A darts star’s life fell off the rails after he reached the World Championship final as a 1,000-1 outsider
Kirk Shepherd’s extraordinary journey to the 2008 World Darts Championship final stands as one of the sport’s most incredible underdog stories. The 1000-1 long shot toppled several leading players of the era en route to a showpiece encounter with John Part, pocketing £50,000 in the process.
Terry Jenkins, Peter Manley and Wayne Mardle all succumbed to Shepherd, who was just 21 years old at the time. The Kent native went from being a complete unknown to ultimately losing to Part in the final.
His days of balancing practice with humble earnings at a sheet metal works disappeared instantly, as Shepherd’s fairy-tale fortnight brought immediate financial stability and a momentary taste of fame.
Nevertheless, it proved fleeting. A radical change in lifestyle and the arrogance that followed saw him tumble down the rankings and suffer financial hardship. He ultimately surrendered his tour card in January 2022 while battling dartitis, a condition that sees players struggle to let go of the dart.
“I went from being a normal lad working in a factory to back-page headlines and a nice big pay cheque,” Shepherd told the Daily Star in 2023.
“After that, the devil came for me. I went a bit doo-lally and got carried away by it all. I thought everything was going to fall on a plate for me and it was the start of a new beginning, a bright new dawn, but I stopped putting in the effort. I got lazy.
“From earning £50,000 as runner-up at the World Championship in 2008 and having some wealth, four years later I was living on my own in a flea-ridden one-bed flat.”
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His dartitis struggles led to severe anxiety and panic attacks, to the point where he didn’t touch a dart for nearly three years. With support from the PDC and PDPA, Shepherd managed to turn things around.
He said: “I’ve been qualifying as an electrician at a firm called Bilfinger in Haydock. I don’t think they knew who they were taking on at first, but now I am just plain Kirk Shepherd, not the 1,000-1 outsider who reached the final at Ally Pally.
“I’m a father of three boys and things are so much brighter that I’m even considering picking up the old arrows again. I might have left darts, but darts has never left me.”
The current World Championship will resume on Saturday, December 27 as reigning champion Luke Littler continues his defence of the title against Austrian stalwart Mensur Suljovic.
Also in Saturday’s evening session, world number four Stephen Bunting faces James Hurrell. Fifth seed Jonny Clayton is in action earlier in the day against Niels Zonneveld.
