Darts - Making an Impact

Darts has come a long way since the days of Jockey Wilson, Leighton Rees, John Lowe and Eric Bristow. Or has it?



When Rees won the first Embassy World Darts Championships in 1978, it was a sport struggling not to be embarrassed by its pub image. The players, apart from Bristow, were homely, working class men who found fame uncomfortable. Their skill was rare and under-appreciated.


There is still a prejudice against the men who throw the arrows but less so, thanks to Sky Sports cash and the phenomenal Barry Hearn. Hearn, who has transformed snooker, boxing, fishing and pool apart from darts, has helped to add respectability to the game of darts so much so that Sport England now officially recognises it as a sport.


That’s important because now it can hope to qualify for Olympic status.


I’m a fan. But like so many other sports only when there is tension and meaning to a contest or a spectacular feat – like Raymond van Barneveld’s nine-darter this week at Ally Pally. Great theatre but who wants to sit through half an hour of round one action featuring a couple of no-hopers.


Come to think of it, who’d want to sit through ice skating or show jumping at all?


And yes, the Mickey Mouse nicknames of some of the players – The Machine, Flash, Darth Maple – make you cringe but the skill of the throwers, the scoring averages of the best players and the astonishing record of Phil Taylor demands respect.


I’ll dip into the darts in quiet moments of TV tuning. And when Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor needs a 167 finish to win the title with ‘Barney’ van Barneveld sitting on double 16 I’ll probably be shouting him down as he lands treble 20, treble 19 and bull.


Good stuff.