The debate on whether darts is a sport has rumbled on for many years.
However, there were many elements of darts, which live on today, that make it a sport.
So, what is it about darts that makes it a sport?
The most common definition of a sport is ‘an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment’. Taking some of the elements from this definition, we can apply them to darts.
Does darts involve physical exertion? The answer is yes and competitive darts requires players to maintain their stamina over long periods of time. Some darts matches can go on for up to 2 hours and this requires players to throw darts accurately over that time. Throwing darts is physical exertion in itself as is walking to the oche and from the oche to the dartboard to collect the darts.
There is no doubt darts involves physical exertion and it also requires plenty of skills. Throwing three darts into a very narrow target to score 180 is not luck, it requires skill. Top professional players can score several 180’s in a single match and this is extremely difficult to achieve, as most newcomers get to learn soon.
Players need to know what numbers and doubles they must hit to finish the game and that also requires skill. Being able to count backwards and split the remaining total in order to finish the game on a double takes both practice and skill. This is something many players struggle to master quickly and can take time.
The final part of the sport definition above talks about individuals or teams competing against each other for entertainment. There can be no denying that darts falls seamlessly into this category. Darts is played with two individuals against each other or sometimes pairs playing against each other. In addition, you will find huge crowds at the Professional Darts Corporation events and are we are talking about thousands of people watching in large arenas.
The reason those people are there is to be entertained and darts is a very popular sport for spectators, as figures testify . Furthermore, darts is shown live on dedicated sports channels and that alone should be enough to suggest darts is a sport.
Darts is recognized by Sport England as a sport and coupled with the facts above, which fall in-line with the definition of a sport, it becomes easy to see that it is indeed a sport.
If you have never played darts before, now is the perfect time to begin and you can enjoy this fun sport.
