Still Swinging, Still Smiling, Still Chizzy. Show me a darts fan who doesn’t love Chizzy and I’ll show you a three-legged breakdancing unicorn that can juggle. That’s how confident I am that you won’t find one.
Widely regarded as the best player to have never won a PDC TV major, Dave Chisnall has all the talent in the world. It’s not a style you’d coach aspiring arrow-smiths, but for well over a decade now, the St Helens man has been a major force on the PDC circuit.
However, this season has been his most testing. Form has slid and results aren’t going his way. It happens to everyone at least once in their career. Now it seems it’s Chizzy’s turn to face this battle.
For years, Dave Chisnall has been the benchmark for power scoring – a tungsten battering ram who could blast through any draw on his day. But 2025 hasn’t been kind.
The trebles are still rattling, the averages still healthy, yet the results… not so much.The five-time major finalist admits this year has felt more cursed than a Scooby-Doo mansion.
Narrow defeats, cruel bounce-outs, and doubles that seem allergic to the wire – all part of a season he’s desperate to file under “character building.”
Writing in his Kwiff column this week (whatever that means), the 45-year old had plenty to say:
“I was up and comfortable v Martin Schindler and he came through with a peach of a leg in the decider last week in Dortmund,” he recalled of the recent European Championship.
“My point wasn’t necessarily about the result or the scoreline, but about getting to that point in the first place.”
That’s been the pattern all season – doing everything right until the dart that matters most. As he put it himself:
“I lost 6-4 to Jeffrey de Graaf on Wednesday but in all honesty should have been 3-0 up, and it was missed doubles that let me down again.”
Missed doubles are to Chizzy what banana skins are to comedy – they show up exactly when you don’t need them. Even when he’s firing on all cylinders, fate has had a wicked sense of humour.
A 6-1 defeat to Danny Noppert sounds brutal on paper, but the numbers tell a different story. Chisnall was outscoring him for large stretches before the Dutchman did what the Dutchman does – finish everything in sight.
“Darts is one of those sports that can really punish you when not in it,” he said. “With the competition stronger than ever you need to be on your game, because the depth of talent is so strong these days.”
And that’s the truth of modern darts – there’s no hiding place. The new wave of talent is fearless, and the margins are tighter than ever. Just ask Chizzy, whose encounter with Wessel Nijman during Grand Slam qualifying summed up his season in one painful microcosm.
“The game v Wessel Nijman probably sums my season up to be honest,” Chisnall wrote. “Those legs in the middle, I was averaging 125 and still only won one leg. I should have been in a nice lead early, but fair play to the lad — his darts in the last few legs was mustard.”
That quote says it all. Ten years ago, an average like that would have buried anyone. Now, it barely earns you a breather.
The conveyor belt of young guns keeps rolling, and even the most experienced pros can’t afford a single slip.
But for all the frustrations, there’s no self-pity in Chizzy’s voice – just honesty and determination. He’s seen too much, done too much, and won too often to let one bad year define him.
“At this point, I’m looking forward to the season finishing, and starting fresh in the New Year,” he said. “I’ll be in action in a few weeks in the Players Championship Finals before heading to Ally Pally in December for the Worlds. Fingers crossed we put a line through this season and move onto 2026. Onwards and upwards!”
That’s classic Chizzy – straight-talking, upbeat, and focused on what’s next. While others might sulk, he reloads. Because for all the heartbreak this year, there’s still one glittering opportunity left – the Alexandra Palace, the sport’s great reset button.
There, reputation means nothing and momentum can change in a heartbeat. One hot week, and suddenly the headlines shift from “struggles” to “Chizzy revival.”
So yes, 2025 may have been a bruiser. But if there’s one thing we know about Dave Chisnall, it’s that he’ll keep swinging. The averages are there, the fight is there, and that big TV title he’s chased for so long? It’s still out there, waiting for him.
Because as every darts fan knows – never, ever count out Chizzy.
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
