"I’m really anxious playing darts now" - Trauma of dartitis means Mark Webster won't ever make comeback

Mark Webster was one of the best darters in the world during the peak of his career. The Welshman won the 2008 BDO World Championship and also reached the semifinals twice at the PDC World Darts Championship. During the latter years of his career though, 'Webby' suffered badly with dartitis, something that ultimately ended his career.

Webster recalls a crucial match in 2017 during the fourth round of the UK Open, where his struggle with the condition was exposed. "One of my real meltdowns was at Minehead and I was playing Daryl Gurney. And we’d fallen out of time and it kind of brought us back as friends again, because I was struggling so bad," Webster recalled on the latest episode of Huw Ware's Tops and Tales podcast.

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“We went into a break. It was like 7-3 going to break. I was in tears in the back. And I was like, Daryl, we need to finish here. I think he beat me 9-4 or 10-4 in the end. I was glad to get off. I was like, I can’t do this anymore. And then that was sort of the coming to the end," remembers the Welshman. "I missed the World Championship that year for the first time. And I started coming down the rankings. And I was happy to just sort of plod to what I could do.”

Former BDO world champion Mark Webster

Because of the long-term effects of dartitis, Webster is not keen on setting foot on the stage in the future. He added: "I’m really anxious playing darts now. So for example, if you wanted me to come to your local club and play in some players, I’m just not interested. I don’t want that sort of appearance anymore," he explains. "I’ve probably fallen out of love with playing the game now, which is a shame. But it’s because of the dartitis—it lingered for ages. It brought me to tears after games because I thought, ‘This could be the end.’”

His fellow darters also saw that he was suffering tremendously. "Michael van Gerwen came up to me and said, ‘I feel sorry for you, mate,’ because I was all over the place," Webster concludes. “I was stumbling. I was panicking in games. People were watching me fall apart.”

Webster's competitive days as a player may be behind him, but he remains a respected figure in the sport and now works as an analyst and commentator.

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