It Matters Not We Have it Covered

Probably the fastest growing sport in the world today, deceptively simple yet amazingly difficult to play well. The margin between success and failure is so small and this is the reason why darts which began life in English pubs has spread around the world.

Today over 63 countries are members of the World Darts Federation. This list includes former communist countries such as Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary. The arguments still rage as to wether Darts is a game or a sport. Personally I'm going to let you decide.

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If you are running a league you need a secretary and if you decide to run a tournament you will need an MC and Referee or Caller, sometimes the same person fills out these important functions.

The MC introduces the players while the Ref or caller is the person who tots up the scores at break neck speed and calls '180'.

He also ensures that the scoreboard is being correctly maintained and when a player is on an outshot the Ref will tell him how many he needs.

He will not however guide that player to which shot he should take.

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At one time Darts was played on regional boards such as the Manchester Board which is much smaller than the board you will see on Television and has no trebles.

However today one board dominates the game the 'The Clock' or 'treble' board, the main difference between this board and others is the treble ring which facilitates higher scoring.

Televised darts and 501 legs helped push this sport into forefront of televised sports.

The Dart or Arrow

Darts used to be made of wood, as was commonly referred to as the French dart, these are rarely seen these days, but darts like most things have evolved over the past 100 years.

There are four main components to the modern dart these are:

Flight, Shaft, Barrel, point,

the point is usually attached to the barrel, the barrel if made of brass will have a shaft and flight that is one piece, however if made of tungsten, the shaft and flight will be detachable.

The Playing Area

The playing area is a quite simple, the board must be hung so that the bullseye is 5ft 8in (1.73m) above a point on the floor which is level with the area the player stands.

The face of the board must be 7ft 91/4in (2.37m) from the back of the 'oche'. The Oche should be 2ft (610mm) exactly across and 1 1/2 in (38mm) High.

Simple isn't it and that's why Darts is taking the world by storm.

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