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Raymond van Barneveld: Four of my friends died this year... life is more important than silly darts

The text said simply, “I’m going to sleep forever my friend and wish you all the luck”.

The message was from one of Raymond van Barneveld’s closest friends and sent from a euthanasia clinic, but the Dutchman was flying back from a competition in Australia and didn’t receive it until the following morning.

“He was very ill and he made the decision to end his life with a doctor giving him an injection,” recalls Van Barneveld of his friend’s decision. Euthanasia is illegal in the UK.

“I wanted to hold his hand at that time, but I could do nothing hanging in the sky. His wife and family were with him. I could not even reply, by the time I had the message it was too late. With moments like that, you don’t want to play darts anymore.”

‘Barney’, as he is more affectionately known, has lost four of his good friends this year, the tragedies playing a key part in his recent decision to announce his retirement at the end of the 2020 World Championship.

At 51, he insists the time is right. “I have a wife, children and grandchildren,” he says. “I’m often not there for birthdays, I had friends who died and I couldn’t pay my respects to them. That has an impact on you. Life is important, more important than this silly game.”

Van Barneveld is not belittling darts, though. He fully accepts that it has transformed his life, most notably with the five world titles — four in the BDO and one in the PDC in 2007, arguably the greatest in the game’s history as he beat Phil Taylor (right) in his pomp 7-6.

It was his agent, Jaco van Bodegom, who first raised the possibility of retirement to the player, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2009, after yet another early-round loss. “He said to me that I’d been struggling for a few years, travelling everywhere, having the early wake-ups, the diabetes, and I didn’t want to fizzle out,” he adds. “It wasn’t an easy decision for me but it was the right one.”

The plaudits have come in thick and fast since that announcement. Wayne Mardle hailed him a “darts genius” and darts supremo Barry Hearn said the sport owed him an enormous debt, while Taylor believes he has another world title in him in his final two attempts. And tournament 17th seed Van Barneveld, who faces Darius Labanauskas in his opening match at Alexandra Palace tonight, agrees he could land more silverware.

He says: “I really feel that I can win this. Phil saying that gives me warmth and strength. I still love playing tournaments but there’s only one tournament I want to win and that’s this.”

After a year of tragedy and turmoil, a win would be the perfect fairytale for one of the game’s greatest players, and one who has helped revolutionise the sport in terms of popularity in his native Holland.

With his prospective retirement a long one — announced last month but not until the end of the next Worlds — he has time to consider his own legacy. "I won’t be remembered as the best player in the world, but I still won five world titles,” he said. “Before I go, I’d like that to be six.”