While he may not have made headlines in Squamish until now, Matthew Howells, 36, has been in two newspapers in Barbados.
Say what?
It is true.
Howells recently returned from a winning trip competing in darts at The Harrows Barbados Darts Festival, which takes place annually in November.
He ended up featured in two of the region's newspapers for his victories.
Players in the festival hailed from Canada, the U.S., Wales, England, Scotland, Barbados, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Cayman Islands.
Howells and his dart partner, Neil Birkin of the U.K., came first in Men's Doubles; he placed third in Men's Mixed Nation Doubles with his partner Kemmons Ramcharan, of Trinidad and Tobago; he also placed ninth in Men's Singles.
How it started
While he had watched darts on TV while growing up and dabbled in the game for fun, Howells took up darts again when he visited his family in Wales during the pandemic.
"My brother had a dart board in a pub he had set up in his garden," he recalled. "In our downtime — because they were in lockdown there — we would just throw darts for fun, have a couple of drinks and throw darts."
Howells and his wife, April, enjoyed playing so much that when they returned to Squamish, they set up a board in their home.
With a webcam, Howells could play online against folks from around the world.
It was a good way to ride out the pandemic, he noted.
"I found myself getting better and better as the months progressed,” he said.
As pandemic restrictions eased, in-person games started again. He and April would head to the local Legion to play.
Eventually, he played tournaments outside of town, such as in Edmonton.
Once they heard about the tournament starting up again post-pandemic in Barbados, the couple booked to head down.
"It was a pretty awesome experience. And yeah, I think I think I did pretty well," Howells said, with a laugh.
It wasn’t all about the competition, though; they also had time to tour the island and swim with the fish.
Darts growing in popularity
Around the world, the consensus seems to be that darts is growing as a sport.
Howells said he can see its popularity increasing.
"It's definitely growing. There are more and more players who are busting through to the professionals," he said. "It is mostly in Europe right now [where the] big-time players are ... But ... even in the last two years, just seeing the number of good players from Canada that are going to try out for the professionals over there. So definitely, I think it is growing for sure."
Give it a whirl?
The Legion Dart League meets on Tuesdays, and there are four boards set up that anyone can use anytime. Membership is not required to go to the Squamish Legion.
Howells said league members hope to start a new season in the spring of 2023.
"It's amazing. I highly recommend people try to come out," he said.
If anyone in Squamish is interested in anything to do with darts, they can connect with Howells through Instagram.
Coming up next in terms of tournaments, Howells is heading to the Las Vegas Open in January, the Snoflake Open in Edmonton, followed by the Darts BC Provincial Playdowns 2023 in Abbotsford in February.
