Darts For The Olympic Games

Darts is one of the oldest English pub games, which since the 1970's, has turned into a successful and hugely popular sport all around the world!

A Brief History of Darts
At the start of the 20th century, darts was played in public houses up and down Great Britain, but it was very regionalised due to a lack of transport. It wasn't until after the end of World War I that the pub breweries leagues really started to take off. So much so, that in 1924 a national darts association was established. Just over ten years later - just before the outbreak of World War Two, the regional individual competitions were attracting almost 300,000 entrants!

During the war years, darts was used by the troops as an important means of keeping up moral. A dartboard set-up was standard issue in the barracks, and the game was introduced to the Americans - who were to take the game across the Atlantic when the war was over. Back in blighty, the individual championships was re-introduced in the late 1940's, but this time on a national scale.

The game continued to grow, and in the 1960's, darts was televised to the nation for the first time. Just a few years later, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) was founded, and with their hard work, and the introduction of split-screen technology, the popularity of darts was booming in Great Britain... and eventually around the world too.

During the 1970's and 80's, the game was making household names of the new 'stars' of darts. People like Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Alan Evans, Jocky Wilson, Leighton Rees, and Cliff Lazarenko were wowing television audiences.

1992 saw the formation of the World Darts Council (later to become the Professional Darts Corporation - PDC), and the following year they formed a breakaway darts organisation. During the next 20 years, darts has become a televised worldwide phenomenon, and in March 2005, the game was officially recognised as a sport by Sport England - and later Sport Wales, Sport Northern Ireland and Sport Scotland.

The Popularity of Darts
Today - under the governing body of the World Darts Federation, there are 68 national darts associations all around the world. From the British Isles and Europe, to Asia and the Americas. The sport is reaching out to all four corners of the globe!

Despite the sport's global popularity, it still comes in for unfair criticism, and is accused of not being a "proper sport". Some argue that darts players are not athletes as some are "overweight" and "not fit". Now whilst darts players do not have to be as physically fit as footballers, sprinters, or cyclists, they do have to maintain a certain standard of fitness. It's not uncommon for a darts match to last for 2 or 3 hours (and sometimes longer), therefore a good level of fitness is required. Is an archery or shooting athlete super fit? Of course not... because they don't need to be!

There is a lot more to darts than just throwing a few arrows at a board. The sport requires an excellent hand-eye coordination. It requires a steely level of concentration. It requires a high level of consistency. It requires a sharp mind. It requires countless hours of dedicated practise, and of course, it requires a good level of fitness. Anyone can throw a dart at a board, but it takes a special individual to be world class... and this is the level of the sport right now.

The other side of the argument is that darts is far too regionalised globally, to be a competitive event in the Olympic Games. People say that the winner would always be British or Dutch. Well that's a very good point, but we believe that we have a workable solution to make darts a fair and competitive Olympic event.

Olympic Darts
If you take a look at the PDC Order of Merit (world rankings), then you'll notice that 25 of the top 30 players are British! Only Australia, Canada and the Netherlands have broken into the top 30, so clearly there's an obvious issue with fair competitiveness. We propose two alternatives for Olympic darts.

The first one would be for competitors to be aged 21 years or younger. Not only would this make the game more competitive, but it would also help to develop the next next generation of professional darts players.

The second option is particularly exciting. We propose that darting Olympians be made up solely of amateurs! Anyone who plays, or has previously played professional or semi-professional darts would be excluded from entering!

There are millions of amateur darts players around the world who would relish the opportunity to represent their country at the next Olympic Games. Each country could hold a national competition/qualifier - supervised by their respective national darts association, to determine who will go forward to represent their country at the Olympics. We believe that this format would work, and would provide a thoroughly entertaining, and competitive event. Not only this, but it would also help the sport discover 'new' talent.

Clearly these options are not the definitive answer, but they provide a good starting point for discussion. Perhaps one of the national darts associations could offer another option? Perhaps one of our professional players has a suggestion? Maybe YOU have an idea?

It's all about discussion. It's about getting this topic in the public domain, and showing the sporting world that our sport is ready for the Olympic Games.