DARTS POPULAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1938, Page 8

DARTS POPULAR

PROBLEM IN ENGLAND. Darts matches for £lOO a side are being played in England. The offering, and accepting, of big stakes is one of the problems arising out of the rapid growth of the game. Another is the question of professionalism. Frowned on by the National Darts Association, local licensing benches, and licensees themselves, these matches for high stakes are arranged secretly. Backers of individual players put up the stake money and the winning spoils are divided on a percentage basis.

In league matches, too, professionalism has crept in. Transfer fees ranging from 10s upwards for the man who can throw a sure dart are sometimes paid by one club to another. More than once the police have stepped in and ordered dart boards to be taken from public-houses, because of gambling. “The game is so badly organised, with so many varying rules, that the time is not yet opportune to introduce official professionalism,” Mr Tillock, honorary secretary of the British Darts Council, said this week. With the increase in the popularity of darts, the “sharks” have appeared, and many a novice has paid heavily for experience. A friendly match with the stranger in the public bar, ending in victory for the “victim” has encouraged him to stake a modest half-crown on the second game. He probably wins that, too. But on the third and fourth game, when the stakes have perhaps gone up to £l, the “shark” steps in and takes his toll.