180!: Fascinating Darts Facts

by Patrick Chaplin

Overview

In 180! Fascinating Darts Facts Patrick Chaplin delves deep into his mind-boggling archive to present a plethora of nuggets of darting trivia never before gathered together in book form. Find out... Why are darts matches usually played as -01 games (1,001, 501, 301, etc) and not 1,000, 500 or 300? Were early dartboards really made of pig-bristle? Who was the first darts player to endorse a darts product? Why did a Bolton darts team go 'topless' in the 1990s? The answers to these and many other darts questions can be found in this book. From the big guns of yesteryear to the stars of the modern game and from the sport's history and origins to fans drinking a world darts venue dry, it's all here in 180! Fascinating Darts Facts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752490953
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	11/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	375 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

Read an Excerpt

180! Fascinating Darts Facts

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By Patrick Chaplin

The History Press

Copyright © 2012 Patrick Chaplin
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-9095-3

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CHAPTER 1

180! Fascinating Darts Facts

'LAGER-SWILLING FAT GITS' AND OTHER CLICHÉS

Being born of the public bar it was to be expected that from Day One, when darts became popularised on television, saturating our screens and the first 'stars' appeared, it would become the subject of ridicule; a pub game being transported into the realms of a sport? You have to be joking, right?

Until the late 1970s few darts players had been 'famous' except locally or as the winner of the News of the World Individual Darts Championship, the latter being a kind of temporary fame for most. Looking back at the images of the News of the World winners up to, say, 1980, there is not a chubby tummy in sight.

But all that was to change ...

FAME, FORTUNE AND CURRIES

The newly found wealth and the accompanying fame and hectic lifestyles of the new breed of darts player from the mid-1970s onwards produced exaggerated figures that not even the most voluminous of loose-fitting shirts could hide. To a large extent the players had themselves to blame.

With more money than many players had ever seen in their lives and increasing demands on their time, life in the darts fast lane brought with it the quaffing of copious additional amounts of alcohol. With more eating on-the-run, late night curries especially added even more inches to the already cuddly waistlines, transforming the physical form of these new 'athletes'.

'Lager-swilling fat gits' was a phenomenon created during, primarily, the 1970s which the less-than- sympathetic national media seized on from the start. Darts players have been labelled 'walking beer barrels', 'human ashtrays' and 'brainless, 15-stone bags of burping wind'. Darts has been described as 'the Sport of Slobs' and 'child's play' but even so, at its height, over 10 ½ million people in the UK engaged in the sport.

COMMENTS AND CLICHÉS

Here is just a small selection of some of the comments and clichés aired in national daily newspapers.

'... and there on the boards ... stand big ugly guys in gaudy shirts with the capacity audience well and truly perched in the palms of their ham-like hands.'

Peter Batt, Daily Star, 15 January 1981, Embassy at Jollees

'... those doughty men who never lack the stomach for the fight.'

The Times – Sporting Diary, 31 March 1984

'A dashing bunch, these athletes of the arrows. Fag in one hand, pint in the other, they display amazing grace by still contriving to throw.'

The Times, 8 November 1999

Whatever anti-dart journalists and commentators said or did to per pet uate the 'lager-swilling fat git' image, that all pales into insignificance when compared to the impact of one single TV comedy sketch.

FATBELLY AND EVENFATTERBELLY

Although first broadcast over three decades ago, no matter how old a darter you may be, everyoneit seems has seen the now legendary BBC TV Not the Nine O'Clock News darts sketch featuring Dai 'Fatbelly' Gutbucket (Mel Smith) and Griff Rhys Jones as Tony 'Evenfatterbelly' Belcher. The commentator with a distinct Geordie accent was played by Rowan Atkinson.

