Absolutely insane darts from Littler.Humphries was banging in 140s to bate the band but it still wasnât enough.
Heâs unreal. Sweet jesus.
The 180s were the difference
Littler is already lifting the sport to unseen heights. The worlds this year will get some amount of viewers.
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Itâs unreal how itâs after taking off. Thereâs lads on Tik Tok live-streaming their own games of 501 against a bot.
Target canât keep his darts in stock. Not easy to get a new dartboard either.
Heâs like the tiger woods of golf or David Clifford of Gaelic football.
Iâd have no interest in darts but you have to tune in to watch this phenomenon.
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Right,
We are dealing with the greatest of all time here.
Never mind the Worlds. Grand Prix, Matchplay and Grand Slam of Darts will have huge viewers.
Youâd imagine that the only thing that can stop Littler now is himself. Heâs still âvery youngâ, wait until he is âyoungâ around the 20 mark with nights on the tiles freely available including alcohol and women.
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Asey there lad,a bit early to be calling him the GOAT yet.He has the potential though.
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Gezzy does himself no favours. For a lad that gets as rattled by crowds as he does youâd think he wouldnât give them such attention publicly.
Itâs hard to have sympathy for any player playing in the PDC complaining about the crowd.
You are biting the hand that feeds you essentially,
God be with the days of âthe very best of order pleaseâ and the Chelsea pensioners on final night.
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And calling yourself The Ice man, when youâre unable to keep your cool at all.
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A few PDC players over in Ireland at the weekend and a few more over again this weekend.
From what I can make out, Whitlock was in Mooncoin and probably a few other places. Scott Williams appeared to be around also.
Gary Anderson is in Cavan on Thursday night along with Chizzy, Ricky Evans, Terry Jenkins and Lisa Ashton. Anderson is in Roscommon Friday night then.
Chizzy is in Mount Sion GAA on Friday night (@Fagan_ODowd ) Then Chizzy is up to Galway on Saturday before another exhibition on Sunday in Dublin before a flight home that night I assume.
Terry Jenkins is in Cork on Sunday. âŹ70 to play him in a leg of 501.
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Unrale
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âMost are petrified of playing soberâ â inside dartsâ drink culture
PDC insists sportâs dysfunctional relationship with alcohol is in the past but insiders say most players still turn to the bottle to suppress performance anxiety
Born out of a haze of cigarette smoke and stale pints, Barry Hearnâs darts revolution has entered a new era of razzle-dazzle. Luke Littler is being paraded on chat-show sofas from London to New York, where the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) sold more than 5,000 tickets at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
Viewing figures, prize money and participation rates have all sky-rocketed, while sponsors are eager to capitalise on a cleaner-cut generation once removed from the musty nights when Andy Fordham reputedly drank 20 beers before winning the World Championship.
But beneath that glossy veneer, concerns have been raised about the portrayal of a now predominantly sober sport, while alarming alcohol consumption allegedly occurs behind the scenes. The Sunday Times has learnt of an incident where one player had to be placed in the recovery position outside a PDC Pro Tour venue in Wigan.
A player was also seen passed out in his chair in the practice room, where photography is prohibited, at a different event after, it is claimed, drinking about ten pints. A large number of professionals are still believed to fear that they cannot play well without alcohol, owing to performance anxiety; very few are widely known to play sober, but 17-year-old Littler does.
âIn the darts world today, you wonât find any top-level players who benefit from alcohol. Other players who used to play darts are not significant. [Alcohol] has nothing to do with todayâs sport, but darts still has to do with the clichĂŠ of a pub sport where men with big beer bellies throw at a board,â Matt Porter, the PDC chief executive, told Darts News in December.
Last week the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA), which works in partnership with the PDC, informed players that stricter sanctions were being implemented after âan increase in the number of instances where players have been found to have brought alcohol into venues ⌠disguised in water bottles and other containersâ. The incremental fines start at ÂŁ250 and rise to ÂŁ1,000, while a fourth breach within a year will result in a suspension.
