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Can darts continue its rapid rise?

If social media was anything to go by, the PDC World Championship final certainly captured the im...



Can darts continue its rapid r...
Golf

Can darts continue its rapid rise?

If social media was anything to go by, the PDC World Championship final certainly captured the imagination as Gary Anderson shocked 16-time champion Phil 'The Power' Taylor.

"It's almost like a relief to some of the football and rugby that you see," said Martin Kelner of The Guardian, who joined us to discuss the popularity of the sport and its future.

"With darts, the way the scoring goes, it's pretty well guaranteed that two out of every three matches will have genuine drama there."  

But as a sport it was initially viewed as a "bit of a joke" in its early days as a televised entity. 

"It was the advent of Sky TV in 1993 which brought its popularity. The first wave of popularity was in the '70s and '80s, mainly because of the characters. When Sky TV came along, they then had a real investment in it. The players themselves had an investment in keeping darts going," said Kelner, who believes the sport has reached a tipping point as people realise it is very difficult to do.  

The presence of 'glamour girls' may have left darts open to accusations of sexism, but Kelner says PDC media manager Dave Allen has told him that they only get a minimal number of complaints.

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