The World Darts Championship, which ended in London, is today’s circus entertainment. The colorful personalities and the cheerful carnival atmosphere of the stands fascinate many, writes Urheilu’s news manager Olli-Pekka Lukka.
18:32•Updated 18:35
London’s Globe Theater in 1603: Lord Chamberlain’s Men Richard Burbage stands on stage and interprets his colleague’s new text. The unhappy prince of Denmark asks “to be or not to be”. The people stand on their feet, shout instructions, drink beer and roar. Heroes are cheered, villains are booed.
London’s Alexandra Palace 420 years later: A mohawk-haired man dressed in a colorful Christmas dress Peter “Snakebite” Wright bouncing darts on the stage. The crowd shouts instructions, drinks beer and indulges in crazy chants. It loves to hate knocking Gerwyn “Iceman” Pricebut everyone bursts into joy when he throws a full 180 points.
Darts is modern theatrical entertainment; in its cheerfulness and immediacy very close to the original ideal of sports, play and fun. The players are the main characters of this show with their nicknames, brightly colored jerseys and entrance music.
However, an almost equally important factor in the experience and in creating the atmosphere is the loud audience dressed in fancy dress: during the worst corona times, the stands were kept empty, but the players and TV viewers were played the background noise of the audience from a tape.
The atmosphere in the stands is on the roof, but as a TV sport, darts is at its best. The camera accurately captures the inhumanly precise performances of the players, as well as expressions of joy and disappointment.
In Great Britain, the World Cup has become a favorite during the Christmas period, and at its peak there have been 1.5 million viewers. In Germany, this final was watched by an estimated 2.36 million viewers on the free Sport1 channel. The corresponding figures for 2010 were 888,000 and 730,000.
Even big tournaments on the spot gather tens of thousands of people at their best.
Behind all the merriment is, of course, a cool financial machine. Founded in 1994, the professional PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) has boosted darts to its current turbo state: events are planned to the last second and conditions are strictly regulated. Players are instructed to be “non-boring”.
However, even before the PDC era, darts was the stage for big personalities and big stories. Eric Bristow and John Lowe dominated the throwing platforms in the 80s. Lowe’s ideal score in 1984 was the first televised nine-pin. The performance earned Lowe a hundred thousand pounds and immortality in darts circles.
Phil “The Power” About Taylor became the first modern legend. He dominated darts for nearly two decades, claiming 14 world titles and throwing 11 televised nine-dart games.
Over the years, the sport has developed financially. A Canadian currently working as a Sky Sports expert John Part won the world title in 2003 and earned £50,000 with his win. Michael Smith now, twenty years later, he paid ten times the amount for winning the same race.
Sportswise, the sport is not doing any worse. Five-time world champion Bristow, who died in 2018, never threw a televised game of nine darts, and John Lowek only once. In 2022, ideal results were seen eight times on television and dozens of times outside the broadcasts.
Based on the social buzz, interest in the sport is growing again in Finland, even though the PDC competitions are behind a pay wall here. The number of licensed players has decreased since the peak years of the 1990s, but the Finnish Cup held this weekend in Pasila, Helsinki gathers a whopping 600 players, from junkies to connoisseurs.