Industry news

Darting ahead

During the past few years the game of darts has been transformed all over the world.

It has now been two years since the first Professional Darts competition (PDC) was held in SA, allowing South Africans to win large sums of money by playing darts (see box "A new era for darts in SA").

Worldwide, darts has been given a much bigger profile with broadcasts of entertaining and lively darts competitions shown on Sky TV and other channels.

But, the darts scene in SA is still broken into two distinct camps — the glamorous, razmatazz professional competitions represented by the PDC, and the leagues and competitions catering for all levels of players, represented by Darts SA.

“Darts SA has sanctioned the PDC tournament played in SA during 2007 and allowed its members to participate in the said tournament,” says Graham Stark, president of Darts SA.

“The situation in SA is similar to what is happening on the global darts scene in that a country has its national federation, which is the controlling authority for the sport in the country, and then you have an outside organisation like the PDC coming in to provide playing opportunities for the elite players — but without making an investment at grassroots level.

“After all, most, if not all, players start at grassroots level and need to be nurtured and developed to elite level. This requires resources.”

When PDC SA was launched two years ago, the relationship between them and Darts SA was not harmonious at all.

“This happened mainly because Darts SA falls under the banner of the World Darts Federation, which was in conflict with the PDC,” says Jon McGowan of PDC in SA. “Through much negotiation and meetings, we finally found a path by which we could grow the sport together, whilst working in unison.”

When asked if the fighting between Darts SA and the PDC has harmed the sport, Stark maintains that there has never been any fighting between the two organisations. “Darts SA merely disagreed with an overseas organisation coming into our country and staging a tournament without consulting with the national federation for the sport in the country,” says Stark.

“Darts SA also rejects the claim that players who win a PDC tournament represent SA. The only players who represent SA are our Protea players, who are selected by Darts SA in terms of an approved selection process subject to the National Sports Colours Regulations.”

Stark believes that in all its endeavours, Darts SA always puts the welfare of its members first and attempts to, at all times, protect them from exploitation.

Did interest in sport grow?

The two organisations also disagree on the benefits that a professional darts competition will bring to SA — and whether the exposure on TV has grown, and will grow, the sport.

“Any form of news and publicity is good for any sport,” says McGowan. “The players, even though they remained loyal to Darts SA, expressed their views and excitement about bringing the PDC to SA — Darts SA listened to their players and decided to do what’s best for the sport. As we stand, we have laid the foundations for achieving our goals.”

McGowan believes that the global darts scene has a huge effect on what happens in SA as many of their players follow the latest news from overseas. Phil Taylor has been a role model for many years and most of the players use Phil’s success as a vision to where they want to be.

Stark, however, doesn’t believe that the public’s interest in darts has grown due to the publicity generated by the PDC.

“Interest amongst the players has grown, but the interest is more in the prize money than in the sport as a whole,” says Stark. “It is my opinion that the playing of a professional tournament in our country hasn’t grown the sport in the home market — the players are also the spectators.”

McGowan feels it is too early to measure the success of the PDC tournaments at this stage as they have only staged two so far.

“I have seen a massive increase in interest from both existing and passive players, so much so that I feel that in the not too distant future, we will see our numbers double in both the Darts SA and the PDC tournaments,” says McGowan.

The PDC tournament is played with Unicorn darts. Anne Vilas of local distributor Opal Sports agrees with McGowan that the darts market has grown due to the additional publicity generated by the professional tournaments — and her impression is that this resulted in more people playing social darts.

Francois Plaatjies of De Wet Sports agrees that the exposure of darts on Sky TV has grown the number of social players. “What I would like to see, however, is televised local competitions. This would help children and social players strive to be more professional and play competitively.”

Vilas belies that watching the PDC can help dart players around the world to improve their game. “By our players getting exposure to this competition, they can only improve their ability to play in these high exposure tournaments,” she says.

Unicorn and Harrows darts manufacturers both sponsor the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA), which represents the approximately 300 professional darts players in the UK who make a living from playing in cash-rich tournaments like the PDC and other televised exhibition matches.

With pro nicknames like Eric Crafty Cockney Bristow, John Old Stoneface Lowe, Phil The Power Taylor, Mark Flash Dudbridge and Wayne Hawaii 501 Mardle — with their own personal logos, too! — there is no doubt: these stars have made darts a fun spectator sport.

According to Colin Farrer, sales director of LGB Distributors who locally supplies Harrows darts, professional darts can play an important role in promoting the sport.

