Like many Irish youths of the 80s/90s and beyond I spent a fair chunk of my time playing both games. As an apprentice in the shipyard I started playing darts every lunch time. My fellow apprentices in the training centre introduced me to games of Round the Clock, which was ideal for a bigger group and only one board. We played it with a forfeit and the last to complete the board had to chew a cigarette butt or a paracetemol for 30 seconds. Evil! Those Belfast boys were a different breed from this North Down grammar boy. If we had no work while on the night shift, sometimes we would play for 4 hours every night and I got quite good, though never played for a pub team.
As for snooker, I played every Sunday and Wednesday night for 2 hours at the local club in my teens and twenties. Some of the games were real needle matches and I loved to hang out there with my buddies. The club would allow a couple of cans to be drank (discreetly) and of course we could smoke our brains out. Again I got reasonably good though never good enough to play for a team. We also played a lot of pool. Thursday nights at the Windsor Bar were a regular too. The rule was "winner stays on" and sometimes I could get a run of four or five games before getting dislodged. Shit were the nights you got hammered on your first game and had to wait an hour to get another shot.
In those days there was a lot less choice on TV and a lot less sport, so I always watched the darts and snooker when they were on. Usually the only darts was the world championship with Wee Jocky Wilson and the Crafty Cockney. There was more snooker on the box and it had a much bigger following, especially locally as we had Higgins and Taylor at the top of the rankings. Much has changed in the past 30 years and now darts is enjoying much more popularity than the snooker. I have started watching more snooker of late and the standard compared to the old days is much, much better, yet it is struggling in the ratings war. O'Sullivan and Trump have much more talent and fortitude than Davies or Thorburn, but the public has lost its interest and they don't know how to get it back. They can't do what darts did and get hordes of drunken lads chanting to techno music and creating a "footy like" atmosphere, so I don't know what the answer is. Like snooker the standard has risen dramatically since the 80s. Back then 180s were quite rare and 9-darters were almost unheard of. Not any more.
The last few world finals have been absolutely outstanding. Van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson have played some sublime darts over the past 5 or 6 years and now we have Michael Smith, Luke Humphries and (the alegedly) 16 year old Luke Littler joining the party. The depth of talent is growing just like the sport's appeal across the globe. The fascinating thing to watch is the shifting momentum especially in the longer games at the latter end of the championship. One player can be hitting the trebles and doubles at will, while his opponent flounders, all for the momentum to shift in the course of just one set. It is a great watch, all set to the backdrop of cheering, pissed up fans creating a wonderful atmosphere.
I have to contrast that with the snooker. Last night I watched Shaun Murphy beat China's Zhang 6-2 in the first round of the Masters.
Murphy was on fire, yet the quiet, staid atmosphere is just not sexy at all, despite the wonderful sport on offer.
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
