Patrick Chaplin - Darts: Skills--Tactics--Techniques

Patrick Chaplin

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2015 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2015

The Crowood Press 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 006 5

Frontispiece: Raymond van Barneveld, multi-World title holder. (Photo: Tip Top Pics Ltd)

Additional photo credits: Tip Top Pics Ltd

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION

Acknowledgements

The Author would like to thank the following for their help and cooperation in the production of this book: Suzan Ahmet, Chris Barrell, Bill Bell, Vince Bluck (NODOR International), Steve Brown, James Copeland, Steve Daszko, Ian Flack (WINMAU Dartboard Company Ltd.), David Gill (DG Media), John Gwynne, Scott Harrison (Nuvolux Inc.), David King (Darts501.com), Robert Pringle (Harrows Darts Technology), Chris Sargeant (Tip Top Pics Ltd.), Mick Simpson, Steve Wadsworth and Tony Wood (editor of Darts World magazine 1972-2009).

Dedication

To my wife Maureen. Through thick and thin she has adjusted to my passion for the sport of darts and supported me all the way, way beyond the call of duty. Her love drives me on. Also to my very best friend Colin Barrell, who week after week turns out on a Wednesday evening to throw a few arrers; something we began more than thirty-five years ago.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Darts is an adult sport. Darts are not toys: children must be supervised by an adult during play.

FOREWORD by Bobby George

I have known Patrick Chaplin for a good number of years. Weve even appeared together on TV a couple of times. Amongst other things, I call him the Professor because he is pretty knowledgeable about darts. (He knows nearly as much as me!)

The Professor has played for many years, more than me in fact, but mostly at a recreational level. Hes never been a trophy hunter and never performed on the world stage, yet here he is with this book to teach you how to play the great sport of darts!

To be honest, I wasnt sure he could pull this off but I was wrong. He knows his stuff and has mingled with the experts (including me) over time, so a lot of good advice on how to play has been either learned along the way or simply rubbed off from us professionals.

In this book, Patrick includes everything you need to know to learn how to play, covering in detail the skills, techniques and tactics that enable you to enjoy every dart thrown.

Thats the way to teach it!

Luvly jubbly!

Bobby George

George Hall

Essex

www.bobbygeorge.com

Bobby George. (Photo: Tip Top Pics Ltd)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Patrick Chaplin has been playing darts since he was twelve years old and has written authoritatively on the history and development of the sport for many years.

He has co-authored books with three professional darts players: threetime World Professional Champion John Lowe, multi world titled Trina Gulliver MBE and twice News of the World Individual Darts Champion Bobby George, and his articles about the world of darts have been widely published.

Patrick was awarded a PhD in 2006 by Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, for his dissertation Darts in England 1900-39: A Social History, which was published in book form by Manchester University Press, 2009. The title was shortlisted for the prestigious annual Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for the best book on sports history.

Known globally as Dr Darts, Patrick also writes a monthly free online publication Dr Darts Newsletter (DDN), which is read in more than 100 countries.

He lives in Essex with his wife Maureen and their cat Angel.

Dr Patrick Chaplin. (Photo: Moppix)

CHAPTER 1

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Until comparatively recently, the history of darts was, by tradition, lost in the mists of alehouse smoke.

Over the best part of the last century, various assumptions were made about the sports origins and a number of myths accumulated. These myths then fell victim to embellishment and journalistic licence, with the result that they eventually became fact and distorted darts real history. However, it has now been historically proven that darts, in some form or another, has been played in English alehouses, beerhouses, inns, taverns and public houses since at least the late fifteenth century.

The most common form of the game was called puff and dart, in which tiny feathered darts were blown through a wooden pipe at a circular board, which usually resembled a miniature, concentric archery target.

By the mid-nineteenth century, as the nature of English fairgrounds changed from employment and agricultural fairs to an emergent form of pure entertainment, the first wooden darts with feather flights were imported from France by showmen and, with homemade wooden targets, were introduced as a sideshow darts game. As a result, darts became extremely popular. Indeed, it has been claimed that the complex and frustrating numbering sequence featured on the dartboard of today, accepted across Britain and indeed the rest of the world as standard, was devised by one such showman, Brian Gamlin of Bury, Lancashire. However, my research has revealed the more likely candidate to be Leeds wireworker Thomas Buckle.

By the turn of the twentieth century, French darts were being imported by the toy industry, particularly Thomas Salter Ltd, and darts became popular with children. Enthusiastic travelling salesmen sold the game to public houses along the roads within their sales areas. This created demand that was complemented by the interest stimulated across England and Wales by the transient fairground communities, who left the people of the villages and towns they visited with an interest in, and even a passion for, darts.

Puff and dart being played by young boys in the late nineteenth century. (Image: Authors Darts Archive)

French wooden H Band dart. (Photo: Authors Darts Archive)

This steady growth of darts within public houses before and immediately after World War I augured well for the future of the game and came about because brewers and licensees, having survived the onslaught of the temperance movement, found themselves faced with numerous growing or new threats from alternative leisure attractions that were taking business away from pubs. These included the dance hall, cinema and spectator sports such as football and speedway.