Is darts a Sport??
 

Well??

My brother studied Sprts Science (or something like that) and he looked into this very question.

I've watched the PDC alot now for the last 2 years. Every tournament on Sky. The crowd are full chav/pikey/scallys but I respect the players and thoroughly enjoy the game.

So - Is darts a sport???

I say "yes, totally". It fulfils all necessary requirements to brand it a sport.

1st definition of google: "an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition"

Dunno about the physical exertion ;) P

People compete in darts so yes, I would say it was a sport :)

Now define "physical exertion" - suspect that may be where darts falls down, there there is more physical exertion lifting the pint of beer than throwing the dart.

Phil Taylor played Kevin Painter in the Worlds back in January. The final lasted 6 hours!! Dunno about you but I think I'd be f$cked if I'd have played. They looked well shagged after that game. The mental strain is heavy as well.

Glad you agree its a sport.

It's the physical exertion which differentiates sports from games.

Ergo, darts is a game. As is snooker. As is golf (although that's more marginal).

I can't get that scene from "Not the nine o'clock news" out of my head with mel smith playing "darts" but what he is really doing is downing drinks :D

6 hours!! I'd be knackered.

Physical exertion....granted its not the Tour De France but I won't consider it easy. Darts players retire at about 50 or so cos they can no longer compete with the younger players. Exertion is required, pressure, mental longevity, maintaining accuracy.

I see darts as a sport.

Nah. The criteria you're listing could be said of chess too, and nobody's seriously suggesting chess is a sport. Are they??!

Why not?

The word sport is a derivation/abreviation of the word disport which comes for the french porter to carry. Originally therefore, to carry one's self away from work, to go to amuse one's self.

Not sure it's worth arguing about, call it what you want. At one end you've got the people who'd call all competitive passtimes a sport, at the other are the people that say it ain't sport unless it's football I guess. :)

chess is a board game, which could be said as its a sport.... otherwise you'd be saying the olympic games aint sports ;)

suppose its how u define sports.... Id call golf a sport... a hobby as such

No.

....is wanking a sport?? ;) lol


Darts is deffo a sport.

Chess....a Sport......err....no comment. :)

Darts is alot more tiring though to be fair. Those guys were playing pretty much non stop for 6 hours, red hot spot lights on them, tons of pressure, the live crowd etc. We may boo-hoo and dismiss it but i could see how f$cked they looked.

I didn't used to think it was but after becoming a fan of PDC I will back up the players. Darts is sport.

What about things like air pistol/rifle shooting, full bore pistol/rifle shooting, skeet, clay pigeon or archery (as examples)? There isn't much exertion or physical activity needed but they're in the Olympics so they must be sports.

Deffo a lot of skill involved in the above though. Maybe darts should be in the olympics too, the dartists wouldn't look too out of place in the Olympic village. ;)

lol

Cheers!! ;)

you buy darts in a sports shop...not Toys R Us. Its as much a sport as shotting which gets in the Olympics easy enough.

I guess if its competitive and there is a prize at the end ;)

He who comes first comes last. :D

IMO anything that has a competitive edge to it is a sport....

Good, valid point. They're not all fat either. Many players are not fat at all.

Remember there are 2 darts bodies. The PDC (aired on SKy) is far superior to the group that Andy Fordham plays in.

The devolved from it to be recognised....I recognise them.

Its on SkySPORTS....so it must be a sport. nah nah nah nah-naaahhh naaahhhh!!

Often, a soggy biscuit.

Damn, its too early for this ; I just heaved. Eeeuuugghh!!

They're passtimes, or hobbies! Can you imagine the Greeks having a catapault championship in their Olympics??! :cuckoo: :D

Yep. The Olympics were based around the sort of things you did as training for war: running, jumping, throwing javelins. I think shooting is an appropriate Olympic sport, but OTOH I don't think things like tennis are.

Andy Fordham, the physical specimen that all sportsmen are judged by. :freak3:

so is throwing the javelin a sport?

Yes, totally.

He is a fat fooock aint he!! A massive man as well, bone mass so he looks HUGE!!

I prefer to refer to Darts/Sport with regard to the PDC. They broke away from Andy Fordhams crew cos thy were just pub louts.

The PDC players are so much better.

But there's the difference. Aiming a gun (or catapault) is one thing, but it's the gun mechanism doing all the work for you thereafter. In a *real* sport, such as javelin that you mentioned, it's the athlete who does ALL the work!!

Darts - a pub game. Along with pool. And dominoes. And tiddly-winks.

Table tennis is a sport though. :)

so javelin (run about 20 yards and throw a big pointy thing, repeat three times and take the next two or three days off) is a sport,
but darts (walk up and down to the board seventyeleven squillion times and throw three pointy things several hundred times) is not?


:D


do javelin throwers break sweat?

Telboy - about time we disagreed again eh!! lol. ;)