Darts Goes Dark

Posted on March 23rd, 2011

Glasgow will be lucky if it sees Premier League darts again for a while. If I was in charge I would take the extravaganza elsewhere after tonight’s frankly disgraceful scenes. Current World Champion, Adrian Lewis, fully expected a barrage of noise to rain down no him throughout his match with Flying Scotsman Gary Anderson but it was flying coins that decided the outcome.

The noise and booing Lewis could handle, he does most weeks, but his walk on was showered with beer the length of the runway and he was pelted with coins at key stages of the match. I have never witnessed such unsporting behaviour on the oche before. It has been coming and hopefully this is a wake up call to the PDC who are playing with fire in the Premier League.

I’ve attended Premier League nights and they were the least enjoyable nights of darts I’ve had. A tension emanates from the hordes and builds as the night progresses; in Manchester a couple of years ago I saw scuffles as the evening came to a close. Football terraces are often a seething mass of hatred these days and with the size of crowds the Premier League now attracts, it appears those same football-type fans have pervaded one of the last bastions of sportsmanship.

There aren’t too many left – cricket has always had its sledging but is played in the right spirit before a boisterous but decent crowd. Darts has always had its edgy moments and dubious characters (Lewis himself walked off and combusted in the face of some dodgy Peter Manley tactics a few years back) but generally the spirit is sporting and the crowd are considerate.

Let’s get one thing right here as well – the Glasgow crowd lost the match for their man. Gary Anderson was visibly disgusted by the coin throwing and his game was deeply affected. From 3-0 up and cruising he crumbled and lost 8-3. He even deliberately missed double top with 3 darts in the 10th leg after seeing his opponent put off his own double by the Scottish missiles. Anderson deserves the Paolo Di Canio award for sportsmanship for that moment.

It is argued that Adrian Lewis came of age when he won the world championship at the start of the year but tonight he proved he has matured enormously. He refused to rise to the crowd, he endured a soaking, booing and missile throwing, and, most impressively, he won the match, admittedly with some help from a thunder-faced Anderson. It’s perhaps the performance of the year so far, certainly in the Premier League.

Let’s hope this extreme behaviour was a one off and that security is tightened to eject these idiots whenever this kind of nonsense occurs. Tonight it had the reverse effect in losing the match for the man they were supposed to be supporting. It could also see Glasgow taken off the Premier League rota.

I’m not sure whether to feel happy for Lewis or sorry for Anderson but I know I’m disgusted with an appalling Glasgow crowd, many of whom cannot truly be darts fans.

DartsMad Lee

Post Post Note: I’m shocked that the official PDC report of the night makes absolutely no mention of coin throwing and is a complete misrepresentation of what went on. I understand their desire to sweep this under the carpet and not dwell on bad publicity but they risk taking their viewers for mugs. Anderson virtually threw the game and I guarantee the words said off stage were much stronger than those reported. We thought hard about whether to actually publish their round up, such is its inadequacy but it is up on the site so you can judge for yourself.

Stuart Pyke also reviewed the night on his Unicorn blog and in my opinion did not go far enough in condemnation of the Glasgow fans. It was more than a small element and darts is on a slippery slope if people in those positions do not speak out.

Next we’ll have the likes of Eric Bristow coming out saying it has always been like this (he had a pint pot thrown at him in Scotland back in the day). It has not always been like this and last night’s antics should be tolerated.

Darts is one of the few sports where fans can get up close & personal to the top players, it only takes the abused player to react and there could be real trouble. It is not exaggerating the point to say that players’ safety could be at risk if the escalation continues. Imagine if it was Ted Hankey up there last night – there would have been a riot.

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