Barney's flights of fancy

He’s one of the most popular figures in darts but Raymond Van Barneveld has been battling his demons on the oche in recent years. From hypnotism to Buddhism, the Dutchman is searching for alternatives to find his best form again

Tom Humphries chasing Clinton Morrison at the Crystal Palace training ground still sums up best the awkward dance.

“A decent feature requires at least an hour’s worth of interview. The first 30 minutes are just inconsequential faff, all the stuff you know the answers to, but need to ask just to get the wary player warmed up. The second half-hour should be meatier, but not too scary, and by that time has elapsed, hey presto, you should be having an actual conversation and finding out a little about what the person is really like. You conclude with the hard, scary questions. All fine in theory, but no PR person will ever tell a player that a journalist needs at least an hour of his time.”