Why play Darts? - The people's sport

In what other sport would you witness a player dishing out muffins when walking onto the stage to compete? and where else would you see fans sporting such odd attire: dressing up as a set of traffic cones, a pack of crayons or a historic line of US presidents?

Darts is the best social sport available, the pub culture of the game enables a closeness between players and fans unlike any other, you can join the darting choir and sing along to a vast array of songs during the walk- owns by the players regardless of their genre.

Even if you're not at a competitive game, maybe your at the local pub you can socialise with friends playing the game whilst enjoying a crisp cold ale. The sport can even bring out the competitive side in anybody even the most introverted people, just to beat your best mate. The players inspire people and showcase that darts isn't all about being professional, its the whole experience of darts the socialising, the music, the sport and the enjoyment out of the game regardless of whether you win or lose.

Described as being similar to the FA cup in football, giant killings happen all the time in every game or tournament in darts, where else could you see a lorry driver from Birmingham beat two professionals and Former World Champions? Just look at Paul Hogan's' recent run in the Coral UK open. Oh and wouldn't we all like to win a couple of thousand along the way too?

Regardless of your size, body shape, attire or gender everybody is united as one. Darts is a sport where you do not get judged on size or how you dress, actually its what the fans love about the sport. Dissimilar to other sports where you have to have the perfect body, there is no perfect size in darts, the fans still worship the players regardless.

Darts is the opportunity to do your own thing, nobody to tell you how to throw a dart, how to hold a dart and no criticisms from pundits and commentators.

In a typical game there are more nerve racking moments than in an average movie, watching the sport on TV makes you sit on the edge of your seat until the final dart is thrown and the match is over, but the fun doesn't stop there, another match comes on in a few minutes and you think to yourself ... "I cant miss this match" and the process continues until you realise its night time and you've spent all day watching the telly, but you've surely got to tell yourself its was worth it!

The impossible is possible, a local player from down the local pub team can beat the best in the business and this is what is so beautiful about the game: unlike any other sport where the best teams with the most money and the best players always week in week out... maybe they can learn something from darts.

Both genders have the same power and are held in the same esteem amongst the fans, in fact some of the women players are better than the men. In some tournaments in the BDO (British Darts Organisation) the women's championship runs in between the men's game and the fans still show the same enthusiasm as they do with the men, and look out when a 180 goes in and the MC screams 180! , it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck and the crowd goes bananas.

Finally, the amount of prize money on offer can set you up for life, £10,000 for the perfect leg and every time you hit a nine dart finish you would be helping out a local charity as well, as the tournament sponsors donate thousands of pounds to a charity, what a good feeling. Tournament prize money varies from £30,000 to £350,000 for winning the World Championship, a plasterer or a muffin maker could possibly win it and not have to work for the rest of their lives, wouldn't you like to not work for the rest of your life just by throwing three pieces of metal at a board repeatedly?

Check out my other blog posts