内容摘要：Simon Case, former head of the civil service, admitted he "totally failed" during his time as cabinet secretary to reduce the size of the organisation.

Simon Case, former head of the civil service, admitted he "totally failed" during his time as cabinet secretary to reduce the size of the organisation.

"He was so focused to be the best and to take Gerwyn from being a rugby player to a world champion was a big moment for us."Mr Huxtable, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, has completed the majority of his work from Nodor's Bridgend headquarters for about 25 years, but also travels to Kenya where their darts are mass-produced for the retail market.

The family-run Nodor group, which Red Dragon Darts is part of, moved production of its darts and dartboards to Kenya after it acquired the Winmau brand about 20 years ago.The sisal plant grows naturally in the east African country and is the best material for bristle boards, lowering operating costs.Nodor opened up its own sales and distribution centre in Dallas, Texas in 2023 and now produces 30,000 sets of darts and 20,000 dartboards a week from its factories in Kenya, and employs 1,000 staff.

Mr Huxtable said: "It's always about the technology which goes into the dart for performance enhancement which is the most important for me."In one of my favourite darts we managed to fuse 85% tungsten at the back of the barrel with 95% tungsten at the front to move the centre of gravity forward.

"The concept being that a lot of players like a front-weighted dart but the players don't want to make the dart any fatter at the front."

With the Luke Littler effect fuelling the junior game, darts is now described as being in its third golden age and attracts the second highest viewing figures on Sky, behind Premier League football.In contrast, rugby union, often seen as having more middle class roots, has been getting knighthoods for more than 100 years. Among more recent rugby knights was Sir Bill Beaumont, awarded "for services to rugby union football" in 2018.

There have been many other sporting knighthoods and damehoods, including in athletics, yachting, football, golf, tennis, horse racing, cycling and rowing.Next weekend will see the sport's showcase Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

And speaking on behalf of the MPs' rugby league group, Mr Baines said the lack of such an honour for rugby league was an unfairness to "some of Britain's greatest sporting heroes".That included "legends of the game who overcame racial and class prejudice such as Billy Boston and Clive Sullivan, to modern heroes on and off the pitch like Kevin Sinfield," said Mr Baines.