“This can only do the sport a world of good. It is exciting to watch and the sport is definitely geared for television audiences. More needs to be done in SA though,” he says

From a retail point of view, Harrows’ sales are very strong says Farrer.

“However, we are always mindful of changes in the industry and believe that we must become more active with our trade partners in helping to grow their sales at regional level, for example, sponsoring prizes and tournaments,” says Farrer.“Based on improved sales, year on year, I can only assume that the sport is growing in SA.”

“Putting big prize money into a sport can only improve the focus of clubs and representatives participating in that sport,” says Farrer. “I am sure that things will pan out well for darts in SA.”

But, according to Stark, their membership figures do not reflect that more people are joining darts clubs.

“In fact, the sad reality is that membership figures are on the decline,” Stark says. “Where people do join, it is because they are seeking an alternative recreational activity, not because they want to participate in a professional tournament.”

Andrew Wentzel of Wet Sports agrees that these televised tournaments will not have a significant impact on darts sales. “Not that many people are aware that darts are shown on TV and besides, not everybody is able to watch Sky TV on a pay channel.”

More social players

But, where there has been a slight decline in competitive club players, this has been offset by a growth in social players, says Plaatjies, resulting in the darts market remaining stable.

Their biggest volume sales are therefore in the social market, who predominantly buy cheaper brass darts. “Our top end tungsten darts are marketed towards the competitive club players,” says Plaatjies.

Wentzel agrees that the market has remained fairly stable and that there has been no sudden spike in sales.

On the other hand, they still record strong sales of all their darts stock to a good mix of both club players in the Western Cape (buying 80% tungsten) and surrounds and “because our prices are competitive, we also have a fair number of social players buying our Datadart and cheaper ranges,” says Wentzel.

The way ahead?

Consolidation and empowerment are key factors in strengthening the future of darts. “The future of darts in SA can only be secured if we first consolidate our existing membership and empower our officials (who are all volunteers) at all levels to provide good governance and efficient administration and management,” Stark maintains.

Darts SA does have a development plan called Operation Bullseye, which covers all these aspects, although it does not have the financial resources to implement this plan in all corners of the country.

“Growing the sport from the bottom up is imperative,” states Stark. “It doesn’t bode well for the future just to provide playing opportunities for the elite players who, anyway, plough very little back into the sport.”

Stark is confident that, amongst the existing membership, the sport has a bright future. “The challenge is to entice more new people to play the sport. This can only happen if you have an attractive product, namely a sport of darts where players conduct themselves in an exemplary, sporting manner and become positive role models as well as competent administrators who provide good governance without fear or favour.”

Plaatjies agrees with Stark that the future of darts will only be secured if more people are encouraged to play competitive darts by either joining or forming a club.

“As with any sport, darts needs a competitive league system for it to grow.”

But, he says, the biggest problem facing many clubs is the lack of resources and support from the governing bodies. “More needs to be done to develop the game in areas where there is traditionally a lack of finance or know-how in the marketing of clubs and leagues.

“Also, more needs to be done to promote darts as a bona fide sport, as opposed to its traditional stigma of it being a pub game.

Wentzel believes that the future of darts lies with the youth. “Darts SA should look at getting the youth involved by running clinics and creating awareness around the sport, as this would bolster their number of club players in the future.”

Big money, big excitement

McGowan, however, maintains that for the first time in SA darts, the players have the opportunity to earn REAL money.

“This in itself is a huge motivation for the players and sponsors,” McGowan says. “Big money attracts big attention — hence we are looking at getting a permanent spot on television, and once this happens... well as they say: the rest is history!”

McGowan’s long term goal is to have six established annual tournaments hosted in all the major cities. The spin-off will be a pro circuit like in England, where there are many players that have turned professional in darts and have made a lot of money.

“In SA this vision up till now has been nothing but a pipe dream,” says McGowan. “Should we be able to achieve this goal, we too can have professional players not only competing on stage in front of millions of viewers, but helping to promote the sport throughout the country.”

Barry Hearn, chairman of the PDC, has taken darts out of the pubs and placed the sport firmly on the world stage, he believes.

“Barry Hearn’s drive and passion has expanded darts around the world from England to Australia, China, Las Vegas America, Germany etc, and now SA,” McGowan enthuses. “With the backing of the PDC and Barry Hearn, I see no reason why, one day, darts cannot become one the biggest sports in SA.”

Time will tell as to whether these views are on target.