By Eamon Cunningham
In the realm of sports, there has been an ongoing debate, a question that has lingered there for years and remained unanswered to this very day, is darts professionally considered a real sport or not? First, to answer this question, we need to have clear guidelines on what labels an activity as a sport. If not all, most of the dictionaries agree that ‘a sport’, is an athletic activity that requires certain skills with a set of certain physical capabilities, which are all incorporated into a competitive field. So does darts fit into the criteria?
Skills
Like any other sport, darts too requires certain skills from its players. The amount of precision it takes to aim perfectly isn’t easy to come by, and it isn’t by pure luck. Anyone might have the basic skills required to shoot an arrow, but not everyone is willing to put in the time and effort to sharpen these skills.
These skills don’t just stop here; it also includes discovering your own style, nailing the grip, working on your posture, making sure you own the right equipment, and more. When it comes to ‘required skills’, darts does require a certain level of skills that the players need to meet.
Equipment
A player might put in the time and the effort, but if he/she owns the wrong set of equipment, there is a huge chance that it will poorly affect his/her accuracy and score. Anything from the thickness of the dartboard down to the dart barrel might affect the player’s score. There are a lot of websites that review the best dartboards, so it’s better to check them before buying any dartboard because the wire thickness, angle and strength, core thickness, and the fastening system will affect your aim. Your fingers need to be comfortable with the dart barrel, not every type will work with your grip, and so trying them out before purchasing might be a good idea. You can also check out this article covering the different types of dart grips in order to learn more.
Recognition
For the longest time darts has been connected to pubs, as if it was the only place anyone can enjoy playing, but this isn’t the case anymore. Finally, after the long wait, people, companies, and even countries have recognized Darts as a real sport that needs to be treated like one with its own rules as well. On the 24th of March 2005, England had recognized and labeled darts as a real sport.
However, darts doesn’t follow the same pattern that most sports do, for instance, darts doesn’t require its own players to be in a certain shape. Some argue that one of the reasons that deem darts as a pub game and not a sport is because its players are not in the ‘required’ shape, or form. Darts is a sport that requires accuracy, comfortable yet firm grip, and plenty of other capabilities that don’t require players to be in a specific form.
Phil Taylors, known for his award as second place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, and won many consecutive World Champions in the last years, is one of the famous darts players and widely regarded as the greatest darts player of all time.
Changes
Finally, after the long wait, people are starting to recognize darts as a real sport, especially after the many heated matches, expert darts players, and world championship awards. Today, it is not unusual to see a professional darts match on the TV, just like any other sport darts has its own great number of fans.
These matches have the usual things that people see in any other sport like boxing for instance; you can expect all the models with the loud music, along with the loyal audience who are seen singing just like in any professional match.
A Sport
There is no logical reason to state that darts is not a ‘real’ or a ‘proper’ sport since it meets the criteria of what makes an activity a sport. Darts requires a set of skills from its players, skills that don’t come quick and need a lot of practice and time. Along with the required skills, it also requires a set of equipment, which the players need to feel comfortable with so that it doesn’t affect their performance and score.
Darts might not require visible physical capabilities, but it does require an exact amount of precision, and a comfortable, yet a sharp grip. There are many who still deny that darts is an official real sport now, perhaps the professional darts matches, the World Champions awards, and professional players, like Phil Taylor might convince them.