Nicholson on too many unranked tournaments and World Series burnout: "There’s got to be a better way of spreading it out more"

Paul Nicholson in his latest column for Sporting Life asked the question of the spate of unranked tournaments currently utilising the calendar with five taking place since June with four World Series of Darts tournaments in particular.

While Nicholson gets why players accept invites - he said this has contributed to many getting burnt out and that it doesn't help those a little further down the rankings who then can't play for a long period of time.

"The World Series events are also a useful way of branching the game out to other parts of the globe and ticket sales will always be a crucial money maker for the PDC but at the same time, there are so many of them and they take up lots of weekends when other players are itching to get involved in ranked action," he said to Sporting Life.

"Since the start of June we’ve seen the Premier League conclude along with World Series events in Copenhagen, New York, Amsterdam and the World Cup in Germany so it’s no surprise that the top players have looked jaded at times throughout what has been a very long season for them already.

"Earlier in the year, we did see performance levels drop from the Premier League players – not only on the Thursday nights but also during weekend action on the European Tour or the Players Championships and it got to the point where some of them opted to cherry pick the events they played in.

"Players selected in the World Series get appearance fees on top of the prize money they win and although that has no impact on their rankings, none of them will ever turn those invitations down. This is particularly problematic for Fallon Sherrock who is featuring in World Series events that clash with Women’s Series events and this could hamper her chances of qualifying for the World Championship."

But for Nicholson, what is the solution? He believes having more constructive breaks and spreading the calendar out more as well as playing in countries that deserve tournaments instead of using the same ones for multiple tournaments e.g Germany and the Netherlands.

"At the moment there are three World Series events Down Under in August and that works perfectly because there are no ranking tournaments taking place during this time. The problems arise when you put all these European based ones in at a hectic time in the calendar when the Premier League, European Tour and Players Championship events are also filling up weekends," he added.

"The first six months of the year is way too cluttered with ranked, unranked and major action so there’s got to be a better way of spreading it out more.

"There were cases where a player would go to a European Tour event, then two Players Championships, then to the Premier League and then another European Tour event in just one week! Think of the travelling and the impact on your family life – not to mention darts performance.

"We need more constructive breaks, but it’s a matter of opinion as to whether that’s up to the player or the promoter.

"My other suggestion would be spreading events across Europe a bit more if that’s at all possible. At the moment the Netherlands have a World Series event and the World Series Finals on top of their European Tour event and the Rotterdam Premier League. It’s too much for a small country and three of those are unranked!

"If you want to spread the game with unranked action then don’t put three of them in one country!"