It is not uncommon for us to write a ‘where are they now’ piece about a club’s former player.
They are often an insightful read and of genuine interest to most fans as we all want to wish our clubs servants well.
However, to be honest, some stories just aren’t worth telling as it is the usual ‘does a bit of media’ or ‘plays golf all day’ but that is not the case when it comes to former Spurs attacking midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
The 36-year-old may well have ended his professional football career, but rather than taking the route of staying in the game, the World Cup finalist has taken an altogether different path and is joining the ranks of professional darts players on the BDO.
Alongside his brother Fernando, Rafael van der Vaart will compete in the Denmark Open and Denmark Masters as he pits his wits against a different type of sports star.
He is known to be handy on the oche too and has played in a pro-am event with fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen.
Van der Vaart’s participation is clearly nothing to do with money as the total prize pool for the event is expected to be around the £6000 mark – a fraction of what he was earning in his Tottenham and Real Madrid days.
The hope for Van der Vaart will surely be to make it onto the PDC Tour as that is viewed as the Champions League of darts whereas the BDO is more your Championship stuff.
After 1993, the top players split from the BDO to form their own World Darts Council and from there, the emergence of the PDC came into being.
Now the PDC offers more televised events and far more prize money than the BDO although both still have their own versions of the World Championships.
Van der Vaart will be used to pressure but this will be of a different kind, after netting 24-goals in 63-games for the Lilywhites, the hope is van der Vaart can bring that type of form to the Oche and become just as well-known for his darts skills as his football skills.