CHARLIE Corstorphine will achieve a lifelong ambition when he referees at the World Darts Championships later this month.

The Southend based 29-year-old has worked his way through the ranks since first starting off in the Essex Youth Super League.

And Corstorphine cannot wait to be on stage at the Alexandra Palace.

“I’m really excited to be making my debut at the big one at Ally Pally,” said Corstorphine.

“I was at Alexandra Palace last year working in the fan village with Paddy Power the sponsors but to make it onto the main stage and tick it off my list is going to be incredible.

“This will be by far the biggest event I’ve done and I can’t wait to get started.”

Corstorphine has headed all across Europe in his career.

But he actually started much closer to home.

“I played a fair bit of darts myself,” recalls Corstorphine.

“I joined the Essex Youth Super League probably when I was about 12 or 13.

“I managed to work my way into the county squad from there but unfortunately the call up came at the wrong time.

“I was playing really badly and ended up being a reserve player.

“But I was at a match one day and word came round we were short of referees.

“I volunteered to give it a go and the first time I did it I was shaking like a leaf because I was so nervous.

“I had jelly legs but the feedback was really good.”

Corstorphine soon progressed to officiating at senior county level.

And from there he continued to kick on.

“My name got passed around to the senior county then to Richard Ashdown - who is very well known in darts as a fantastic MC and spotter,” said Corstorphine.

“He started to give me opportunities in the BDO events as they were known at that time.

“But my first big break was probably the World Masters, in 2016, which was played at Lakeside and the following year I got asked to do the main World Championships at Lakeside.

“I did five World Championships in the end and it was great.”

At that time, Corstorphine combined refereeing with working as an accountant.

But that changed during the Covid pandemic.

“It was during Covid I got made redundant from my accounts job and they asked me to head down to Southampton for a few weeks to ref in the Modus Super Series,” said Corstorphine.

“That then turned into three and a half years and it was during that time the PDC gave me an opportunity at the UK Open in Minehead “That was quite a big deal for me.

“I originally thought I was going to be working on the outer boards but then they gave me a main stage quarter-final which felt amazing and it just went from there.

“In total it’s been more than 10 years now but it’s been a natural progression.”

Corstorphine now regularly referees in the Premier League but he still has plenty he wants to achieve.

“The next one would be to do a world final one year,” said the Southend United season ticket holder.

“I’m happy to be patient and bide my time but to do the final at Ally Pally would be the pinnacle.

“I would also like to maybe ref the World Matchplay in Blackpool and a World Series in New York or Australia but I tend to just take things as they come.”