Decline in The Game
Darts players were allowed to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes on the stage during matches, a reflection of the game's roots in British pubs. The players were famously mocked on a Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch in 1980 right at the height of darts' popularity. Whilst the sketch did not put any immediate halt to darts' popularity, it reflected the detrimental image of the game and may have contributed to its long-term decline in future years.
After the peak of the darts boom was reached in 1983, professional darts in Britain began to haemorrhage sponsors and lose television coverage. By the end of 1983, the British Gold Cup (BBC), Butlins Grand Masters (ATV) and British Matchplay (ITV) had all ended, and in 1985 ITV decided to cancel its World of Sport show which had covered darts on a regular basis. ITV continued to show darts as programmes in their own right - but eventually withdrew from the game after the 1988 World Matchplay and their final tournament was the World Masters in 1988. The BBC pulled the plug on the British Professional Championship in 1988. Also, the ITV regional channels that covered local darts tournaments cancelled the tournaments throughout 1988 after being held for the last time. As a result, 1989 saw a very drastic slump in the amount of darts seen on TV, down to just one tournament, the world championship.
The BDO banned alcohol on stage during all matches from the 1989 World Championship, but the game maintained a poor image to sponsors.
Read more about this topic: Split In Darts
Famous quotes containing the words decline and/or game:
“The chief misery of the decline of the faculties, and a main cause of the irritability that often goes with it, is evidently the isolation, the lack of customary appreciation and influence, which only the rarest tact and thoughtfulness on the part of others can alleviate.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“My first big mistake was made when, in a moment of weakness, I consented to learn the game; for a man who can frankly say “I do not play bridge” is allowed to go over in the corner and run the pianola by himself, while the poor neophyte, no matter how much he may protest that he isn’t “at all a good player, in fact I’m perfectly rotten,” is never believed, but dragged into a game where it is discovered, too late, that he spoke the truth.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)