For those rare few who have never seen it, in the sketch 'Fatbelly' and 'Evenfatterbelly', instead of throwing for double tops, throw for double scotch, treble vodka, etc, until the latter eventually throws up. There are some darts pundits who feel that this single comedy sketch indelibly seared the 'fat belly' image of darts players into the minds of the nation forever, produced as it was of darts' popularity. But then that was exactly what Not the Nine O'Clock Newswas all about: parodying current affairs and popular culture.

This single sketch etched the archetypal 'fat git' darts player into the national psyche and nothing, but nothing, it seems will ever shift it.

FITTERBELLY

There are many people within and without darts who believe the sport took two giant, chubby steps backwards when first Andy Fordham (2005) and then Bobby George (2006) appeared on TV's Celebrity Fit Club. Many more thought it was great entertainment.

Bobby reported on his time on the programme on his website www.bobbygeorge.com. At the end of the piece is the legend, 'If you would like some more information on fit club Bobby says please ring this number: Eighty nothing, eight nothing, eight f*** all!'

LARD BUTTS

The Times journalist Lynne Truss described darts players as 'lard butts'. However, she did confess that the sport itself had 'a certain amount of beauty' and then spoilt it by adding, '... if you don't look too closely at the players.' Then to add insult to insult she referred to Ted 'The Count' Hankey as being of 'the same generation as my dad.' Well Lynne, your dad must have started early as Ted was only 31 at the time.

But not everyone in the journalistic profession was against darts. A Daily Express reporter in January 1985, wrote, tongue firmly in cheek, 'As athletes, they are anti-heroes. The First of the Flab to make televised sporting history' but, more positively, in 2002 Dave Kidd, reporting for the Sun on the PDC world championship, wrote, 'sumo comparisons are unfair in many cases. Dutchman Roland Scholten is built like a pipe-cleaner and Steve Beaton looks like he would be more at home as a baby-oiled thong-dropper at one of the Circus Tavern's popular ladies' nights.'

New York Times journalist Joshua Robinson hit the nail on the head when he wrote in 2008, 'Darts has been saddled with the image of overweight, beer-swilling Cockneys. But it is precisely these characters ... who have made darts into a wildly popular television sport.' However, such characters are becoming scarcer every year.

Despite these more positive reactions the 'lager-swilling fat git' image continues to haunt and distort darts despite there being fewer and fewer large darts players.

In today's modern game fitness is essential in order to play consistently well at the highest level. With millions of pounds in prize money, professional darts players cannot allow their game to slip and nowadays fitness is part of most top players' training regimes, some even having their own personal trainers and physios.

THE ORIGINS OF DARTS

For many years the history of our sport was dismissed by writers as being 'lost in the mist of alehouse smoke'. This was basically an excuse for not researching the heritage of darts properly or perhaps not even caring. Here then are the facts.

Darts is one of the oldest established English pub games which since the late 1970s has become one of the most popular indoor sports in the world.

THE THEORIES

In the past a number of theories have been presented about the origins of the game. These have included javelins, crossbow bolts, medieval fighting and hunting dartes and archery. Of these the most likely scenario is that the game has its roots in archery. Glance back to the earliest type of dartboards and you will see that these were concentric targets – miniature forms of the archery target. Moreover, darts is most commonly known in England as 'arrows'. Some would say that these two points alone are sufficient to confirm our sport's heritage. But the truth, and this might hurt Englishmen's feelings, is that the modern game of darts is partly French!

Surprisingly, darts as we know it today, is not as old as you might think. True, darts has been played in inns and alehouses in England for centuries, but not in the standard form that we recognise today.

FAIRGROUNDS AND THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Darts from at least the sixteenth century onwards was mainly played as 'puff and dart' where small darts were puffed through a tube at a numbered target. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that modern darts began to develop. We have the English fairgrounds to thank for that.

During that period the purpose of the fairground in England was changing from a functional market – selling goods and services at, say, the Mop or Goose Fair – to a leisure experience. Always looking for something new to entertain the punters, showmen began to import wooden 'flechettes' (translation 'little arrows') from France for use as a new throwing sideshow.

