UK Darts Issue 16 - July 2014 | Page 21

The 2014 Premier League Darts recently visited the brand new SSE Hydro in Glasgow, host of the upcoming Commonwealth Games netball and gymnastic events. It would be possible, if the formats and organisation is right, to do two tournaments in one day and not cause an events pile up later in the games. Unfortunately the prospect of darts in the Commonwealth Games seems even more remote than any Olympic aspirations it may have. After no cities came forward to bid for the 2022 Games, Mike Hooper, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief executive, announced back in February that the number of sports may be cut from 17 to 10 to ‘encourage interest in tough economic times’. Only at effectively 58 minutes past the eleventh hour did Durban and Edmonton throw their hats into the ring on deadline day, 31 March. But the problem with the Commonwealth Games is the large emerging talent pool in Europe wouldn’t be able to compete, meaning any such competition would be diminished. PDC co-founder and tournament director Tommy Cox has also brushed off any plans for his organisation to bid on the sport’s behalf for entry into the Olympics or Commonwealth Games. “There are no plans at all. Can you imagine the outcry from whiter than white organisers at such an idea?” His colleague, Matthew Porter, the PDC’s chief executive, says: “It’s not something we are planning, but we always have ideas for new tournaments.” Nevertheless, just because the Olympic and Commonwealth Games seem like non-starters, does not mean that darts is up a certain creek without a certain instrument. There exists another possibility. Founded in 1981, the World Games is a quad-annular event for sports which are not part of the Olympic Games. These sports include: squash, netball, tug of war, karate and darts’ fellow pub and club sports pool and snooker. London hosted the event in 1985. Unlike the Olympic and Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig Commonwealth Games there initially seems to be no draw backs. But with over 100 PDC events per year alone the darts calendar of both organisations is practically full already. If it was part of the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland, a European Tour event with strong crowds would be most likely have to be jettisoned. The World Games is practically unheard of in the UK, and this would put off players who are used to competing in front of crowds of up to 10,000 week in week out. Nevertheless darts could be expanding through its own means and could be at the beginning of something big. Last year saw the first two World Series events in Dubai and Sydney. The strong darts following in Australia took the first chance to see their heroes with open arms, and an event in Perth has been added to the calendar for this season, with Singapore also being announced recently. PDC boss Barry Hearn has recently said he’s had calls from organisers in Hong Kong, host of soft-tip darts tour events, and Toronto, home of triple world champion John Part, wanting their own event. If this keeps up, perhaps in a generations time darts could have a championship like Formula 1’s with events around the world. And who knows maybe even a break every four years for the Olympics?