Senior_AP

It is, you do ned to be fit I assume though....Cue "John Smith" running bomb advert. lol

richiewong

Time to start the debate again

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...430175,00.html

Senior_AP

Darts is a sport. When played at a professional level it is sport.

Senior_AP

Darts is now officially recognised as Sport.

Just to add some real closure to this thread, the above changes this thread from opinion into fact.

Winston_Churchill

By george sir, the red communist hoardes that now run our once proud nation are even seeking to make it an OLYMPIC sport!!

Bah!! I say. Shooting the hun with a fine 12 bore is the only sport for me!!

darts_aint_sport

So does a sport become a sport just cos someone decides it is? You can't change the definition of what a sport is, but it seems the word sport has been bast ard ised to mean anything competitive where money is at stake. Think I'm going to go away and take up my favourite sport of internet gambling...

Senior_AP

Darts fulfills all the criteria outlined in the definition of a sport.

Yes, there are variations in skill/endurance/exertion levels - but there are in all sports. Cyclists are fitter than hockey players - but both are still sport.

Darts is a game, at "pub" level. As is football at "pub team" level. At pro level however it is a very different story.


As said, all criteria is fulfilled and it is officialy a sport - not much else can be said.

darts_aint_sport

lol, here we go again.

There is no physical exertion element to darts. Just because games can last a long time and they get knackered standing up for 6 hours, it is the attrition that makes them tired, not the act of throwing the darts. Which is why chess, snooker, etc. isn't a sport.

Although at this rate it looks like Pictionary will be a sport soon enough.

Edit: Oh and how is pub football any less of a sport than the premiership?? The only difference is the level it's played at, which is nothing to do with whether the activity is a sport or not!

Dracoro

Archery?
Some motorsports?
Golf?
Bowls?

Senior_AP

Here we go again??? Not at all.

There are degrees of physical exertion, varying across the sporting spectrum. Playing darts requires one to stand up - as such, it is part of the game. Like any sport, the levels are being raised - as such darts is developing. I consider myself to be fit, and healthy - but I know I would struggle to play for nearly 4 hours, with £100'000 at stake, maintaining over a 95 dart average.

Darts is officially a sport. That is the fact of the matter, the debate really is somewhat pointless now.

darts_aint_sport

So it would seem. I am aware someone in the pocket of the tobacco companies has passed it as a sport. Read post #66 again.

darts_aint_sport

Well this is just my opinion but...

Archery? - Touch and go this one, but probably for historical reasons it's in the olympics.
Some motorsports - Such as?
Golf - I'd argue that doing a 300 yard drive ala tiger-woods is more physically exerting than Phil 'The Power' (lol) Taylor throwing a bit of metal 4 feet. I'd like to see a split screen of Tiger doing a drive, and Phil throwing a dart at the same time. LOL.
Bowls - A game, not a sport.

davyboy

If tiddlywinks was televised and had a 100k prize fund, that would be a sport to I guess......well if they had to stand.

Reality

Darts is a game.

and a pretty **** one at that.

HTH

Markus

Darts now recognised as an official sport, oh dear, next they'll be making bloody football a religion!

Now, if the "sport" mandated that you had to throw with a pint in your other hand and a *** in your mouth, then I might give it more credit as being a "sport" as that would require a little more balance and co-ordination, plus points could be scored for beer spillage and ash dropping.

I do not care what any governing body states, for me darts has and will never be a "sport". I'm sure if you took a monkey and gave it a fair bit of practice it would become as proficient at darts as a so called "professional" player. A posher chav throwing darts at a board does not a sportsman make.

Sue Izcanal

check out the physique of this finely tuned 'athlete'



Sue

Robbie T

iTrader: (8)

All i know is however you want to class it, i quite enjoy watching it
(oops nearly fell off the fence then!)

As a sidenote, it seems that darts_aint_sport stayed the course not just a fake id for an existing user. Perhaps just an aptly timed choice of user name?

siborg

i believe it was only officially classed as a sport in the last couple of years

b4 hand was only a pub game

anyway who cares didnt phil taylor win £100k for winning last week

Senior_AP

Andy Fordham, back when he was HUGE.

He had a "Champion Vs Champion" match against Phil Taylor - and was unable to finish due to exhaustion. Now, if there was no physical exertion required he could have played on....and on and on.....but he didn't did he. Endurance is required.

Less physical exertion that climbing up the Aps on a bike granted, but physical exertion never the less.

I would love to watch most of the users on here play for 3 hours maintaining an exceptional standard - you'd all be fooocked within an hour. It's great how you people jump on the bandwagon of "they're all beer swillers...etc so on". I think it's more a case of "I don't like darts so I'll try to mock it" - sound familiar??

10 years ago I would have agreed - but the standard in the PDC now is really something.

Either way, darts IS a sport - officially. So there really is no debate now I'm afraid, and arguing the toss is a bit like saying black is white.

I just hope the BDO catches up with the PDC soon - cos the BDO is rather poor in comparison.#

_RIP_

Is computer gaming a sport? I move the mouse, swear and sweat a lot

Senior_AP

What do you say to those who don't consider darts a sport?

I think there has always been a class bias against the game. When it went professional, lads came off building sites to throw darts and become pro players. Sumo wrestlers eat marzipan and die at 34, but darts players need excellent hand/eye co-ordination and to be highly competitive. The bottom line is UK Sport recognised darts officially this year as a sport, so there are no arguments about it.

davegtt

Didnt you think you was ever going to post in NSR again Welcome back.

Never really been interested in the darts until this year, they do need to maintain a high level of concentration over long periods and I can see how it'd be exhausting, more mentally than physically IMO though.

Although its not my idea of a sport I wouldnt begrudge it as it is a competitive game.

davyboy

....could we move this thread to the sport section please

IWatkins

Darts is a game, so is anything else you can play in the pub when you have had a few, e.g. dominos, skittles, fruit machine etc.

Archery has been mentioned a few times, that is deffo a sport, it is fecking hard work drawing 40-50lb on two fingers again and again and requires huge mental abilities. Very tiring.

Cheers

Ian

Senior_AP

Darts is a sport. Of that there is no debate I am afraid - whether people agree with it or not.

The routes of darts is pub based - I won't deny that, however the PDC and it's players have moved the 'game' on to such a level that it is now officially recognised as sport. A bunch of pissed fools playing it in a pub are playing a game, as are a bunch of 40 something fat foockers that play for their local pub football team.

At the highest level, playing darts for hours on end also requires huge mental abilities (like archery), that can be as tiring as physical activity, and in some cases more so. Just ask someone that has a reasonably stressful office based job.


.

davyboy

I know of people who can stand and play fruit machines for 3 hours.

The skill they need to nudge and stop the reels is incredible.

I think the olympic team are meeting next week to discuss this at the 2012 olympics.

Martin_Aimless

Yes, the mental effort required to do that must be enormous.

Senior_AP

Not much hand/eye coordination though, in fact there's no competition, no anything. No physical exertion, no mental exertion, no taking into account the other player.....

And after 3 hours I guarantee thay'd be sitting.

Senior_AP

Having never really watched Archery in any length I am not in a position to comment on it's merit as sport.

....something a few on here may want to bare in mind when discussing something they know little or nothing about.

richiewong

Classified as a sport by Sport England in March 2005 on the grounds that:

it is played by thousands of people across the country; it is contested both nationally and internationally; and it requires both physical and mental skills