Arrow minded
Although its heyday might be over, darts is still associated with beer swilling, pot bellied men. Paunches aside, the sport is alive and well in Paphos
In 1980s Britain darts was massive, both as a game and as a spectator sport; 15 million people tuned into the weekly TV programme Bulls eye and top name darts players were huge celebrities long before David was even a twinkle in father Beckham’s eye. Up until the early nineties around 48 per cent of pub regulars in Britain would regularly play darts and almost every local hostelry fielded a home team. Now it is estimated that only a mere five per cent of customers still play, or indeed even have regular access to a pub dartboard.
This reason behind this slow demise of darts in Britain has been lain firmly at the doors of ‘gastro’ pubs, with the big breweries having transformed the vast majority of traditional pubs into rather sterile gastro establishments. So, instead of walking into your local to experience the delights of pork scratchings, pies, crisps, beer and dodgy floral carpeting, you now enter a world of striped pine flooring, Focaccia bread, crab cakes and Pinot Grigio. In this environment there is little room for a dart board, it has now been dispatched to the skip.
Darts dates back to medieaval times, when archery tutors shortened arrows and made their students practice throwing them at empty wine barrels. Soldiers then took to showing off their ‘short arrow’ skills in local ale houses. Even royalty played, in the rotund form of Henry VIII after his second wife, Anne Boleyn, gifted him an ornate set of hand carved mini arrows.
Just as tulips come from bulbs, darts players come from pubs, and in contrast to the UK, here in Paphos we now have a thriving ‘darts culture’ with over 24 teams made up of both British and Cypriot players being fielded by dozens of local pubs. No gastro pubs here but each does offer a riot of compelling attractions none of which is edible, there’s banks of fruit machines, TV screens, pool tables, electronic games, the same dodgy carpeting and yes, each boasts not one but two dart boards, so competitive darts can now be played by visiting teams.
Personally speaking, an entire evening devoted to observing grown men and women throwing a small arrow at a wall wasn’t the most exciting prospect for spending an evening but, never having experienced the game in action, I traveled down to Bar Street accompanied by my ‘ringer’ Ian Inglis and entered the Cockatoo public house.
Into the ‘game’ room, where well upholstered ladies sat taking advantage of the cocktail hour, several players were already up at the ‘oche’ (the line you throw from). All had in hand the essential ‘glass’ aid to darts, which confirmed my suspicions that darts has to be the champion of ‘non sporty’ sports, it doesn’t involve running out of breath, and can be played without fear of getting a stitch or pulled muscle, while drinking pints of beer throughout is almost mandatory. No wonder people fondly imagine double tops and double brandies are inevitably entwined in the game.
However, darts secretary Vic Hemming was on hand to dispel some of my preconceptions, starting off by explaining the scoring system. After only two minutes my eyes started to glaze over as he rattled off what could have been a Cantonese translation of a Fair Isle knitting pattern, so incredibly complex is the numbers game attached to darts.
Utterly bamboozled, I optimistically believed that when the game started there would be a sudden dawning of clarity, which would render instant scoring comprehension.
Of course I still had Ian as the appointed secret ringer and everything was going well until he withdrew his three darts from his back pocket and proceeded to blow his ‘novice’ cover by politely requesting a stick of chalk in order to massage (rub down) his arrows. Not the actions of a rank amateur, with the result Ian was eyed up with a definite mix of suspicion and curiosity as he stepped up to the oche.
This was to be a knock-out competition and, as Vic went off to ‘fuel up’ in readiness for his first throw, I was joined by Chairman Bernard Dangerfield, who was to be my personal commentator during games. A lovely gentle man, blessed with all the charisma needed of a retired accountant but when it comes to talking up a game of good darts, he transforms himself into Mick Jagger on speed, jumping up and down and chattering away ten to the dozen about double tops, bulls, style and, as another tungsten tip hits the target, he takes time out to remind me that dart playing is indeed a skill. Targets are only a few centimeters across and players try to hit them repeatedly over a two to three hour period, which isn’t as easy as these men and women were making it look that evening.
That’s another nice thing about the Paphos darts teams, they are open to women so no need for any desperate darts-wives, and that particular night it was the top female players who did indeed give the men a good number of triples for their money. The 2007-2008 league is due to start within the next couple of weeks.
