In just over four weeks’ time the pilgrimage taken annually by hundreds of darts enthusiasts for the Islands 31st Darts Festival will begin. The venue for the four day tournament (10 – 13 March) will once again be the prestigious sea-front Villa Marina in Douglas.

The Festival fully supported again by the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development will again see darts loving local league players from all over the UK coming together to pit their skills against some of the very best darts players in the world including the respective 2015 & 2016 Men's World champions Scotty Mitchell and Scott Waites. 10 times and current Ladies World Champion the Golden Girl herself Trina Gulliver as well as two times world champion Lisa Ashton. Already confirmed will be some of the professional favourites Darryl Fitton, Tony O’Shea, Andy Fordham and Deta Hedman.

As happens every year, there will of course be shocks, there will be surprises but therein lies just one of the reasons that make the Isle of Man festival so special and so unique.

If you are going to win, a good draw certainly helps, as too does a little bit of luck, because as much as many competitors would dream otherwise, we can't all be as good as Dennis Harbour, (the 2015 champion), Steve Bunting, Robbie Green or even in years gone by Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson all previous winners of the Festival, but to many who attend, fame and glory remain secondary behind just being there, being part of the amazing atmosphere the Festival generates.

In 2016 there will be numerous changes though, both in structure, the way people enter and significantly with the appointment of new organisers the England Darts Organisation.

EDO Chairman Tommy Thompson commented "We already run some of the biggest events in the BDO Diary and the experience we have gained in doing so we obviously bring with us.

We certainly didn't want to tinker too much with playing format for March, but in the hope that we will be organising the event for many years to come, have already completely revamped things in our minds for 2017."

One of those initiatives mentioned will be the inclusion for the first time at the Festival of live streaming not just of the entire finals day on Sunday when the Festival finishes, but hopefully an additional 4, 5 hours of live streaming on selected matches from the day before.

"It's something we now do at all our events" explained Thompson "It's not cheap to facilitate, but not only is the quality of the end product now excellent the viewing figures which can reach up to 50,000 unique visits....and from all over the world definitely justify the cost and time spent in making it all happen.

In fact, were it not for the support of PokerStars who now headline the Festival, we simply wouldn't have been able to do it and we can't thank them enough for their support. The Festival also attracts support from the Isle of Man Steam Packet and Okells Brewery.”

The EDO is also hoping to try and give a couple of the Island’s leading players, certainly those most successful during the weekend a real opportunity to shine on the big screen. That's the intention anyway and one that hopefully will really excite the IOM darting community

The EDO is also going to be working more closely with the Isle of Man Darts Organisation (IOMDO) who will be playing a pro-active role in the festival which will hopefully benefit everyone, and specifically the local darting community. "It's really important to us that they feel involved with the Festival" explained Tommy "It's one of the most prestigious events in the diary and logistically the only one really where they can get to compete against the best players in the world. We want to help give them some more hands on experience on how we run events of this size and importantly assist them in raising extra funds which can help send their players to events like the Masters and the World Cup. To help achieve this we have also quite happily agreed to let them organise and run their own singles event at the Villa Marina on the Friday afternoon where all money raised will go directly to their association, and we look forward to working with John Denny (IOMDO Chairman) and his fellow officials and of course welcoming all their players."

It's not just the EDO who will be making their IOM debut this year either, 'Little' Richard Ashdown the BDO's retained MC, fresh from his duties at the World Championships at Lakeside will also be coming over to host the finals which everyone is also excited about.

The prize money has been increased for 2016, with the totals now over ?30,000 and apart from an upgrade of classification in two of the four main ranking singles all of which have seen a redistribution of the prize money there is also a brand new singles event added to the schedule and of which players can only enter if they haven't picked up any prize money in the main singles!

As promoter Howard Miller explained "At every tournament, without knowing who obviously, a top player will always win it, so we take the view that the lesser players without whose participation there wouldn't even be a festival in the first place should also have a chance of real glory, hence the introduction of the 'Cabbages' event, where with nearly ?1,500 up for grabs they will at last have a real opportunity too."

For more details visit www.isleofmandartsfestival.com or the Isle of Man Darts Festival FB page.

There are two ways to enter, first is to enter on line, which they can do by visiting www.englanddarts.co.uk  and following the easy to follow links, or alternatively if they wish to post in their entries they can do so by sending them to IOM Darts Festival, 24 Main Street, Belton in Rutland, LE15 9LB with all accompanying cheques made out to England Darts Organisation Ltd.

The closing date for entries is 3 March 2016.

The event is free for spectators including finals on the Villa Marina stage on Sunday 13th March.

Photo - 2015 men’s pairs winners Tony O’Shea (left) and Darryl Fitton (right).