"I've toyed with the idea": Richie Howson is considering Q-School for a completely different reason

Richie Howson is now sixty years old, but the Englishman has no intention of saying goodbye to the world of darts just yet. 'The Owl' is still regularly active in the MODUS Super Series and is even cautiously considering a return to PDC Q-School. At the same time, Howson no longer wants to devote his entire life to darts. Fishing, drawing, snooker and, more recently, even gardening are also among his favourite pastimes.

Howson enjoyed a notable resurgence in his darts career, particularly thanks to World Seniors Darts. The Englishman was given another opportunity to appear on major stages through the seniors circuit and repeatedly caught the attention. That tour no longer exists, but Howson remains a familiar face within the darts world.

Speaking to Bang On Target, he spoke at length about his career and life away from darts. During the interview, a persistent misconception was also cleared up. Wikipedia lists Romford as his birthplace, something Howson says is completely untrue.

“I come from nowhere near Romford and never lived in Romford. Although I did go shopping there yesterday," he said.

Howson is originally from East London and now lives in Rainham, Essex. He has been married to his wife Lynn for 27 years. The couple have no children, which was also a conscious choice according to the Englishman. “Nah. Never wanted kids, they are great if they are someone else’s or don’t live in my house.”

Those who only know Howson from his appearances at the dartboard may not realise that he has plenty of other interests away from the sport. Darts is certainly no longer the only thing he spends his time on.

“Hobbies? Well I enjoy Fishing, Drawing and just getting into a bit of Gardening as I’m getting older. When I’m not playing darts I’m usually doing one or more of the things above.”

Drawing, in particular, has been a major passion for some time. Howson says he has not devoted enough time to it in recent years, but he intends to change that.

“Haven’t drawn much for a couple of years but intend to put that right as it’s a big passion of mine and love doing commissions for people.”

Howson also turns out to have another sporting talent. Before darts became a prominent part of his life, he was a decent snooker player. After leaving school, Howson worked for several years in a snooker hall. “When I left school I worked in a snooker hall for a few years and got half decent, making a few Centuries back then, stopped playing for probably thirty odd years and started again a couple of years back.

Despite that lengthy break, he has since made several more century breaks during practice sessions. However, Howson is not entirely satisfied. “I’m nowhere near the standard I was, made a couple of centuries in practice but well below where I would like to be in competition, I’m 60 now and it’s hard to get back what you once had, even practicing relentlessly.”

Alongside darts and snooker, football is another important sport in Howson's life. As a born East Londoner, he has supported West Ham United for virtually his entire life.

Over the years, he has learned that little about his favourite club can still surprise him. “Do we have to talk about West Ham, supported them for as long as I can remember," he continued.

Howson looks back on a disappointing season in which the team were relegated, but hopes the poor performances can ultimately lead to change."Nothing surprises me with them, very disappointing season last year but maybe we needed a kick up the arse to get things changing and get back on track.”

However, he does not see an immediate return to the Premier League as a certainty. "I don’t think it’s not going to be easy to come straight back up, the Championship is a tough league but having Bowen making a brave decision to stay with us will hopefully help.”

In darts, Howson has particularly fond memories of his years on the World Seniors Darts circuit. The tour brought together a large number of familiar names from the past once again and gave players such as Howson a stage they otherwise probably would not have had. For 'The Owl', it even represented a new chapter in his career. He reached the Champion of Champions final three times and won the tournament in 2024.

“Yeah I was obviously disappointed when The World Seniors Darts stopped, it gave me a new lease of life and allowed me to live the dream for a few years, met some fantastic people which I now called good friends so have been lucky to have had that experience and very grateful for the platform that WSD gave us.

“I was also given the Champion of Champions trophy which I won in 2024 and was finalist in that competition every year so will always take pride of place on my shelf.”

The end of World Seniors did not mean Howson disappeared from the darts world. These days, he can regularly be seen competing in the MODUS Super Series, where he takes on a mixture of experienced players and young talents in the Live Lounge.

As long as the invitations keep coming, Howson has no plans to stop. “At the moment I am playing regularly down at the Live Lounge, of which I am eternally grateful for the invitations and will carry on until they don’t want me, or I can’t throw anymore.”

Howson has considered entering Q-School again. Interestingly, winning a Tour Card would not even be his main objective. “I’ve toyed with the idea of returning to Q School, not to try and get my tour card but so I can play on the Challenge Tour as that provides an extremely high standard of darts and something you can really gauge where you are at, but not sure if I will pursue that yet as it all cost money.

His age is also a factor in that decision. Howson no longer feels the need to get absolutely everything out of his darts career at all costs. “And at my age I don’t want to work too hard and am quite happy just earning enough to pay the bill and allow me to do the things I love before I finally peg it.”

That down-to-earth attitude is typical of the Englishman. Darts is still important, but no longer at any cost. Should Howson ultimately decide to give Q-School another chance, he knows there is work to do. He is not unhappy with his current level, but believes his training has been lacking. “I’m sort of happy with the standard I’m playing at the moment, but I’ve been a bit lazy lately and not put the practice in so would need to up my game if I want to give everything another go.”

There is no need to make a definitive decision for now. Howson wants to see over the coming period how much enjoyment he still gets from competitive darts. “We’ll see how things go over the next year or two as to where I go and what I’ll do as I’m getting on now.”