Ian Inglis had an obvious misspent youth, resulting in him ranking quite high in the Scottish youth darts circuit. Now, after a gap of 13 years without playing, it was clear to everyone that his talent for gamesmanship and hitting the mark hadn’t quite left him. After two and a half hours of knock-out play, Ian is left to play one of the top players in the club, this is the finale to the evening, and Ian positions himself carefully to take aim. His first dart lurches through the air and hits the lower half of the board. The next dart makes him groan; it misses the board completely and clatters into the wall.
All is now so quiet, you could here dandruff fall from a spider. Ian lines up his third throw, his right hand rocks back and forth before his wrist cocks forward and, in a blurring rush, his fingers open. The dart sizzles with intent as it smacks into the board hitting the chosen treble 20. The next round is just as intense but Ian makes a fatal error of judgement, admitting later he should have gone for the ten instead (of course I had no inkling of what he was talking about even after having watched the game for three hours). All I knew was that Ian lost in the final game and, as everyone started to go home, I spectacularly failed to lift his air of disappointment by saying ‘Don’t be disappointed – it’s only a game of darts’. Even before the last words were out of my mouth, Ian was walking back up to the oche and, after a few flexes of his throwing arm, there he stayed, replaying over the same aims he had missed in the final game until he got them all on a treble run. Only then were we allowed to go home.
And what did I glean from my evening spent in a pub playing with the local Kings and Queens of the oche? There’s on display many different throwing actions, some throw like they are hurling a grenade, others akin to a chap tossing a bottle out of a car window, some go on tippy toes and flick their dart shyly, almost furtively. It’s also a game any age group can participate in as long as you can remain upright with or without lubrication. There’s also no such thing as ‘luck’ in darts as its all about having great manual dexterity and, of course, an eye and excellent balance. Irony is totally absent in the game, so is cheating as it’s all there for the audience to see in front of them, making it a real no-nonsense activity. It’s also a highly sociable activity, everyone chats betweens games, friendships are made and there’s a strong sense of community.
And Ian? He has since gone out and purchased a top of the range dart board and his house reverberates to the regular thud of tungsten as his darts consistently hit 20s and 10s, and such is the seriousness of his training that a case of Keo beer (they are the main sponsors of darts in Cyprus)
has recently been purchased, replacing his much loved tipple of wine.
For more information contact Vic Hemming on 99 766352, email [email protected]
WHERE TO GO
ACES BAR, Carl Wood: [email protected]
ALEXANDER’S, Terry McGovern: [email protected]
CHARLIE’S BAR, Ken Dyke: [email protected]
COCKATOO’S A&B, Dimitris Evripidou: [email protected]
ITHAKI DARTS CLUB, Bob Utting: [email protected]
COSTA RICA BAR, Paul Higginson: [email protected]
FLANAGAN’S, Duncan Bowers: [email protected]
FROG & TOAD A, Steve Claxton: [email protected]
FROG & TOAD B, Ken Moore: [email protected]
LATIN COMMUNITY CENTRE, John Woodcock: [email protected]
MESOGI ARMS A, John Buttress: [email protected]
MESOGI ARMS B, Ron Foster: [email protected]
PHOENIX CLUB, Don Gladden: [email protected]
QUEEN VIC, David Jones: [email protected]
RUGBY ARMS, David Cottingham: [email protected]
SEA HORSE, Tony Croxford: [email protected]
SIXTIES BAR, Sheliah Cheatle: [email protected]
APHRODITE’S BAR, Ian Cunningham: [email protected]
BLACK VELVET, Mike: [email protected]
CJ’S, Joe McDonald: [email protected]
HEROES, Conal McKewan: [email protected]
PIT STOP, Angelos Efstathiou: [email protected]
ROBIN HOOD, Costas: [email protected]
TRAMPS, Nick Shomalistos: [email protected]
Other useful numbers
Cyprus Darts Association: Tel: 22 351717 or 25 724162, email: [email protected]
Learn from an expert
John Lowe was one of the main competitors who made darts such a huge spectator sport in the 1970s and 1980s. He will be in Cyprus in February, where he will host a darts exhibition at the Ambasador Restaurant (for more information: www.pafosdartsleague.com)
Lowe won the World Championship title in three different decades – 1979, 1987 and 1993. Though seen as very much a bridesmaid figure behind Eric Bristow in the early days of darts’ rise to prominence, he was also regarded as the gentleman of the game.
Lowe achieved the ultimate feat in darts on October 13, 1984 during the World Matchplay tournament against Keith Deller when he managed a nine dart finish – the sport’s equivalent of a hole-in-one in golf or a 147 break in snooker. This was the first time this had ever been accomplished by any darts player while being televised. For this, Lowe won £102,000. He went on to clinch the tournament.
