Romance has blossomed for two of England’s hottest darting prospects, Jack Drayton and Eleanor Cairns, whose eyes first met across a smelly boozer in Preston. It wasn’t just the stench of stale beer, cigarette smoke and decades of questionable carpet cleaner hanging in the air that day – it was true love.
However, they’re certainly not the first.
Darts has produced some unlikely pairings over the years. Back in the day, there was Andy Smith and Terry Jenkins, who spent many a bromantic weekend on tungsten duty, cooking each other meals in their shared accommodation.
It seemed weird at the time. It still seems a little weird today. But hey, they were happy, and now live together on a farm in Shropshire with seven sheep and a couple of cows named Pieman and Bully. Sweet.
More recently, we have the Ant & Dec of the modern game – Cam Crabtree and Owen Bates. Thick as thieves but considerably less Geordie and, for now at least, on television far less. No tropical Australian jungle for that pair. They have to make do with Wigan and Leicester instead. ‘Much less exotic locations‘ doesn’t quite do it justice.
Yet somehow, one of the nicest success stories on the circuit belongs to Jack Drayton and Eleanor Cairns. Young love on the darts circuit, proving that sometimes at an event it isn’t just lager that’s in the air – romance is too.
Recently, I got the chance to catch up with the pair and find out a little more. To be honest, I wasn’t remotely arsed about the score or who averaged what that night.
Jack: “We met when we were both playing for Lancashire. It was the first county game of the season in Preston after I’d been selected late in 2025. We’d exchanged a few words earlier, but our friends kind of pushed us together. We started talking and realised we actually had loads in common.”
Eleanor: “We’d both been around the darts scene for a while. I didn’t really know Jack. Then that night, we got talking then and everything just developed naturally.”
See? No dramatic movie script. No sweeping violins. No one accidentally wandering into the wrong practice room before locking eyes from across the oche while a Hollywood soundtrack plays in the background.
Just two darts players awkwardly introduced by their mates. Which, let’s be honest, is probably how half the relationships in darts actually begin.
So, when did they realise this might become something a little more serious?
Eleanor: “Probably towards the end of 2025. We’d spent quite a bit of time together by then and everything just felt easy.”
Jack: “It all happened naturally really. Nothing was forced.”
A bit of background on the couple first. Cairns hails from a place apparently named after several saints who all seemed to answer to Helen. Jack, meanwhile, is from Cleveleys, which is supposedly a stone’s throw from Blackpool.
Which raises an important question. Who actually came up with the phrase ‘a stone’s throw away’ as a method of measuring distance? You’d hardly ask a bloke in Hull how far away China is. He wouldn’t disappear for three weeks before returning to announce, “It’s just under a million stone throws away, mate.” All that tells me is that people were chucking rocks to measure distances long before someone sensibly invented the mile.
For the record, Cleveleys to Blackpool is actually a bus ride away. Unless, of course, you happen to be spectacularly and freakishly gifted at launching masonry.
It turns out Eleanor spends plenty of time at Jack’s parents’ house before heading back to St Helens to catch up with family whenever she gets bored of her boyfriend endlessly banging on about golf. More on that shortly. By which I mean Jack’s impressive swing – not his ability to send his missus to sleep.
But what does a typical day look like for this oche version of Bonnie and Clyde? Or if you like – a Day Of The Jack-El which I really hope people get.
Just to clarify, the Bonnie & Clyde thing – well that’s merely a reference to a famous couple. I’m in absolutely no way suggesting the pair are involved in any sort of criminal enterprise.
Eleanor: “We just enjoy spending time together because we’re both quite busy. I’ve just started a new job as an assistant manager of a pub in Lytham St Annes.”
Which, again, for those not blessed with an encyclopaedic knowledge of north-west England, is relatively close to Blackpool. Not stone’s throw close, but near enough. Anyway, Eleanor drives and, perhaps more importantly, actually owns a car with which to utilise that skill.
Jack: “I work as a greenkeeper at a golf course.”
Which is basically code for mowing the lawn, making sure the bunkers have enough sand and stopping squirrels nicking the golf balls.
Naturally, I then asked Jack whether he was actually any good at the game, given that plenty of darts players also partake when they’re not throwing tungsten.
Jack: “Yeah. I play off scratch.”
I’ll be honest, I hadn’t the faintest clue what that meant. Golf isn’t really my bag, so I asked him to elaborate.
“Google it, mate.”
Hear him! Bloody Google it! Imagine if that was his answer to every question. I wouldn’t even need him for this article. I’d just spend all day online gathering wildly inaccurate information from strangers who once watched half a YouTube video.
Anyway, onto darts, which feels a little more appropriate.
Both Target Darts affiliated youngsters have picked up titles this year. Jack, still only 19, bagged a couple of Development Tour titles at the start of the season and currently sits second on the Order of Merit.
Then there’s Miss Cairns, 22, who claimed her very first PDC Women’s Series title just a couple of weeks ago. She didn’t just get the monkey off her back – she gave it a swift kick up the arse and launched it somewhere across the Atlantic.
Just a figure of speech, by the way. No simians were harmed during the writing of this article.
So who was happier for the other? Was it the Saints slinger celebrating Jack’s success, or Google-Face himself cheering on his better half?
Eleanor: “I think I was happier when Jack won the Development Tour events. He wasn’t actually there when I won my Women’s Series title, but I was there for both of his wins.”
Jack: “My mate was driving me down to Portsmouth ahead of the MODUS Super Series, so I kept track of the final on Darts Connect.”
Can’t really argue with that. Blokes are allowed to attend the Women’s Series as spectators. They’re just, rather strangely, no longer allowed to compete in it. New rule apparently. Funny, that.
