Sports reporter Oliver Kidman steps up to the oche at the Jersey Mechanics Institute and, aside from playing the best game of his life, learns about the busy world of Jersey Darts and its ambitions to grow the sport and play at the highest level
AHEAD of the highly-anticipated White Collar Darts 26 event, in which fellow JEP Sports Reporter Archie Corbett will be competing this weekend, I decided to get in on the fun and try it for myself.
Hosted this week by the legendary Jersey Mechanics Institute (JMI) – the home of Jersey Darts – I was looking to sharpen my game and, perhaps, find a winning formula.
I’m not exactly the most talented darts player – just ask my colleagues Elliot and Archie, who’ve had a front row seat to my recent losing streak which has put me at the bottom of the sports desk rankings – so I was hoping to learn a few tips and boost my performance.
Upon visiting the JMI, I not only experienced the sport first-hand, but also uncovered the booming darts community we have here in Jersey – with an ever-growing pool of players, multiple leagues and promising initiatives on the horizon showing great signs for the sport’s future locally.
Let’s find out more about darts
I’m sure you all know what the game of darts is all about, but let’s stick to the format anyway and include the definition. Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players throw small sharp-pointed projectiles (darts) at a round target known as a dartboard.
Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the board, which is divided into 20 numbered sections going from one to 20 points. Hitting one of the large portions – which are alternately coloured black or white – scores the point value of that section.
If the dart lands on the thin inner portions of the section, coloured either red or green and placed roughly halfway between the outer wire and the centre circle, then that would score triple the number, while the outer portion would score double.
Stuart Moon, coordinator of Jersey Darts, went on to break down the local darts scene: “Over here, the coordinator is Jersey Darts, and within that is the league system, which is played on Monday nights. We also have the ladies’ league played on Thursday nights, which we’re starting to build out again and it’s really growing.
“When we re-grouped Jersey Darts and brought all the leagues under one roof, some didn’t want to be a part of that and just wanted to play friendly games on Monday nights, so they’ve also set up their own league. That’s great, as for me, it doesn’t really matter where you play – as long as you’re playing darts.
“Everything we do is inclusive – we’ll never say that anyone can’t play. If you’re sitting at home and want to come in on one of our events, then absolutely come down – that’s how you grow your numbers and events.
“We play World and Europe Cup darts, inter-insulars – there’s a lot going on in darts all the time, we’re playing in multiple competitions throughout the year which we’re still building on. We’re doing loads already and there’s a lot to come.”
For such a simple game, the popularity of darts has recently rocketed to stratospheric heights and become more popular than ever. According to PDC CEO Matt Porter, darts turns over more than £60million a year while Matchroom’s Barry Hearn says that darts is their most profitable sport, out-performing snooker and boxing.
The numbers just go to show darts’ global appeal, which has certainly carried over to Jersey as the local community continues to grow.
Moon continued: “We’re seeing improvements and our membership keeps on growing every year. We’ve got young players coming through and we’re getting bigger and bigger.
“When you look at the juggernaut which is the PDC and what’s going on in the world of darts, people are looking at that and aspiring to reach those levels – it’s an easy game to play, but difficult to master.
Darts is such an easy game to get started in, with its low costs a huge plus. This has only gone on to assist the sport’s growth, as Moon added: “If you take darts in its simplest form, it’s a cheap sport – you can get a dartboard for £20, a set of darts for £10 – £15 at the basic level, and all of a sudden you have a grounding to play from.
“Don’t listen to what you hear online that you need these £100 state-of-the-art darts – the ones I play with I got from a jar behind the bar I played at, it doesn’t have to be expensive and it’s a cheap game to play.”
This weekend’s upcoming White Collar Darts event has also come as a huge help to the sport’s growth locally over the years, as the event has gone on to produce several quality players who are still competing in the Island.
“This is going to be our sixth event now for White Collar, where we’ve taken on 20 players and have trained them up for the past eight weeks, all ready to play on the big stage at the Royal Jersey Showground in the Ally Pally format – as big as you’ve ever seen,” said Moon.
“Over the years, two of those white collar players have gone on to represent the Island and we’ve managed to gain four league teams out of those white collar players – so it’s really helped grow the game.”
Although darts is on the up-and-up, there’s no sign of Jersey Darts resting on any laurels, as the organisation is keen to keep pushing.
“Our objective is to be at the very top end and compete at the highest level against the top nations in the world, while developing players who could potentially go on to be professionals themselves, such as Lewis Bell – that would be the ideal situation,” said the Jersey Darts coordinator.
“But I will say that we have a goal every year, which is to beat Guernsey in the inter-insular. Being able to compete against the likes of England and Scotland will always be a massive thing. Our averages go up every year but we’re still developing.
“Seeing the progression year on year, it’s all about asking ourselves: what can we do better to aid our objectives? The objective is to be one of the leading darts nations in the world and, for a small Island, we do compete – especially in the women’s game.”
Looking ahead, Jersey Darts has big plans to develop top talent in Jersey, as they’re looking to set up an academy of their own.
Moon explained the idea, saying: “I think we all recognise the levels that the juniors are playing at the minute – they may not be in the public eye as of yet, but we see them coming and it seems that youth players at the moment have this natural ability to be brilliant at darts.
“If we can supplement an academy in Jersey, giving kids a safe place to be on Saturdays and play darts week in, week out, then we can develop young players to go on to the junior tours and follow in the footsteps of Lewis Bell and Oliver Mulcahy.
“There is a pathway for us to set this up – we’re going to send members away to take part in coaching schemes and develop the coaching side, to nurture players from a very young age. I believe that young players have got the ability to be nurtured very quickly into something special – we have a history of developing young players, we just have to do it more.”
Moon shared how you can get started in the game, saying: “If you want to get involved, then definitely get in touch with Jersey Darts, we have a great social media presence so look on our Facebook page.
“Jersey Mechanics is also the right place to start – it’s not an expensive membership, there’s 9-10 boards and you’ll meet all the Jersey Darts players and just go on from there.
“You can come down here to compete or just throw darts as it’s a social game. The whole part of Jersey Darts’ ethos is to have a social side alongside the aspirations to be elite, as we want everyone – no matter their standard – to get involved, come and meet people and have a laugh, as we’re all friends down here.”
Time to step up to the oche
Now, it was time to showcase my [lack of] skills and come up against the man who’s getting ready to compete on the big stage – none other than THE Archie Corbett – down at the JMI.
My record hasn’t stacked up so well against him in our prior match-ups, only winning the once out of however many times so the odds weren’t stacked in my favour. However, as he was just coming off a session with the other White Collar players, perhaps I could capitalise on a bit of fatigue.
After a few warm-up throws, we got into it. From the early throws, it seemed to be going as usual, with Archie steadily breaking down the score – but I was feeling completely locked in and, for some reason, I was actually hitting a flow state to throw some decent darts – much to my surprise.
This dream run for me actually seemed to just continue, as I was somehow playing the game of my life. I didn’t drop off and managed to take a glorious victory – culminating in what could possibly be the greatest victory ever seen on the JEP Sports desk, scoring a 48 with two darts while hitting a double 16 in the process, which even impressed Archie.
After taking defeat, I have to say Archie didn’t want to hang around, quickly shaking my hand before rushing off home – he just couldn’t handle the loss I presume.
Now, our rankings on the sports desk have been well and truly shaken up – if I’ve beaten Archie, who himself beat Elliot a couple weeks ago, then surely I’m number one, right?
With this new-found success, I will surely be gloating a bit in the office.
A big thank you to Stuart Moon and everyone down at the JMI, you were all so accommodating and I enjoyed my time down there very much!
