Dutch darts revolution

World Darts highlights: Klaasen 5-4 Hogan

World Darts highlights: Klaasen 7-5 Barneveld

Interview: Holland's Jelle Klaasen

Interview: Jelle Klaasen

By Ben Dirs

I'm young, I'm fit and I don't have a belly Jelle Klaasen Klaasen springs world title shock Lakeside men's final scoring

At the PDC World Championship a few weeks ago - the one that Phil Taylor wins every year - there were four secretaries from Kent who called themselves "Tarts for Darts".

Now, I don't usually hand out stalking tips to darts groupies, but I reckon they were at the wrong world championship.

The Tarts should have been at the Lakeside in Frimley Green, where, on Sunday, fans witnessed the sport's first bona fide pin-up clinch the BDO world title.

Jelle Klaasen, a 21-year-old from Alphen in Holland, dethroned last year's champion Raymond van Barneveld 7-5 in a classic all-Dutch final, and it wasn't only his fluid arrows that caught the eye.

Klaasen, who only started throwing four years ago, has a touch of the Cristiano Ronaldo about him. In contrast, Barneveld looks like, well, a darts player.

"I'm young, I'm fit and I don't have a belly," Klaasen said earlier in the tournament, glancing furtively at the bear-like Bobby George.

And, in darts, not having a gut is enough to make you a sex symbol.

Granted, the young Eric Bristow had a certain roguish appeal. But he was, by his own admission, crafty - not a trait women look for in a man.

When I first won the title there were 16,000 registered players in Holland. There are now 40,000 Raymond van Barneveld

Since Bristow, dart-throbs have been thin on the ground. Thankfully for female darts fans, there is an orange revolution afoot, and some of the revolutionaries are still in their teens.

Darts is big beer in Holland. Raymond van Barneveld was the first Dutchman and only the second non-Briton to win the Lakeside title in 1998. He has won the crown three times since.

"When I first won the title there were 16,000 registered players in Holland, and there are now 40,000," said Van Barneveld, whose conqueror also downed top seed Mervyn King in the second round.

"Michael van Gerwen, from Boxtel in Holland, was only 16 when he entered the Norway Open youth championship. They allowed him to play in the seniors, and he won both tournaments.

"He beat Ted Hankey and then (former world champion) Tony Martin in the final. It was unbelievable."

Jonny and Dennie Nijs reached the final of the Dutch Open Pairs when they were 17 and 19 respectively and Holland's number one, Niels de Ruiter, is only 21.

Van Barneveld counts Dutch football stars Marco van Basten, Arjen Robben and Frank de Boer among his friends, and received a message of congratulations from Holland's Queen Beatrix after claiming last year's title.

It is claimed almost six million, out of a population of 16 million, watched him win the crown in 2003, and the Bavaria World Trophy in Utrecht regularly draws crowds of nearly 3,000.

As well as watching darts, large numbers of Dutch women are stepping up to the oche and further glamorising a sport which was badly in need of a feminine touch.

Former world champion Andy Fordham once said: "You can't take the pub out of darts." He may be right, but I bet plenty of women drink down his pub in Kent.

As for Klaasen, could he become the David Beckham of darts? If he can steer clear of pork scratchings and lager - and maybe shack up with one of the Tarts for Darts - he'll be well on his way.