Of course, spending plenty of time together at the Drayton household means there are lots of opportunities to play with one another. No… that isn’t a euphemism. Although I’d imagine Jack’s parents probably keep a healthy supply of earplugs just in case.
So I asked the obvious question. Who usually wins when they practise together?
Jack: “We don’t actually practise against each other that much.”
Eleanor: “When we do… Jack normally wins. Which makes it even more special when I beat him because it doesn’t happen very often!”
Perhaps they bull up to decide who throws first in the bedroom. Although I somehow doubt the dartboard lives in there.
I decided to move very swiftly onto nicknames. Thanks to a combination of solid research and me being exceptionally nosey, I already knew both of them. But Jack’s nickname, ‘Bossman Jnr’, had me completely stumped, so I asked what on earth that was all about.
Jack: “Everyone calls my dad Bossman because he used to be a doorman. Someone started calling me Bossman Junior and it just stuck.”
Right. That actually makes perfect sense. Apparently Mr Drayton Snr is a bit of a unit.
And what about you, Miss Cairns?
Eleanor: “Kevin Garcia started calling me Miss Dynamite one day and it just caught on.”
See? Both perfectly logical explanations. Some players are about as imaginative as a plain cheese sandwich when it comes to nicknames.
Damon Heta simply rearranged the letters of his four-letter surname. Luke Woodhouse probably didn’t lose too much sleep inventing his. And Derek Coulson going simply by ‘DK’ practically screams, “I can’t be arsed with a nickname, but if I absolutely have to have one, just use my initials.” So they did.
Next up, heroes in the game.
Eleanor: “For me it was Adrian Lewis on the men’s side and Lisa Ashton in the women’s game. It’s strange now because some of the people you looked up to become your friends.”
As for her dream opponent, the blonde hotshot added:
“Yeah, obviously I’d love to play Aide. And it would be nice if I could nick a leg off Beau Greaves!”
I’ve heard Beau’s pretty handy with a set of darts, to be fair. And what about Bossman Jnr – a nickname I’ll probably never use:
Jack: “Wes Newton was always my idol. Being from Fleetwood, I watched him loads growing up.”
An interesting choice. Jack could easily have gone for Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen, but instead he stayed loyal to the local lad, Wes Newton.
The Warrior is perhaps best remembered for reaching the finals of both the UK Open and the European Championship, as well as his close friendship with Wales’ answer to Justin Hood, the ever-likeable Barrie Bates. Now that was a proper bromance.
Late last year, Jack signed with TSMC, home to stars such as Dimitri Van den Bergh, José de Sousa and the high-flying Hawkeye, Kevin Doets. Of course, the man behind all that is Aston Villa enthusiast and Verne Troyer stunt double, Mac Elkin.
So, mate… how did that one come about?
Jack: “One of the EPS Security managers who lives near me, Andy Slinger, got in touch with Macca and suggested he take a look at me. He wanted to see how I got on in the final couple of Development Tour weekends of 2025.”
“All in all, I won about £2,000 across nine events, finished around 40th in the rankings and qualified for the World Youth Championship. He then decided I was worth signing and everything happened from there.”
Interesting. Spotted by a man in desperate need of a tailor-made suit, who spends his work time wandering around darting venues clutching a coffee and telling people where to stand, before tipping off one of the sport’s biggest jet-setters.
For context – when Mac Elkin isn’t supporting his lads at the arrows, you’ll usually find him sunning himself somewhere in Tenerife while conducting what can only be described as extensive research into the island’s curry houses. A project he actually completed many years ago, yet still insists on revisiting purely in the interests of thorough research. Having witnessed it first-hand, I can personally vouch for the dedication.
So I had to ask, has Elkin taken you over to the Canaries yet, Jack?
Jack: “Nope! But Kaya [Baysal] has got an invite and is going very soon, I believe.”
This felt like the perfect opportunity to get my own back on Drayton for his earlier “Google it, mate” comment. I proudly informed him that Mac has taken me to Tenerife loads of times. Even Las Vegas. And I can’t throw for shit. Mind you, I am exceptional at fetching ice, which was apparently the real deal-breaker.
Finally, we spoke about ambitions for the remainder of the season.
As touched on earlier, only the Polish Mr Bean, Sebastian Bialecki, currently sits above Jack on the Development Tour Order of Merit and, with the sizeable lead he’s built, looks almost certain to finish top.
However, The Bolt already has a Tour Card, meaning the Lancashire youngster is currently in pole position to claim the first of the two golden tickets on offer.
Jack: “I want to secure my Tour Card place, make sure Ally Pally is confirmed and earn enough before Germany so I’m not constantly looking over my shoulder. If I can get another four or five thousand pounds before then, I’ll be in a really comfortable position.”
Well, so far, so good. Stay second, kid, and job’s a good ‘un. It looks as though Bialecki has the Grand Slam place pretty much sewn up, but Drayton has the other two rather tasty fish to fry.
The same question then went to Miss Dynamite.
Eleanor: “I just want to enjoy my darts again. I’ve found it difficult trying to focus on everything, supporting Jack while concentrating on my own game. Confidence has been a struggle at times. In that PDC Women’s Series final, I was soooooo… honestly, I was absolutely shitting myself.”
Well, it doesn’t come much more honest than that. But that’s exactly the sort of victory that gives you one enormous shot of confidence right in the arm.
So all that remained was to thank both Eleanor and Jack for giving up their time. I also politely asked them to invite me to the wedding and name their first-born son Paul. They point-blank refused. Fine.
I genuinely wish them both every success for the remainder of the season and hope every one of their ambitions comes to fruition.
