Should Darts be an Olympic Sport?

As the dust has settled following a successful Olympic Games at London 2012 last summer, with the mantra to ‘inspire a generation’ still ringing in our ears, the sporting world now sets its sights on Rio 2016, however, one corner of that world is in a tug of war like debate for recognition.

In the corner resides the sport of darts, a discipline which is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and won’t have the chance to apply for that recognition until 2024.

The games profile and global reach has gathered pace in recent years, with chairman of the PDC Barry Hearn overseeing the rebranding and repackaging of what many still call a ‘pub game’.

With a raised profile comes additional TV coverage, Sky Sports proving the perfect outlet to stage a spectacle that allows for maximum audience participation, it’s through Sky Sports that the Premier League format has been established, rising Darts stock tenfold.

Fans have their favourites who they cheer on with passion, and those who they boo in disapproval, allowing for a certain level of theatricality and pantomime.

Sixteen time world champion Phil Taylor recently voiced his opinion on a potential Olympic appearance for the ‘arras’, ‘If we got in there (the Olympics) I’d be chuffed to bits, I don’t think it’ll be in my lifetime but you never know’

Another supporter to the cause is former British Olympic Association Director of Sport, Sir Clive Woodward: ‘Darts is definitely an Olympic sport. Look at the fans, TV coverage, audience and real skill under pressure.’

But is it a real sport?

Those opposed to the sports legitimacy, claim it to be nothing more than a past time, something you would undertake down the pub with your mates for an hour before the football starts on a Saturday afternoon.

A stigma that I feel hinders the games wider perception and potential progression.

Its origins, established through the stadia of a dark and dingy, smoke filled public house with the smell of stale beer are unrepentant to some, despite the game breaking down the walls of humble beginnings, replacing it with bright lights, pyrotechnics and sell-out crowds.

Chairman Barry Hearn said in retort of the social stigma: ‘It’s a compliment that the sport should be taken seriously at last and the snobbishness that has spoiled the perception of darts has finally been defeated.’

The physical exertion or lack thereof has also been called into question.

Incomparable is the gruelling, unrelenting training regimes endured by the likes of Olympic heroes Mo Farrah and Jess Ennis.

Both aesthetically and lifestyle would also be a redundant comparison, I mean let’s be honest, stand a Sir Steve Redgrave or Sir Chris Hoy next to a PDC mainstay? No contest.

Athletes train through a four year circle, the Olympics being the end result, the pinnacle. Can the same be said for Darts professionals? I would have to disagree.

That’s not to disregard the mental strength required to play Darts at the highest level. Concentration, focus and nerve to produce the goods under extreme pressure are required by the truck load.

Also required is pinpoint precision and accuracy in execution when throwing darts, similarities can be drawn with a bowling action in Cricket or Baseball, even Javelin. The natural comparison is with Archery too, an established Olympic event.

The slightest fault can dramatically affect the darts final resting place on the board.

All in all, are the Olympics the appropriate theatre to showcase a sport like darts? Does darts need the Olympics and vice versa? I’m dubious.

Leeds United to reduce ticket prices at Elland Road

Plans have been unveiled to reduce season ticket prices at Elland Road by up to 25% as early as next season.

The high percentage cuts are to effect seats across the stadium, with the biggest reductions coming in the Kop with adult season tickets renewals set at £445, and £199 for juniors.

A new category aimed at 16-21 year olds will also be implemented under the banner of ‘young adult’.

For fans, the decision has been a long time coming, with large sections of home support becoming increasingly disgruntled at having to pay Premiership prices to see their team.

Those prices in recent years haven’t reflected the plight of arguably Yorkshires biggest football club.

Will the new plans reinvigorate the queue at the box office on Saturdays? We asked fans for their reaction:

‘It will improve attendances but not bring back sell-out crowds on a weekly basis’.

The new owners GFH aim at re-engaging disenchanted fans and reversing the clubs sustained decrease in attendances.

Average attendances at Elland Road during the 2010/2011 season were 27,000, however this season’s campaign has been met with struggles to reach and consistently draw 22,000.

Theirs a direct correlation between supporters through the turnstiles and what’s happening on the pitch, thoughts echoed by Matthew Ryan a lifelong Leeds United supporter and former season ticket holder, who has in the past traveled home and away to see the mighty whites.

‘We’ve let too many results get away from us and theirs a lack of consistency in the team which has cost us again, it’s a step in the right direction but that needs to be followed by good results’.

Tuesday Scan for Shiels

As the dust settles on the weekends disappointing 1-2 defeat at home to Annan Athletic, attacking midfielder Dean Shiels faces an anxious wait on the treatment table.

It was just after the half hour mark when the Northern Ireland international spent several minutes on the sidelines following a nasty collision with Annan defender Steven Swingehurst, before being stretchered off.

Both player and manager will find out the severity of the injury on Tuesday when a scan has been scheduled.

Manager Ally McCoist had this to say to the clubs official website:

‘Dean has got a really sore one. Obviously we will not know until he is scanned but the doc wasn’t in a positive mood when I spoke to him at half time.

“Dean’s knee is in a brace and it’s heavily iced so he’s in a great deal of pain.

“We will see how it is once the swelling comes down and will get it scanned on Tuesday.”

Saturdays result at Ibrox was the Gers first league defeat of the campaign, a campaign where Shiels has figured 21 times for the light blues, including 19 starts, which have facilitated a scoring return of 7.

The 28 year old signed a four-year contract in the summer after arriving from Kilmarnock, where he was a member of the victorious Scottish Cup side of last season at the expense of Celtic.

Once a former Arsenal trainee, Shiels, then 20, had to have his right eye removed in 2006 whilst at Hibernian. This was the culmination of a domestic accident he had suffered at the tender age of 8, the optical problem continuing to deteriorate ever since.

Hibs boss at the time Tony Mowbray spoke to BBC Sport expressing his admiration for Shiels: ‘he is a young man of remarkable spirit and determination.’

Hopefully this heavy knock sustained on Shiels knee will not be a serious set back to a player who has endured so much during his career so far, nevertheless the midfielder has continued unwaveringly, a true testament to what can be done with the right level of determination and application.

Other sight survivors within the game include former Rangers player Rino Gattuso, who suffered an eye injury in 2011 following a collision with former AC Milan teammate Alexandro Nesta.

The unfortunate altercation resulted in loss of sight in one eye, and kept the tireless midfielder out for much of his final season with Milan, who now plies his trade in Switzerland with FC Sion as Player/Coach. The problem has since improved.

Perhaps most famously, Dutch international Edgar Davids, nicknamed ‘the pitbull’, whilst at Ajax by then manager Louis Van Gaal, opted to wear protective glasses in order to keep playing after being diagnosed with the eye condition Glaucoma, the now iconic eyewear has made the player one of the most recognizable faces in football of his generation.