The Darts Regulation Authority issued 92 sanctions between 2020-2023, many of which cite unprofessional, inappropriate or aggressive behaviour, but it is unclear how many involved alcohol, since alcohol is not mentioned on the public list of cases. Similarly, the PDPAâs website offers support for players struggling with mental health or gambling problems, but alcohol is not explicitly referenced. âItâs a big taboo,â says a practice room insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his relationships.
The increased fines would seem a firmer deterrent, but players can drink freely in the practice room, so long as they purchase their alcohol at a fully stocked bar. The PDC Pro Tour is the bedrock of professional darts, guaranteeing players entry to at least 30 tournaments a year and a path to progress towards lucrative televised showpiece events. The so-called floor tournaments feature 128 players in a round-robin format and are typically held in leisure centres without fans, meaning only players, managers, sponsors and staff are permitted inside.
It has been alleged that it is normal for some players to arrive between two and four hours early so they can drink to the desired level before playing their first matches. The amount and type of alcohol inevitably varies per person, with some top players stricter in their consumption, but drinking three to five pints is apparently also considered relatively common. At televised events, players have even been known to hurriedly drink a shot in the commercial break during matches.
âI donât think itâs right that they provide an environment for players to drink in the way they do,â said the insider. âI know one player who has to drink ten pints before he plays, probably because it takes so much for them now to feel the influence. A lot of them are literally petrified by the thought of playing sober. Itâs a psychological thing. They feel they need it to perform.â
There is an underlying science to a minuscule level of alcohol consumption enhancing performance. A study on darts players in 1993 found that although hand-eye co-ordination deteriorated immediately after drinking, accuracy and balance improved among those with a blood alcohol level of 0.02 (the legal limit for driving in the UK is 0.08). Alcohol can also loosen muscles and mitigate anxiety, which could counteract the decline in cognitive function up to a certain point, and it is not only darts players who have strained that theory to extremes.
The Eighties snooker player Bill Werbeniuk, a four-times World Championship quarter-finalist, famously drank six pints before matches and supposedly successfully claimed the cost as a tax-deductible expense. But the reliance on alcohol can extend beyond performance. Jochen Graudenz, who competed on the PDC Challenger Tour, claimed last year that â70 per cent of the top stars are alcoholicsââ.
âLittler doesnât drink, as far as Iâm aware, and more of those guys might pop up, because they havenât come from the same [pub] culture,â the insider says. âFast-forward 20 or 30 years and we will be in a realm where darts players probably wonât drink because of the prize money at stake, but I attend lots of events now and I only know of three players [in addition to Littler] that donât [drink while playing]. Of course it is the playersâ decision whatever they put into their bodies, but itâs 2024, is it right that you can put an event on where a player is drinking ten pints?â
One of the most shocking incidents is said to have occurred at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan. The round-robin format at Pro Tour events means there can often be a wait of more than an hour between matches. After defeating a former world champion in the first round, the player in questionâs performance dramatically dropped in their next match and it is alleged he later had to be put in the recovery position outside the venue. The player, whose manager did not respond when approached for comment, was subsequently sanctioned for âinappropriate behaviourâ.
âIf a player has passed out and you discipline them, fair enough, but did someone make sure they got home?â the insider says. âHis sanction was released publicly, but nowhere did it mention alcohol. My issue is the way it is being publicly portrayed. To say things like the top players arenât drinking or that they canât perform under the influence is frankly just rubbish.â
The PDC declined to comment.
Youâd want to be after a few drinks when youâre stuck on D2 and a packed bar watching on. The nerves wouldnât be long getting to you. cc @Massey
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Thatâs not a bad offer from Jenkins to play him but I still wouldnât bother.
From what Iâve heard of PDC players playing exhibitions:
- Luke Humphries is an absolute gent
- Gary Anderson is extremely down to earth and generally doesnât give a shit
- Adrian Lewis is a messer. Easy to see how he has blown his talent but great craic.
- Rob Cross is sound,
- Barney is an utter wanker
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