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Imagine being best friends since you were two or three, playing darts against one another on hundreds of occasions in local competitions and then being drawn to face each other on your WDF World Championship debuts. Well, that’s the exact scenario for Jordan Brooks and Lee Shewan this weekend.
Fleetwood’s Brooks and Shewan attended the same nursery, primary and secondary schools in the same classes. Both were England Open quarter-finalists during a year that resulted in them being drawn against one another in a fairytale fashion for the amateur game’s showpiece staging.
“My intial reaction was shock and I found it funny. There’s really nothing else you can do about it,” Brooks commented. It was a similar feeling for his good friend. “I couldn’t believe it when the draw was first made,” said Shewan. “I was watching it live with my partner Kirsty and was a bit gobsmacked at first.
“Obviously Jordan and I are not just friends around darts, we have been the best of friends since we were both at nursery from the age of two or three. We’ve gone through primary and then secondary school together and remained the best of friends until today.
“So the draw was a bit unbelievable. It’s amazing how these things come out in sport. But once it had been drawn we both just had to get on with preparing the best we could for the biggest game in either of our darting careers.”
Two friends colliding on the world’s biggest stages is a common occurrence, but for two players who have known one another since being toddlers to lock horns at a world championship is almost a piece of fiction.
“From the age of five or six until we were in our early teens, both Jordan and I played a lot of football for the same team in Fleetwood Gym and went to school together at Fleetwood High,” Shewan revealed.
“We both started to go to the Fleetwood Gymnasium Club after school at nights and at weekends and we both got into playing a lot of snooker at the time. There was always a dartboard up in the club but most of our time in there would have been spent on the snooker table.
“Jordan and I were in the club one Friday night playing snooker, aged 14, and the darts team were short of players and they asked us if we could help out and play darts for them that night. We did and I would say that’s when our love for darts started, we’ve both played ever since.”
Brooks added: “Lee won and played awesome that night. I think I was beaten! After that night, Lee carried on playing and I went back playing snooker for a few more years until I started hanging around with Wes Newton’s younger brother Dale. I started playing properly then, practising with him in Wesley’s log cabin in his backyard.”
Both Shewan and Brooks have represented Lancashire at county level for a good few years now. They are often teammates, but the two have had their fair share of tussles on the oche, predominantly in local competitions in the North West of England.
“We have played each other in local competitions over the years, literally hundreds of times,” Shewan explained. “We both tend to get to the latter stages of local competitions regularly so would play each other in most tournaments we both attend.
“I think the only time we have met on the actual WDF tour was in the last 32 of last year’s Welsh Classic back in October. I managed to win that encounter 4-1 with a 97 average.”
September’s England Open was an instrumental tournament for both Fleetwood throwers. Shewan in particular didn’t have any plans to even attempt to qualify for the season-ending spectacle, although both found themselves in the quarter-finals and therefore in or around the provisional Lakeside positions.
“Selsey brings back some great memories,” Shewan expressed. “I played in the British Pentathlon on the Thursday and came fourth out of 20 very good players, a lot of which will be participating in this year’s World Championships at Lakeside.
“I then made it to the last eight of the main event on the Saturday, mixed emotions about that really. Obviously getting to the last eight of such a big event was nice, but the way I was playing, if there wasn’t a three-hour break from winning my last 16 game to playing the last eight game, I think I would have performed better and gone further into the tournament. But that is all great experience to have going forward.
“I watched the quarter-final game back a few times afterwards and I can tell in my performance that it was the end of a very long day. Missed doubles cost me in that match and that’s not like me but that’s darts.”
Brooks added: “It was a big occasion for myself because going into that tournament I knew I was playing well and even though I didn’t win against a very good player in Nick Fullwell, it spurred me on for the rest of the season, including another run to a quarter-final in Wales and ultimately qualifying for Lakeside.”
Shewan progressed from that breakthrough England Open campaign to reach further quarter-finals at the Czech Open and the Italian Grand Masters. “It was never really my attention to play the full tour and qualifying for Lakeside never even entered my thoughts,” the 38-year-old claimed.
“I’ve always done the odd event that I like to go to throughout the year, like Selsey and the Isle of Man, but it was only when I was flicking through Twitter and accidentally seen a tweet that I was in a provisional Lakeside spot, that I looked at the WDF calendar in full and entered the remaining events, trying to keep myself in the qualifying spots.”
Isle of Man Classic semi-finalist Brooks said: “I’ve been playing darts for over 15 years on and off locally and had some impressive wins in leagues and super leagues. But I think lockdown helped me a bit with the amount of practice I was putting in and I was encouraged to go to Q School by Wes Newton, which gave me a big push to take darts a lot more serious.”
Defending champion Wayne Warren, who memorably defeated fellow Welshman Jim Williams to reign victorious two years ago, awaits the eventual victor, with both eager to arrange a second round showdown with the man hoping to become only the sixth player to secure successive titles.
“It would be a massive honour to play Wayne in the second round and it’s up to me to make that happen,” said Brooks. “I actually met Wayne in the Isle of Man this year and we had a great chat and he gave me some great advice. He’s a lovely fella.”
Shewan echoed those sentiments. “It would be a massive privilege to be able to share the Lakeside stage with the reigning world champion,” he added. “I’ve known Wayne for a few years now and every time I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him, he’s always come across as a great man, always smiling and cracking jokes.
“Obviously we all know what a fantastic player Wayne is, so it will be a very difficult match for whoever wins out of myself and Jordan, but like I say, just the opportunity to share the stage with such a great player and reigning world champion would be an absolute privilege.”
