The Euro Tour has been a crucial part of the PDC calendar since 2012 when Justin Pipe defeated James Wade in Austria, a finale that ended in mid-2014.

Since then, the tour has gathered huge momentum, with Slovakia and Poland the latest nations to be added to the ongoing list of countries where the organisation continues to discover which crowds can whistle the loudest and piss players at the oche off. It’s almost become a continental competition in itself. Eurovision has key changes and sequins, the Euro Tour has boos, high pitched noises and someone dressed as a banana.

So far, Germany are romping home in that competition. That said, every other event is staged in that country, which makes you think the PDC have a “book one tournament there, get two free” deal with the sausage-mad nation. Honestly, there are so many events there that if you throw a dart blindly at the calendar, there’s a fair chance it lands in Germany.

Anyway, this article is about the flaws which I believe are rife within both the qualification and call-up from the reserve list system.

Before I begin, let me explain to those unaware how it works. Fundamentally, the PDC have two Orders of Merit. A main one, which Luke Littler sits on top of with a gap wider than a hillbilly’s teeth. Not you James Hurrell – a real one, not a monikered version. Then the other, the Pro Tour Order of Merit, which is a one-year rolling system based on results from the Players Championships and Euro Tour events.

All in all, forty-eight players compete at each continental tournament. The top 16 from the main rankings are seeded and begin their campaign in round two. Then you have the same number from the Pro Tour Order of Merit who kick off from the starting line. The latter are drawn against ten from the PDC Tour Card qualifiers – all those not already involved – four home nation qualifiers, then one bloke from each of the Eastern European and Nordic & Baltic scenes (usually mechanics with a difficult-to-pronounce name)

My first issue is with the seedings. Personally, I think the set-up rewards the elite players. Basically, the PDC have said something along the lines of, “If we want to put bums on seats, we better make sure the big guns are there. Oh, and just in case they play crap on Friday and go out, let’s start them on Saturday.”

Fair? Absolutely not.

I understand the company’s logic. This is a chance for the PDC to strut their stuff – showcase their biggest stars and promote the game across Europe. Furthermore, they believe they will sell more tickets by doing it this way. Yeah, they are probably right, but that doesn’t make it fair. After all, many of the poster lads don’t bother to go, choosing either a weekend of exhibitions or managing their busy schedules – which again, I get.

So here’s what I would do. Reward those who are putting the groundwork in day in, day out. If the main top sixteen are also in the Pro Tour ranking system, fine. They’ve earned their way.

In fact, what I would do is take the best thirty-two from that one-year rolling system. Then if fans don’t want to go and still watch what is a glittering and star-studded field, so be it. It’s a bus ride to the centre of Bratislava or a flight to England for, say, the Matchplay. Or if you’re German, about a fortnight’s wait until they all return for another Euro Tour. The things arrive there with such frequency you’d think they were Amazon parcels.

Then there is something that irks me about the Tour Card qualifiers.

As it stands, everyone who isn’t already participating in any upcoming event with said status gets a pop at securing a spot. First off, what I would do is allow any call-up Challenge Tour players on location that same chance. If they are there for the preceding double-header of Players Championships because Tour Card lads have pulled out, let them hang around and have a crack at making it into Europe too. Why not? They’re already there.

So we move onto the actual qualifiers themselves. Normally, there’s about eighty fighting it out for ten places. No issue with that. But here is what I don’t agree with – the reserve list. Not the concept. The way it’s created.

How this is formed is that the ten last-round losers are all put on a sheet of paper – or probably some kind of Word document, because this isn’t 1978 and Eric Bristow isn’t sat there with a quill and parchment – but in main Pro Tour ranking order.

So, for example, if someone new to the circuit – and therefore lower in the rankings than the fella who wandered into Robin Park, Wigan looking for the toilets – narrowly misses out 6-5, losing with an average higher than a hippy at a Bob Marley concert, they deserve it more than Joe Bloggs getting whitewashed whilst chucking with the kind of small figures you’re never likely to see at a SlimFast meeting.

In other words, do it by losing averages, not Order of Merit rankings. Then if someone drops out – which is invariably as likely to happen as a Scot getting sunburnt on day one of his holiday to Majorca – you give it to the BEST loser. It’s hardly revolutionary. Even VAR eventually stumbles upon the right answer occasionally.

Now we come to another issue.

Let’s say Player A is one of those ten. He or she then enters the tournament in round one and bags not just £2,000, but because they were a qualifier, it’s also ranking money too. If, after the draw is made, someone pulls out and they happen to be a seed, the top arrow-smith from the reserve list gets a call from the PDC saying, “Fancy a trip to Germany? We will give you £3,500 despite the bloke who beat you in the qualifier getting a grand and a half less.”

Wrong. Just wrong.

I know there is usually no way said player can get there on Friday unless they’re clairvoyant and camping outside the venue, so they must start a day later. But they should only get £2,000 also. If not, you are financially rewarding failure and giving that thrower one less match to navigate to reach the final. It’s the sporting equivalent of somebody failing their driving test and being handed the keys to a Ferrari because they looked upset.

So you see, there are bigger flaws than VAR involved. I know time restrictions affect some decisions – but not all. These are changes I think could be made quite easily. And at the end of the day, they would be fairer and create a more even playing field.

Right now, the system has more potholes than your average road in India.