Fallon Sherrock hopes her ascent to the Ally Pally throne as Queen of Darts is just the start of girl power on the oche and she promised: “I want to make more history.”
In her signature pink top, Sherrock bowed out of the William Hill PDC World Championship in a brave third round defeat to Chris Dobey on Friday night.
Her earlier wins over Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic will always stand the test of time as women’s first strikes against mankind at world championship level.
But Sherrock has more frontiers to cross – starting with her bid for a maiden title at the BDO ladies’ world championship at London’s O2 Indigo arena next week.
And later in January, after becoming the first woman to beat male opposition at Ally Pally, she will try to win the sisterhood’s first PDC Tour card by winning five games at Q school.
Lisa Ashton came close 12 months ago but don’t bet against Sherrock making it over the line this time.
There is no time for her to bask in the reflective glory of her fairytale run just yet – the next four weeks could add even more gloss.
She said: “In 10 or 20 years from now, when I look back, I think the time I will remember most is the moment I made history – because no-one can take that away from me.
“Whatever happens in women’s darts in the future I will be able to think I helped to achieve it. I’m just so proud to have played that part.
“I’ve been given nicknames I never dreamed of being called just a few weeks ago. And when the PDC asked me to do my own Christmas Day ‘Queen’s speech’, the same as the real Queen, it was like, wow... amazing.
“And I’m proud that a lot of women have been inspired by what I’ve done. They know it is possible for women to break down barriers.
“To any young women out there who might be thinking about taking up darts, I would just say, ‘Go for it.’
“Obviously I would like to see more places allocated to women next year – because that would give me more opportunities to qualify.
“For me, the aim is to come back next year. The experience I’ve had over the last few weeks has been one of the best times of my life.”