The flechettes, which became commonly known as 'French darts', comprised of a combined one-piece wooden barrel and stem with turkey feather flights. Later bands of lead were added around the barrel to increase the weight of each dart. The fairground side stalls featured any number of random dartboard designs.

So, like it or not, darts is not wholly English but a hybrid; part English (the dartboard) and part French (the wooden darts).

DARTS SPREAD

From the popularity of the fairground, and as the showmen toured the English counties, slowly but surely darts found its way into English (and some Welsh) public houses.

So, up until the early part of the twentieth century, darts existed in disparate forms across parts of England. As interest grew, the first organised matches were played but these were only 'in-house' or friendly matches between pubs which were close to each other (the cost of transport was prohibitive at that time).

After the First World War, the first brewery leagues appeared and grew to such an extent that, by 1924, the seeds had been sown for the establishment of a national darts association. The National Darts Association (NDA) was formed in London in 1925, its plan to formally organise darts across England, in the first instance, and then into other parts of the UK.

THE NEWS OF THE WORLD

The News of the World competition, organised by members of the NDA, was established in London in the 1927/28 season and covered only the Metropolitan Area of the capital. Just over 1,000 darts players entered that first tournament. By the end of the 1930s it had expanded to cover, by region, most of England; the total number of entrants into the competition in 1938/39 exceeded 280,000. Up until the Second World War there was no national News of the World tournament.

OUSTING OTHER PUB GAMES

Such was the take-up of darts by the brewers and the dart-playing public that, by the 1930s, it had become a popular national recreation in England and parts of Wales, played by all classes, often ousting existing pubs games such as skittles and rings (indoor quoits). However, the development of darts found some resistance in places like parts of Manchester where even today the smaller Manchester/Log-End board still holds sway in Salford and elsewhere.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR

During the Second World War darts-playing boosted morale in the forces, being played in the officers' mess and prisoner of war camps alike. Towards the end of the war, darts became a standard item in the NAAFI sports pack issued to serving troops and this helped spread the word of darts across the world in many theatres of war.

American soldiers visiting England during the Second World War took darts home with them and generated substantial interest in this 'olde English' game in the US which up until then was little played in that country.

POST-WAR

The News of the World Individual Darts Championship was revived in 1947/48, this time on a 'national basis' (in reality only England and Wales), and continued to be described as 'the championship every dart player wants to win' until the tournament was 'suspended' in 1990. The end of the war also saw the return of the People National Team Championships (first played for in 1938/39).

The original NDA did not survive the war and although a number of attempts were made to introduce another national, controlling agency, nothing firm was realised until 1954 when thePeople newspaper supported the setting up of the National Darts Association of Great Britain (NDAGB).

LOW PROFILE – 1950–72

The 1950s and 1960s were periods when darts maintained a fairly low profile even though levels of participation remained extremely high. During this period and into the early 1970s the NDAGB looked after darts in Britain, being responsible for setting up some of the earliest county darts teams in the early to mid-1950s and introducing a number of major tournaments including those sponsored by NODOR (the famous 'NODOR Fours') and Guinness. The 1960s saw darts on television for the first time since the 1930s.

THE 1970s AND 1980s

It was not until the establishment of the British Darts Organisation (BDO) in 1973 and the introduction of split- screen technology that televised darts really took a hold of Britain and then, it seemed, the rest of the planet. In 1977 the World Darts Federation (WDF) was established to become an umbrella organisation for darts across the globe.

The 1970s and '80s created the first household names, the first darts 'stars' such as Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Maureen Flowers, Alan Evans, Jocky Wilson, Leighton Rees and Cliff Lazarenko to name but a few. The Embassy World Professional Darts Championship was established in 1978, the first winner being the Welshman Leighton Rees.

THE SPLIT

In 1993 the world of darts was rocked by what has become popularly known as 'the split'; a situation whereby sixteen of the top professional darts players broke away from the BDO and joined the World Darts Corporation (WDC), now the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

The rest, as they say ...

