “He was going back through it a little bit himself."

“We were in Leicester and we had both lost in the first round. I think he was going out to watch a football match, but he called me over in the lobby. We chatted for 15 or 20 minutes. I had a couple of my friends there as well and we were all talking about it.”

Williams also explored hypnotherapy but stopped after concluding that he had not fully accepted it could work for him. “I started doing hypnotherapy, but personally, I didn’t feel like it was the thing that would help me,” he explained. “It has helped Stephen Bunting, I know that for a fact, and it has been helping Nathan."

“For me personally, I don’t think I allowed my head to believe that it could work, so I stopped doing it. But I’ve got through it myself and we’re going to see how the next two or three months go.”

Williams believes darts’ rapid growth has intensified expectations not only on professionals, but also on children being tipped for future success. “Before Luke Littler turned up, it was just a game people played in the pub,” he said. “People got pissed, threw some darts and had a good time. It also happened to be a sport everyone loved watching at Christmas."

“Then Luke did what he did and suddenly people are going: ‘Jesus Christ, we’ve got a five-year-old who could be a millionaire by the time he’s 18. We’ve got a 10-year-old with good hand-eye coordination, maybe he could do it.’”

Williams sponsors several young players and has seen the effect of those expectations at local level. “There are a couple of lads close to me who I sponsor, and they have been going through it because they are being placed under so much pressure locally,” he said. “They are 14, 15 or 16 and are expected to go out and do big things so quickly."

“It is affecting everyone. Even with me, I’m expected to win. This supports my family. It is my living and how I earn my money. If I don’t win, I don’t take any money home.”

Williams first believed he was emerging from the problem during a European Tour qualifier in Wigan. He produced several encouraging performances before reaching the last 16 against Luke Woodhouse, only for the release issue to return one week later.

“I felt like I was getting through it,” he recalled. “I reached the last 16 against Luke Woodhouse in Wigan and I was throwing really well that day. I had a couple of really good wins and felt like I was doing better."

“I changed a few things and thought: ‘Okay, this is where we’re at,’" he recalls. “Then I came back to it a week later and I was just as bad again. I thought: ‘Are you serious?’”

A more lasting improvement followed the closure of the darts shop Williams had opened the previous year. Running the business had taken away much of the time he previously used for practice.

“I started a shop last year and ended up having to give that up because I realised it was taking up so much of my free time,” he explained. “I didn’t have as much time to practise or do other things. It wasn’t my job, it was my hobby, so I’d made darts my hobby as well as my job, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do.”

Clearing the stock and leaving the premises allowed Williams to rebuild his practice routine. “There was a point when I physically got rid of the shop, cleared all the stock and gave up the premises,” he said. “Once I started practising again, I remember thinking: ‘This is so much easier than I remember. So much easier.’”

Williams has also lost two stone and believes both his physical condition and performances are moving in the right direction. “I feel unbelievable. I feel good in myself and good about my game,” he said. “I’m practising up there and the guys are watching, going: ‘Jesus, where has this come from?’ I’m saying: ‘I’ve just been practising, trying and loving the game again,’ which I haven’t done for a year or so.”

Qualification for the World Championship remains his main target, while the Players Championship Finals and European Tour also feature in his plans. “It has been really, really tough, but I still believe I can qualify for the Players Championship Finals. That would be great,” Williams said. “Obviously, I want the World Championship. The Worlds is what I want."

“The Players Championship Finals would be okay, but I want to get into a couple of European Tours. We have five qualifiers left. If I can qualify for two of them, I’m in the Worlds. Simple as that.”

Williams is no longer chasing an immediate return to the upper reaches of the rankings. Regular stage appearances and the freedom to enjoy competing again would represent progress after a year dominated by his release.

“I want to get back into a position where I’m comfortable, enjoying it and playing on a stage of some sort,” he said. “Whether it’s a European Tour or qualifying for the Grand Slam, that would be awesome. But I’m enjoying the game again now, so that is where I’m happy being.”

Williams does not believe there is one treatment capable of helping every player suffering from dartitis. His own improvement came through closing the shop, practising again and allowing his throw to return gradually.

“There is no single thing I did that somebody else can copy to get through it,” he said. “You have to do your own thing and get through it. That is literally it. There is nothing else that can be done.”

The signs of recovery have not arrived through one dramatic cure. Williams has instead returned to regular practice, begun winning against strong opposition again and rediscovered the enjoyment that had disappeared during the most painful stretch of his career.