Sky Sports presenter Emma Paton knows her darts (and her football, and her tennis).

Covering our Sky Sports darts coverage since 2020, Emma has got to know all the players and seen some of the most defining moments of the game.

By the 2024 World Darts Championship, the game had grown in popularity so much that it was the most non-football event ever on Sky Sports.

Now, she’s giving her thoughts on Game Of Throws: Inside Darts, including the importance of the game to those who love it so much.

Speaking ahead of the series launch, Emma details why she connects the championship to Christmas, the standout moments she’s seen so far, and why it’s finally time the game gets the spotlight it deserves.

It’s the showpiece event of the sport’s calendar - the darts schedule is pretty relentless all year – but it really comes alive at the World Championship.

In terms of the players, it's the one they want to win. You could go your whole career winning nothing, but if you picked up a world title, you'd be considered successful.

It’s also the location; Alexandra Palace was opened in the 1800s as ‘The People’s Palace’ and it truly becomes that during the World Championships. The fans that pack it out every day make it special. There’s just something different about walking out on stage at the Ally Pally.

There are tournaments at bigger venues – we go to Berlin or the O2 Arena which both easily seat over 10,000 – but there's something about Ally Pally where the fans feel very close to the players and it’s quite intimate in a way.

Finally, it’s the time of year it’s on - people are in a festive mood, you can forget about everything else for a while and come and enjoy the darts.

For us it certainly does - I think it's great that it’s on pretty much every night and we can all get in the Christmas spirit together.

That crowd absolutely shape the tournament. They were brilliant last year – coming up with the ‘Walking In A Littler Wonderland’ tune, or earlier in the tournament chanting at Luke Littler, ‘you’ve got school in the morning’! Some players thrive off that and you see them grow in stature.

Nathan Aspinall, for example, is someone who needs that kind of crowd to perform. But for others it's brutal and it comes down to whether you can survive it. When you look at Luke Humphries last year – that was maybe the first time he’d experienced a bit more of the negativity, but he managed to cope brilliantly.

I think players learn a lot about themselves. For me, and those of us working on it, it’s just fun – 90% of the crowd are dressed up and there to have a good time, they make the atmosphere what it is.

The story throughout the tournament was Luke Littler. This rare, generational talent. I imagine it felt the same as when Messi emerged from the Barcelona Academy. You just sensed something special was unfolding in front of you.

When you're working on live sport there are always stories that emerge, but this was something we'd never experienced before - we had news crews from around the world covering the tournament. It was incredible.

Oh, for sure but I'd also say that it’s been growing for some time now. If you think back to the 2019 World Championship and Fallon Sherrock won a couple of matches and she not only ended up being interviewed on breakfast TV but also had Billie Jean King tweet about what an achievement it was. That piqued a lot of people's interest.

Then in 2023 you had what’s been called ‘The Greatest Leg’ where Michael Smith threw a nine-darter to win, after Michael Van Gerwen had missed his own by millimeters the throw before. So, it’s been gathering momentum and this year every single venue we’ve been to is sold out.

I agree with Barry Hearn – who has been a driving force behind darts for years – that the sport maybe hasn't had the respect it deserves - but it is now. The only way is up, that's for sure.

Absolutely, like most women's sport it’s on an upwards trajectory but what’s so brilliantly unique about darts is that women can play alongside men. Not in their own competition but in the same majors. If you're good enough, you’ll play.

So Fallon did that and she very much put female players on the map, but there have been trailblazers before her, like Lisa Ashton who was the first woman to ever gain a tour card.

They have encouraged others to come through and now we have the likes Beau Greaves who is being billed as the Luke Littler of the women's game - she's producing those sorts of levels.

You also see it in the audience too. I don't think a lot of people know this, but in terms of Sky’s viewing figures, the World Championship has a higher percentage of female viewers than any other sport.

It’s all tied in with Christmas for me – the family were together, and the football and darts were always on TV.

I then went to a few World Championships as a fan and got to enjoy a night out or two!

Do you get nervous before a big tournament – and if so, how do you deal with it?

I cover darts all year round, but the World Championship is different - the opening night and the finals somehow feel bigger – so I just want to do those moments justice.

I'm lucky to work with an incredible team both off and on camera – we call it our ‘travelling circus’ because you go from one event to the other as a little family.

I often find myself sitting there thinking ‘how lucky am I?’ I get to talk about darts and then watch the best players play. So rather than being nervous, I just try and enjoy it because if you do, then I believe that comes across at home.