For flame-haired thrower Tommy Lishman, he was dealt a rough hand in life. Being ginger AND from Hull is the hand you really don’t wish to see when you turn those cards over. However, I would happily swap those two things to be able to throw darts like the fella.
First off, I wanted to know more about Tommy the person. And after much musing, I decided he himself would know most of that kind of stuff. So I asked him:
“Well, I’ve recently turned 31, live in Hull and live with my partner and recently turned 1-year-old. I work at a Garage Installation company called Everard as a Customs Controller, as well as being supervisor in a busy Stores Room/Warehouse.”
So this Tommy doesn’t work on the docks then. Being ginger, it’s hard to make friends. However, on tour, Lishman has either found comfort in the company of others – or maybe bribed them with a few Kit-Kats. (Other chocolate confectionery items are available.)
“On the Pro Tour, I sit with Thomas Lovely, Tom Bissell, Jack Tweddell and Tyler Thorpe. Challenge Tour it’s my management team. So, Adrian Gray, Carl Wilson, plus Simon Stothart, Steve Day and Tony Fleming. Then a few others that don’t play all the events.”
Ah, that’s nice. Joining the list of famous – or let’s generously say well-known – Hull people are world-class folk from the pop world. One of my favourite singers, Paul Heaton of Beautiful South fame, as well as Fine Young Cannibals frontman Roland Gift. Then it goes downhill. You have former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and, if you know your maths, the bloke who invented the Venn diagram – John of said surname. Good for him. No idea where we’d be without those little intersecting circle images.
This season has been a ground-breaking one for the man creatively nicknamed The Flame. It was either that or ‘Bleak North-East England Industrial Town’, I guess – and the latter is far too long to print on the back of his playing shirt. £1 per letter and all that.
Tommy The Flame – same middle name as Henry the Eighth – has started off this current campaign with a bang. The Hull chucker raced out of the blocks in 2026, claiming the honours in the first Challenge Tour event of the season and his first PDC title. Speaking on the achievement and asking if that was a shock win, Lishman said:
“Yeah very surprised. I went to Q-School in January out of form and got my arse handed to me a bit. Heading to the Challenge Tour, I was very worried, fully expecting to just turn up, not perform, then end up being forgotten about a little bit (a huge step back after playing some Pro Tours in 2025.)
“Also, I’d have been higher in the Order of Merit last year if I didn’t miss a weekend for the birth of my child. So yeah, to win one was very unexpected and I got a bit emotional. But also after 2025 I did have the belief that year I’d win one. I was just on a downer at the start of 2026.”
Tommy hasn’t claimed one since, but has hit the post, losing in a final to Harry Ward. But amongst those events, plenty of deep runs have catapulted him high in the Challenge Tour Order of Merit, which effectively means, due to the mass exodus of Tour Card holders at each Pro Tour, he is always going to get a call-up phone call. To date, from the twenty played so far, he’s only missed the opening four. And, at the time of going to press, he sits third on the PDC’s secondary ranking ladder. Pretty much a shoe-in for Players Championship events all year if he stays there.
Last year, the 31-year old enjoyed a trip to Minehead for the UK Open. Seemingly, he didn’t really relish the journey length though. Yep Tommy, that’s English geography for you, mate! But how did he find the experience?
“UK Open was amazing (except the drive!). Again I was full of confidence but also relieved to win a game. Going all that way without a guarantee of prize money is daunting. Can’t wait to get back there again.”
Really? Doesn’t sound like it mate – unless you’re able to teleport himself to Somerset next time. With so many call-ups to the Pro Tour, the format changes. Rather than cramming two events into the day, on the main circuit it’s just the one. Prefer it or not?
“It’s a lot different. I like the two-in-a-day format, providing you’ve done well in event one. If you lose early, it’s such a long wait and hard to balance your food, drink, practice and even motivation. If you’ve done well, you just roll with it. Pro Tour, however, I enjoy because we get a lot longer to prepare and kind of enjoy the day and the moment. I’m an early bird with the two Toms [Bissell and Lovely]. Only Merv beats us there.”
Of course, the Merv he is referring to is Mr King, who gets to the venue so early in the morning you’d think he’d camped outside the night before. As far as balancing food and drink goes – surely, you’re best off just eating and drinking it?
All that said, Lishman is no complete newbie to the PDC system, having debuted on the Development Tour in 2012. So did those tournaments as a youngster help him to play in that busy environment?
“Yeah, it did. I didn’t overly do well at youth level, but I competed to enjoy it and I did pick up some great wins at the time against the odd world-class player, which made it worth carrying on.
“I also have started the Pro Tour this year with absolutely zero fear of the pros. Some people get sucked in and are just in awe of the fact you’re with the absolute elite, but I’ve never once even thought like that. The youth was the same. I thrived off the potential to play Dimi [Van den Bergh], Mike [De Decker] and Jeffrey [De Zwaan].”
From 2020, Lishman was a PDC ghost. Similarly to Cliff Richard at Christmas, he disappeared for five years. Many hope Sir Cliff took that long out of the industry too rather than returning annually to assault our ears. But what were Tommy’s reasons?
“Finances. I didn’t have the money to go myself, nor the commitment to darts or the interest in going. Darts hasn’t ever been the world’s biggest priority for me. I’m not a die-hard practiser and I just didn’t really have the oomph to even consider going.
“Once MODUS Super Series became a thing, I wanted to go there as I believed I was good enough to play with the players participating there. I won the first Vault qualifier Finals Day and that kind of kick-started darts again. Three MODUS Super Series appearances and a nine-darter later, I was heading to Q School for the first time in five years with backing and belief.”
Right now for Lishman, he has the best of many worlds. A high ranking on the Challenge Tour means plenty of Pro Tour call-ups and he isn’t prohibited from participating in the likes of the MODUS Super Series, ADC and Vault. In fact, only recently, he came agonisingly close to bagging another nine-darter at the Live Lounge, missing D12 by a few hundred yards before reacting despairingly, much in the same way he would if he discovered Boots had run out of sun cream.
But for the Humberside arrow-smith, what’s the goal? To sit in front of plenty of wide-open doors or to secure that PDC golden ticket? Or to have one?
“A Tour Card is always the goal for any player, but right now I’m in the greatest spot ever. Some people get cards early and go in there like lambs to the slaughter. I’m getting to ply my trade at the top of the Challenge Tour and have fast become one of the best in the room, but I also get to dabble in Pro Tours to get used to the set-up, atmosphere and mentality, so when I do get a card, I’m ready.”
So there you go, folks. That’s how a ginger kid from Hull became the current 123rd best darts player on the planet.
You see, dreams can come true.
