MORE PEOPLE PLAY DARTS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 113, 29 May 1937, Page 11

MORE PEOPLE PLAY DARTS

"King" of Indoor Sports Although there are probably hun- Captaans are appointed for. each dreds of indoor games, few" are really game, who' tesS for throw. A* throw. sports-games, aiid 'whilst table-tennis cousists o'f ' three arrows,^and players (earlier . known -,as. "ping-pong") has throw "alterhately. ,.A xeferee settles all , some vogue, the game of darts is really disputes before the -next throw. Two king, says the.London Observer. • j markers score, one for each side, as in How or where ;it 'originatea no man. ericket. Games are ' uSually 301 up. knows. _ All 'that the Encyclopaedia of The/ scoring is by dqduction from tho . Sports and Hatshmes can . tell us is that goi, and the - thrower, scoring' that nuin* "it is one.of. the.finest jjames'of skill eXactly "wiiis the game. The'play«f ever invented,«and.demands a keen eye, however, must throw the samo a steady hand, -mental judgment, and a niimber of arr0WSj ana if, as often hapf°r. . pens, both score the 301, . the game There m one darts board maker who a ^ and ^ wher. claims that the jfirst . darts board, similar to that now in.Use, was made by n(l®0S3aiY* , an ancestor of his at a small brew-honse . ma ' ° ^r6a ai?CG 18 a in Tadcaster. - Hei speaks of records of of the board and the distance of purchases of wbod and: saies of boards Tjirow" ieigM is 8enerally 5ft* 7in" going back over .120 years. He remem- of 5ft- 8inv ™th a distance of 7ft. in bens, too, J his grandfather's deseription, an^ ™ South. that it was . the", end of a cask whieh A game becoming so increasingly was- first used, ' and that the earl- popular was bound, sooner or later, 1o . iest darts were stout steel needles em- lead to some form of organisation, and bedded in wood, with a split back fit- pride of place clearly belongs to Lon|ted with spa, per. don. Over forty years ago xules wero To-day boards are made of many differ- drafted, lcagues formed from scattered ent materials. Compositions of all clubs, and champaon ships arranged, kinds are used, mostly with a cork This all culminated in the' formation of basis, and some are a scrub of bristlcs. National Darts Association, a body, A composition board is most suitabla „ith very rtrillgcnt rulegj wiich clallOT fo, iutermittent play, but for regular ^ 2S0 000 meml)ers throbgiouc tte ^ay there is nothing better tbau a good cotmt At ^ last annual aart, Worcester red elm. Every board . . should be takou down each night after contost at r01ymp,a dOOO. play, given a good eoaking in water wore »n the flnal day. once a week and then kept between There can be .no doubt that the game damp sacking. Otherwise tho wood is has come to stay. It.as an all-the-yoar-liable to crack, and the wires will warp. roiind game, -and may be played indoors or spring. " or out. Clubs are forming all over tho Whatever small differences there -may country and being affiliated to leagues be in- boards, there are only two hinds for championships. in general use, a double and a treble. The game is played in dead silence, The North favours -the double; tho and strict order is kept during throws, South the treble. The method of play however vociferous- an audience may differs slightly between North anjl he afterwards. It is, too, a purely axna- : South. In the North there are uisually teur game. There are, as yet, no pro-" seven players Sside and nine in the fessionals, and gambling or wagcring ®°u^h. ^ in any form is strictlv prohibxted.