Sunday 11 January 2009

Is Darts The New Football ?

I heard, or read, someone say "Darts is the new Football". I do like watching Darts over the festive period, and particularly the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) competition, as opposed to the BDO (British Darts Organization).

The PDC was set up in 1992 when darts split in two. Although it has a large following, the TV coverage is on subscription based Sky TV (Which therefore probably offers higher prize money) and the PDC has lower viewing figures. This includes the players Phil (The Power) Taylor 14 times world champion (12 PDC, 2 BDO) and Raymond (Barney) van Barneveld, seen in background above, who switched to the PDC and won it at the first attempt in 2007.

The tournament which is held in Alexandra Palace, has crowds holding up humorous placards like "The bloke behind me can't see", and some wear fancy dress. Then you have Sky TV commentator Sid Waddell, with his own unique brand of commentary with comments like "Tungsten tickling" and "He's meaner than a scrapyard Dog", is a cult figure.
Me, well I'll be watching the Manchester United v Chelsea Football game this afternoon.

No.5

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