Main Photo by Nicolas Lysandrou
It’s that time of year when the World Darts Championship kicks into action and all eyes turn to a circular board made of sisal and wire in London’s fabled Alexandra Palace. Despite the ongoing debate over the presence of cheerleaders, there are many reasons to “love the darts”, particularly those on display at the end of the calendar year. Here are just a few of them:
1. Darts is for everyone
How many professional sports can you think of where you have fresh-faced teenagers facing off against guys in their sixties? In what other sport can your career just begin to explode when you reach your forties? How many other sports see men and women competing against each other on a totally level playing field? Or people weighing in at 40kg facing others pushing 100? How is it nothing out of the ordinary to see a Dutch aubergine farmer playing a Japanese bartender? Darts is a great leveller. Much like my favourite pubs across the world, it’s a place where everybody is welcome. All you need is a set of arrows and nerves of steel. The inherently inclusive nature of darts never fails to draw me in.
2. The players overthrew the governing body
Are you a big fan of FIFA? UEFA? Any governing body? Probably not. Although Rupert Murdoch’s Sky are as far from angels as it is possible to be, they did help to facilitate the seizure of power by the best darts players in the world in the 1990s. The PDC’s (Professional Darts Corporation) breakaway from the now defunct BDO (British Darts Organisation) left the darting world divided and created two competing World Championships, but everybody always knew the best player in the world was the one holding the PDC trophy aloft. And the ones holding the arrows could finally get control of their sport and the prize money they deserved.
3. The razzmatazz
The newly founded PDC completely revolutionised the game. Although the BDO had tried to tidy up the image of darts somewhat by banning smoking and drinking in-play, the PDC introduced a whole new level of professionalism, and Sky’s dedicated sports channels were there to offer the coverage the BBC couldn’t. Along with that came a variety of new camera angles, loud shirts, player nicknames, walk-on music and, of course, the late Sid Waddell, the irrepressible “voice of darts”. All this turned the seemingly dull sight of people chucking metal at a small board into an irresistible televisual package.
4. It’s Christmas!
Holding the early rounds of the World Darts Championship just before Christmas, the latter stages when many are off work in the build up to the New Year and then crowning the first world champion at the start of January was, and still is, marketing genius. Religious or not, it’s a magical time of the year for many and having the darts on in the background just seems to make sense.
5. The atmosphere
What is your anthem to Christmas? Mariah Carey? Wham!? Why not Planet Funk’s “Catch The Sun”? At the end of every set of the World Championship, the anthem kicks in, the crowd responding with the classic three grunts…perhaps while spilling their pint over their neighbour. Boards wave in the air for every maximum as the caller mangles their vocal chords to deliver the “one hundred and eighty” everybody is anticipating. The arena lives in constant hope, normally dashed, of a nine-dart finish. And chants break out, just as in a football stadium. Plus there’s the bonkers fancy dress, another staple of British life.
6. The Ally Pally
And where does this all happen? In the fabled Alexandra Palace, affectionately nicknamed the “Ally Pally”. North London’s answer to South London’s “Crystal Palace”, from whence the BBC launched its television service, is the perfect venue for the event, its imposing architecture making it into a true cathedral of darts and the place every young (or old) darts player aspires to appear. It looks great at night too!
7. The precarity and the camaraderie
Although the prize money for darts professionals has never been higher and the best of the best are doing extremely well for themselves, the majority of players have to weigh up whether to give up the day job or not. Most don’t. One big tournament win can be the difference between going full-time or remaining part-time. They are living in the real world that the rest of us inhabit and not the alternative universe of football stars. They were (or still are) our postal workers, our firemen, our builders, our mechanics.
It really shows at the end of matches. Although there are more prickly characters like Gerwyn Price or Gary Anderson, and Adrian Lewis could get into a fight with a mirror, matches most often end up with a set of bear hugs between the players and great play by the opposite number is nearly always applauded. Most of the competitors are truly in it together.
8. The variety
I’ve already mentioned the variety of people involved in the darts, but this also transfers to the darts they use. Like every magician needs to find the right wand, darts players use a huge variety of different arrows, ranging from Ryan “Heavy Metal” Searle’s 31g beasts to Stephen Bunting’s 12g featherweights. Then there’s the length and width of both the shaft and the tip. Two times champion Peter “Snakebite” Wright changing darts mid-match never fails to get the commentators tutting, but he can’t help himself.
There’s also the throwing style. “Rapid” Ricky Evans rifles his three off in the blink of an eye, “Highlander” John Henderson rocks back and forth as he releases, Justin Pipe developed his slow catapult technique after a car accident left him paralysed, and Rob Cross pops them out like a practice ball machine. As long as your action is consistent, whatever works for you is the way to go!
9. The psychology
The heart of darts is the psychology. More than any other sport, this is a battle of the mind. It is estimated that success in darts is 90% psychological and just 10% physical (muscle strength, muscle memory, balance and hand-eye coordination). The pressure is constant. The targets being aimed at are minute and every leg must be finished with the pressure of hitting a double. You can be in a perfect state of flow one minute and all over the place the next. You could hit five doubles in a row and then end up in the “madhouse” after missing seven straight.
That’s not taking into account the opponent. If one player catches fire, the other normally responds with fire. If one is struggling, the doubt becomes infectious and enters the opponent’s throwing arm. Watching two players at the top of their game is to witness magic, especially if one of them is Michael Smith. Watching a player battle his demons on stage is horrific, with the worst example perhaps being how Glen Durrant lost it at the end of his career.
It should come as no surprise that many players have had issues with anxiety with the constant scrutiny they are placed under. Thankfully, it is no longer a taboo issue. It takes a very particular kind of person to be able to constantly respond to pressure and ride the highs and lows with equanimity. These are the players who become champions!
10. It’s never too late!
Late bloomers like Peter Wright and Jonny Clayton provide the tantalising possibility of darting success for anybody. You know you have no chance in nearly any professional sport once you’re over 30 (or even over 25), but darts remains a prospect (albeit highly improbable) to anybody with the right mentality willing to put the work in.
Who doesn’t dream of installing a nice darts setup at home, finding the perfect darts, training hard and becoming a champion when they’re watching the World Championship? Who doesn’t imagine their shirt design, walk-on music and nickname? Anybody can enter January Q school for the price of 450 pounds and rub shoulders with past and future champions, all while striving for the holy grail of a tour card. I would have absolutely no chance, but if money was no object, I’d love to do it…just for fun. Wouldn’t you?