A remote success for Rushden darts ace Richardson

Richardson, who goes by the nickname ‘Ruthless’, competed alongside nine other darts players over 10 nights in the online competition played on Zoom and with a referee on hand to oversee proceedings in each match.

After all the players had played each other once in the group stage with all matches screened on YouTube, Richardson was top of the standings heading into finals night on Monday this week.

There, he defeated Jim Williams 8-2 in his semi-final before seeing off Paul Hogan 10-3 in the final to clinch the title.

Richardson, who also finish with the highest number of 180s and the highest checkout of the tournament, said: “I had a phone call from my manager Mac Elkin and he said there was an event coming up and he had put my name forward and I had been chosen for it.

“There were some good names involved and a bit of money on offer so it was nice to be involved.

“There have been a few tournaments going on online since the lockdown started and I felt I played really consistently every night.

“I am really happy. It’s something I needed to get my mojo back. Being off, I haven’t been doing much but this really made me concentrate throughout the 10 days and I really wanted to win it.

“It’s been great because it’s kept us all playing and it’s been good to see people.

“They put up a £25,000 prize fund for it and it meant everybody got something out of it.”

A new Remote Darts League is due to start soon with six more players set to be added to the field.

The other players who featured in the inaugural event were Tony O’Shea, Gary Robson, Darryl Fitton, Alan Norris, Wes Newton, John Walton and Dean Winstanley.

And Richardson added: “I am not sure when the next one is starting but I am hoping it will be this weekend.

“They are adding an extra six players in and four of those will be women so I am looking forward to it and hopefully I can defend the title.”