“Your life sort of becomes really immersed in darts, basically,” Emma Paton joked, reflecting on how far her career has taken her.
Paton has become one of the most recognisable faces of darts, fronting Sky Sports’ coverage of the biggest events on the calendar. But the former 400m runner admits she never imagined the sport could become such a huge part of her life.
Her route into broadcasting was anything but conventional. After studying at University of Loughborough, where she excelled on the track, Paton joined Sky Sports while completing a Master’s degree in Sports Journalism at St Mary’s University.
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Almost ironically, she had gone from being a runner on the track to becoming a “runner” at Sky Sports – before moving into online journalist and then into production.
Paton’s big break came from an unlikely source: WWE. At the time, she had been trying to carve out some presenting opportunities when a colleague working on the American wrestling company’s shows invited her to a press event at the Royal Albert Hall.
She was encouraged to ask a question, and, seemingly, impressed WWE legend and boss Triple H, who approached her and said: “I might have an exclusive for you.” She broke the story of WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view, Evolution, and a month later was invited to New York by WWE to cover the event for Sky Sports.
The opportunity gave her a huge confidence boost, and shortly afterwards she landed a presenter/reporter role at Sky Sports News. “Really random,” she later said. “The Triple H thing maybe gave me confidence as well.”
And when she eventually moved into darts coverage, Paton found herself immersed in a sport that has since become a huge part of her life.
“When I joined, I felt lucky to have come into a sport that was really welcoming,” she told Daily Star Sport, via Leasing Options. “I had a really great start to joining the darts community. But I still felt a bit removed from it all, whereas now darts is really my life.
She joked she follows the sport well beyond her TV appearances, with Paton keeping tabs on players and competitions around the world, from the ProTour and European Tour to matches that are only on DartConnect.
“I didn’t think it would have that much of a grip on me, but here we are. I do love it.”
That growing connection to the sport has even seen Paton take a step usually reserved for the players themselves: releasing her own set of darts through her partnership with Winmau.
The idea was initially floated by the manufacturer, who saw an opportunity to do something a little different: “I think it would be really cool if you brought some darts out, because typically it’s players who have darts. So let’s do something a bit cool and fun.
“Nothing too serious. It was a really cool process because with players, obviously their darts are an extension of them.
“The colours almost incorporate part of their character, whereas for me it was a bit of a clean slate because we were starting from scratch. It was a very fun process!”
Paton will be back on TV screens again very soon, as the majors come thick and fast during the back end of the year as all roads lead to the World Darts Championship.
The next stop on the road is Leicester as the players descend on the Mattioli Arena for the World Grand Prix and its unique double-in format.
Luke Littler, the defending champion, will head into the event as the red hot favourite, and Paton has urged fans to enjoy the Nuke as the tide has started to turn against the teen.
“I feel like fans just need to enjoy this sort of generational talent. We’ve literally never seen this before. In time, this could be looked back on as him at his peak, and that could be it. I think fans just need to chill a little bit and try and enjoy it!”