Fallon Sherrock's toxic social media critics blasted by Paul Nicholson as he reflects on Q School and the Tour Card winners

• Follow Paul Nicholson on Twitter @TheAsset180

Why the hate for Fallon?

The whole Fallon Sherrock debate isn’t about Fallon Sherrock as a person or player. Her name and performances are simply being used by social media users and personalities as an inflammatory topic to get themselves interaction with others.

It’s not about her. She’s done nothing to inflame anyone or anything. In fact she’s been classy from the start. She’s mentioned Lisa’s achievements, congratulated others, celebrated her own achievements and done her best.

But people have used her situation and caused this toxic caldron just to make themselves more relevant.

Obviously there have been fellow pundits like Wayne Mardle and Laura Turner - as well as players including Peter Wright - bigging her up for Premier League selection but their reasons are very fairly based on her undeniable brilliance on stage last year and also the undoubted widespread appeal she has.

Constructively disagreeing with these valid views is fine, but why spread hate and mock anyone for them? And certainly don’t aim it at Fallon! Sky Sports doing montages on Fallon isn’t her fault – and they’re not her idea either!

Way back in 2009, I toured the world with Mark Walsh, who was an amazing player and respected by everyone. But he branded me as a ‘red carpet dart player’ to my face, which I respected, because I got headlines. He felt I achieved less than him but I got more headlines and attention.

He was right and probably thinks the same of Fallon Sherrock. But in this era, that’s a good thing because the sport needs red carpet players to bring in viewers, stand out and create debate. She’s young, has superb ability, immense character and is also being used as a vehicle to bring more women into the game.

The debate surrounding her is generally good but unfortunately the social media activity inflames it to toxicity.

Why do people want her to fail? The British sporting culture perhaps?

When I was growing up in the North East I had a desire to reach the top but a lot of people in the area wanted me to fail and told me I wouldn’t make it. When I moved to Australia, they encouraged me to push on for State Darts and to represent the country.

In Britain we see someone who wants to succeed like Fallon and we tear her down. That’s sadly what many Brits do. And it happens in every sport. Just look at the cricketers – nobody is encouraging them to bounce back, it’s all doom and gloom. It was the same for Emma Raducanu. We now need to focus on being positive instead of being sensationalist and tabloid.

As soon as Fallon lost in the early rounds of Q School it was a case of ‘she’s finished, let’s tear her down’. We are a tabloid nation.

But her response is always classy: With silence. She only tweets when she really wants to and with something positive. She never has a knee-jerk reaction – especially to negativity. The magnanimous nature of the way she congratulated everyone who got a Tour Card at Q School summed her up. She has an incredible chin, she takes everything on it and then she moves on and looks for the next challenge. If only others could be the same.

Top of the Q School class

The first conclusion that springs to mind is that six of the Q School graduates regained their cards immediately and that’s no easy feat, believe me. I managed to do the same a few years ago and it’s nothing more than relief.

James Wilson has endured a nightmare couple of years and Darren Webster had also slid alarmingly down the rankings to end up in this situation, so both represent great stories.

Mickey Mansell deservers a lot of credit for effectively sacrificing his card by having surgery at the end of last year to be fit and healthy for Q School – but Connor Scutt represents my favourite storyline.

He came into Q School with a lot of pressure to succeed because of how well he’d played in the Live League and some WDF events, so although I wasn’t surprised to see him come through Q School, I was very pleased that he did.

I look at the whole list of UK Qualifiers and I’m pretty much happy with all the guys who got through in terms of being deserving and capable of doing a Tour Card justice. There were no real surprises this year.

However, it is a shock to see Ross Montgomery in there because, like everyone else that followed the BDO closely, I never thought I’d see the day when he became a PDC professional!

Alongside Martin Adams, he was about as loyal as you could get and this is the first time he’s attempted Q School. Now he’s made the step, nothing is off the table now – maybe even Wolfie will one day give it a go!

