#simon whitlock

Simon Whitlock was stunned 3-0 by world number 74 Ryan Joyce as the former finalist crashed out of the tournament.

Although the Wizard averaged over 90 in the first two sets, his doubling let him down and the Australian then collapsed as the impressive Joyce took his chances.

Despite making it through to round two neither Michael Smith or James Wade had it easy, with the latter needing extra legs to beat Seigo Asada 3-2 – the Japanese player having been a credit to the competition in both his outings.

Smith was kept under pressure as the Netherlands’ Ron Meulenkamp matched his scoring for the majority of their contest, though the Englishman did enough to progress.

There were comfortable wins for Brendan Dolan and Kim Huybrechts as the pair won 3-0 against Joe Cullen and Daniel Larsson, while Ireland’s William O’Connor too made it through with a 3-2 victory following a deciding set with James Wilson.

Does anyone really care about darts?

When someone says, “I follow the sport that is DARTS!” it would be perfectly natural for any garden variety sports fan to curl their face into a fierce look of curiosity. Much like the face one pulls when they get a whiff of a rancid fart in a public place.

Darts is reserved for dingy, dark pubs where there is a constant wafting of stale vomit and strong cleaning agents filling your nostrils. Hobo-esque, out of shape drunkards throw darts at the dart board as a sort of break from their unwavering ambition to get blind drunk.

When the casual pub goer heads to the board they do so with a great sense of uncertainty about how to actually play the game, how far away to stand (7 feet 9 and a quarter inches), and how do you hit the bulls-eye and triple 20 constantly?

It’s all just a bit of fun, darts is not a real sport, nor would people religiously follow any competition based around the game, right?

WRONG!

Darts is big. It’s massive. And people care!

All BDO (British Darts Organisation) events have been televised on the BBC in the UK for the past 33 years, with SKY Sports televising all World Professional Darts Corporation events since 1994. Now ESPN is jumping on board and will televise events for the 2012 professional calendar.

The World Darts Federation has 67 member countries and two member organisations, the competing BDO and PDC. Both run several world events offering serious cash for men’s and women’s competitions.

Over the past 10 years, the BDO World Darts Championship has had an average viewing audience of 2.5 million British fanatics cheering on their country’s many darts champions.

So why do so many (admittedly British louts) follow this sport with such passion and fervor?

Here is why I think darts has gone beyond a game reserved for social misfits in the back corner of a dingy pub and into a sport people really care about:

1. They have kept the professional game in the same place it gained prominence - the pub. All pro competitions are played in pubs in England fitted out to allow a viewing gallery and lots of drinking by said gallery.

2. It’s the game of the everyman, the ‘Average Joe’ or even Joe’s slightly off kilter cousin Larry who works as a labourer and spends majority of his cash on tattoos, beer, big TV’s and action movie DVDs, but geeez he’s a top bloke!

It’s the game of the pub larrikin and loud mouth. People like this guy and his antics in the pub and on the pro-darts tour. Importantly, they appreciate his skill with a dart (because it is bloody hard to hit those little double and triple sections all the time).

3. Nicknames – any darts player worth a damn has a great nickname! Exhibit A: 15 time PDC and BDO world darts champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor. A fun and cheeky nickname for a portly, thin haired bloke the wrong side of 45. He certainly doesn’t embody the word power on first impressions, but on the darts scene he’s an all-conquering colossus who rarely loses.

Let’s run through some of the better nicknames that allow fans to really identify and connect with their beloved darts idols.

- Eric ‘The Crafty Cockney’ Bristow

- Simon ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Whitlock

- Jamie ‘Bravedart’ Harvey (yep, he’s Scottish)

- Wayne ‘Hawaii Five-O-One’ Mardle (he plays in Hawaiian shirts)

- Tina ‘The Golden Girl’ Gulliver

With their nicknames, these players have a greater persona than just another person standing at the line. They own their nickname and this creates theatre for the sport. It’s like mixing 8 parts darts with 2 parts WWE wrestling. People love to see this, and love getting around their favourite player.

Darts is a sport where fans can really admire – and aspire to be – their idols. Darts is a sport where followers can loosen up and enjoy a quality display of skill down at the local pub. It’s a fun and light blue-collar sport for the drinking masses. It’s simple enough for anyone to enjoy but can be over analysed enough for die-hard fans to really sink their teeth into.

Ok, so you’re thinking ‘some people care about darts, but why do I have to read this junk? I hate darts’

Maybe you do, but do you hate Australian sportsmen? Do you want to be patriotic and support a fellow everyday Aussie on his quest to become the world champ? I going to go ahead and assume you do.

Then get behind Simon ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Whitlock who is still on his journey to be crowned number 1 in the darts world.

This is a man with an astonishing mullet that has some serious business going on at the front too, and was knocked out of the world championship in a desperately close semi-final this week.

Simon has vowed to continue his quest for glory and I am imploring YOU to care so that ‘The Wizard of Oz’ has the full pride of the nation behind him next time he lines up at the world championships.

Plus we love beating the Poms at everything so let’s STICK IT UP EM!

Sincerely,

A converted darts follower.