CHARACTERS

During the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships in January 2012, Ted 'The Count' Hankey surprised no one when he announced his intention to leave the BDO and 'defect' to the PDC; his intention having been well telegraphed in the tabloid press.

But it came as a bit of a shock to his fans when Ted also announced that he was not only dispensing with his Dracula cape but had also decided to cease hurling plastic bats into the crowd during his walk-ons. While some traditionalists mourned the fact that Ted was joining the PDC, others sensed the end of an era; the end of characters.

Was Ted the last showman of darts?

CHARACTERS OF YORE

In the early days darts characters tended to be defined by natural, inherent eccentric behaviour. For example, back in the 1970s Warwickshire's Bob Baxter liked to dress cowboy style (minus the gun and holster) when he was on the oche. After a county match against Middlesex at Southall, his opponents produced the new BDO rule book which stated that no hats could be worn 'without the prior permission of the BDO appointed Organisers' adding, 'for example, a Sikh would qualify for such permission.'

Bob, a 32-year old car assembly worker from Atherstone, thought the rule 'rather childish' but a BDO official told reporters, 'We made the rule because we wanted to lose the cloth cap image.' Such a decision would have also affected Wales' Dyfri Jones who went on stage at an early home international wearing a bobble hat and a white cardigan.

Jeans and 'skirts made with denim, or corduroy material, which have been fashioned in a "jeans style"' plus 'any form of "track-suit" attire' were also outlawed by the BDO, and this heralded the arrival of the style police. The image-makers were knocking the 'characters' out of the game and effectively repackaging darts. Darts players even began wearing suits! Rod 'The Prince of Style' Harrington was well-known for wearing shirt, tie and black trousers on the oche.

ECCENTRICITY

The 1970s also saw 'character' become more about creative, deliberate eccentric behaviour, for example the outlandish walk-ons created by Bobby George, but often 'character' was associated with players' legendary drinking capabilities before, during and after matches.

The BDO gradually put an end to quaffing beers by any player or match official initially 'whilst engaged in a match played on stage the area covered by television.' This ban was later extended to all major tournaments until smoking was banned in public places by the government beginning in Scotland in 2006 and the rest of the UK in 2007. In addition, disciplinary action was taken against any players misbehaving on and off the oche, that is, anyone who technically brought the sport into disrepute.

All of these rules were working against any players' desire or natural ability to be a 'character' but the greatest element working against frivolity of any kind was and is money; shed loads. There is so much money to be earned, especially in the PDC tournaments, that players have to be at the top of their game all of the time. Nowadays players simply cannot afford to mess about on the oche. It costs too much.

They certainly cannot expect to go on stage inebriated and escape retribution. If they do then a drug-testing team waits to greet them backstage after the match. Nowadays the walk-on is the only real demonstration of character on TV and as soon as the music stops the real business begins.

CHARACTERS LIVE ON ...

Actually, it's not the characters of the game that have changed but the character of the game. Fortunately, the darts-wielding characters are still there but not on our TV screens. The exhibition circuit thrives so fans can witness their favourite pros really letting their hair down and having fun. At major televised tournaments nowadays the 'characters' tend to be among the audience wearing fancy dress and brandishing placards rather than standing on stage tossing tungsten.

WHY 501?

In most major darts competitiions players play straight in-double out 501. One of the most popular questions received via www.patrickchaplin.com is 'Why is 501 the standard game of darts?' Some even ask 'Why not 300 or 500?'

The very first games of darts consisted of throwing three darts at either a miniature concentric archery target or a random number board, the highest score with those three darts winning the game. But as skills developed things

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from 180! Fascinating Darts Facts by Patrick Chaplin. Copyright © 2012 Patrick Chaplin. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

Contents

Title,
Dedication,
Acknowledgements,
Foreword by Sid Waddell,
Introduction,
180! Fascinating Darts Facts,
Author's other publications and website,
About the Author,
Copyright,