Euro vision

From the list of qualifiers from European Q School, I wasn’t surprised to see Mario Vandenbogaerde come through because he’s been good for a few years now and the same can be said for Kevin Doets, but there are several names that most fans will be unfamiliar with.

Ricardo Pietreczko has featured on the European Tour a few times and has plenty of potential to blossom in the next two years.

Radek Szaganski is quite a story because he’s been playing in Ireland and has been almost deciding if he’s Irish or Polish! Together withKrzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk, who regained his card, you have to wonder whether Poland could emerge as a leading European powerhouse.

Elsewhere, I’m really pleased Jules van Dongen came through as it just goes to show the success of the PDC feeder systems. Jules comes from the CDC – which also produced Danny Baggish – and hopefully they can follow in the footsteps from those who have succeeded from other tours like the DPA.

Is Q School fair?

There will no doubt be plenty of unsuccessful players who will feel they are better than some of those who did earn Tour Cards. And even those aforementioned ‘fans’ who wanted Fallon Sherrock to fail will have to admit that her TV achievements last year may always be beyond some of the Q School graduates.

Overall, I feel the system is fair, especially since it became a two-stage process, when they weed out those who aren’t that serious early doors.

However, one key observation I’d like to make is that in the top 10 overall averages at Q School, three players didn’t win a Tour Card: Shaun McDonald, Wesley Plaisier and Matt Edgar.

They all averaged well over 91 and somehow didn’t get a card, but that’s because Q School is simply about winning matches. Not about reputations and not about averages.

When I went to Q School for the first time I said I’d leave my reputation at the door. Some of the games I won that week were awful with bad averages. I just had to get the wins and managed to get through it.

This is the great thing about Jamie Clark, who was overshadowed during last year’s Live Leagues by the likes of Darren Beveridge, Greg Ritchie and Shaun McDonald – three Scottish friends of his. But Jamie won a card and the other three didn’t with an average less than that of McDonald, Wesley Plaisier and Matt Edgar. Does he care about that? Not one jot!

Jamie wasn’t the only success story from the Live Leagues, which is where the likes of Richie Burnett played a lot of darts in 2021 to stay sharp and in touch.

In fact, eight of the 17 who came through the UK list played a lot of darts in the Live League and that proves what an important vehicle it is for the amateur ranks now.

2022 PDC Qualifying Schools: Tour Card Winners

UK Q School Automatic Tour Card Winners (x4):

• James Wilson
• Darren Webster
• Ross Montgomery
• Josh Rock

European Q School Automatic Tour Card Winners (x4):

• Jose Justicia
• Brian Raman
• Luc Peters
• Krzysztof Kciuk

UK Q School Tour Card Winners from Order of Merit (x13)

• Jamie Clark
• Ted Evetts
• Connor Scutt
• Richie Burnett
• Kevin Burness
• Scott Waites
• Nathan Rafferty
• Cameron Menzies
• John O'Shea
• George Killington
• Mickey Mansell
• Nick Fullwell
• Shaun Wilkinson

European Q School Tour Card Winners from Order of Merit (x11)

• Mario Vandenbogaerde
• Jules van Dongen
• Kevin Doets
• Tony Martinez
• Danny Jansen
• Radek Szaganski
• Damian Mol
• Jimmy Hendriks
• Ricardo Pietreczko
• Vladimir Andersen
• Rowby-John Rodriguez

Darts: Related content

• 2022 World Championship results
• World Championship nine-darters
• 2022 PDC Darts Calendar
• 2022 Premier League schedule
• 2021 PDC Darts Results
• Greatest darts rivalries
• Phil Taylor's greatest display
• World Cup of Great Darts performances
• Fantasy Darts: Bristow v MVG
• Fantasy Darts: Cross v Deller
• Fantasy Darts: Taylor v Burnett
• Fantasy Darts: Hankey v Durrant
• Fantasy Darts: Rees v Price
• Sky Bet's darts odds