Interviewing the "Queen of The Palace": Fallon Sherrock

She’s the one who changed the women’s game, a pioneer, and arguably the brightest female prospect in professional darts. Join SportsBoom’s voice of choice, Wade McElwain, as he grabs a chat with Fallon "Queen of the Palace" Sherrock.

In an energetic 19-minute break from the 2023/24 Paddy Power World Darts Championship draw, we hear about everything from Fallon’s express jet to fame to meeting royalty, and the future of female darts. 

The embodiment of energy, Fallon knows the impact of what she’s achieved and has no shyness about admitting it. “I am so proud of myself,” she says, reminiscing. “Take me back a few years ago, I’d be like, ‘No, I’ll never do anything like that.’”.

Her excitement is infectious in the best of ways as she relives her Ally Pally memories and how her journey has not only changed her life, but changed the women’s game, and darts in general.

“I never thought I’d be the one that kind of changed everything,” she confesses. “I always thought it’d be Lisa or Trina or Anastasia they were always the pioneers for the women’s game.”

But change everything she did, and as Fallon talks us through her journey from watching her idols on TV, to deciding she wanted to play darts too, realising her natural talent, and her first qualifying, it’s clear she takes none of this for granted.

Sherrock then gives us a rare insight into what it’s like to go from zero to hero. “I won the game and within...it must have been about 10 minutes my manager said ‘the whole world’s gone mental!’.”

She goes on to elaborate, “They put me straight into the press room saying ‘this person’s tweeted, and that person’s tweeted’, it was really when I got back to the hotel that it all sunk in, they were like ‘You’ve got to go on Good Morning Britain at six o’clock in the morning!’. The next day it was bang, bang, bang, each interview, I cannot remember that next day at all, it was just so manic.” 

Fallon describes how life unfolded since that first win and her catapult to stardom. It’s easy to picture her “absolutely jumping around” when Twitter gave her the blue tick she’d wanted for so long.

That status symbol was how she knew “the whole world’s changed”. Though it’s not the only symbol the talented young professional received…

When asked about her MBE, Fallon fearlessly admits, “I was so nervous getting it,” and we’re not surprised especially since they “don't tell you who you’re gonna meet”.

Fallon goes on to paint an entertaining picture for us of the day – her wearing an oversized fascinator, meeting Prince William (“the main person I actually did wanna meet”), being unable to hear the decorum instructions, thinking “I’ll just follow the next person in front of me” and then being the first name called out to meet the Prince, and falling completely speechless while receiving her honour!

“I’m just gonna have to wing this,” she admits thinking when faced with her royal encounter. 

Looking to the future of women’s darts, one word leaps from Fallon’s tongue time and again, “consistency”.

“The standard has gotten a lot better than a few years ago but there’s only a few female players that probably could compete against the men on a regular basis,” she says, in no uncertain terms.

“You need to run about a 95 to 100 average consistently to keep up with them,” she states, after recognising that the averages among male professionals are “just increasing”. Still, Fallon is undaunted by the challenge.

“Probably another five years,” she guesses, when considering how long before more women are regularly ranked in the top 32. “At the moment, there’s probably about two or three of us that could but I don’t think we’re as consistent we might get top 64, but I don’t know about 32.”

With her eyes on the prize of consistency and match practice, Fallon shows she knows her gameplan for the years and games ahead, and is hot in pursuit of any shot she can take.

“The more opportunities us women get, that’s where it’s gonna happen,” she says confidently.

And to all the ambitious hopefuls and the next generation of girls aspiring for a career in darts like her, Fallon enthusiastically suggests they “join a youth club that’s what I did”.

“Just find your closest one,” she elaborates. “You don’t need a specific standard to start.” That’s how you’ll develop, recognise your talent, enter competitions, and make a real go of it, she says. “You progress from there starting off little and working your way up.” 

Being a pro comes with many burdens, but none perhaps more than being a famous woman on social media. Fallon has a handy tactic for handling the trolling and occasionally deplorable online behaviour though…

“I just ignore it. I don’t go on my social. I only use it if I need to,” she says – easier said than done, for some.

But the Queen of the Palace also doles out the advice that “a lot of people hide behind their social media accounts - they never say it to you in person but we should be able to do whatever we want without getting hate.”

As any true pro in any popular sport knows, the spotlight also highlights the darkness. “What people put online is not very nice,” Fallon admits, “but I’ve just had to learn how to deal with that. At the start I’d read everything and it gets demoralising but even the top players get it.”

When asked about the energy of playing stages like Ally Pally, we get a feel for how Fallon really operates. “I just thrive on it, it gives you a kind of buzz, like an adrenaline rush,” she describes, and we can only nod in agreement as she expresses how great it is to be a part of that vibe.

“As long as you don’t get dragged into it all,” Fallon adds, musing on the songs the crowd often sing. “If I started looking out, I’d be distracted.”