Beers, Songs & Wind?

It was a crazy night at the Alexandra Palace on Sunday night, and not in the usual darting sense, where the tomfoolery occurs away from the oche. The usual happenings of plenty of beer and songs creating a fantastic atmosphere, with the players all part of the exciting package, is what has propelled darts from a pub sport to one that is watched keenly across the UK and packs arenas all over Britain during the Premier League Darts competition. However, that wasn't the off stage antics that caused a big stir in this year's PDC World Championships. The semi-final tie between James Wade and Adrian Lewis, the 2011 and now 2012 champion was stopped due to a breeze coming across the stage and effecting the flight of the darts. It was an interesting lesson in how to handle something well from the organisers point of view, the players gamesmanship and sportsmanship, and created an argument about whether they should have just carried on. The video below shows some of what went on:

As you can see from the video, Wade held a 2-0 lead over Lewis as the match was delayed. He had just won the 3rd leg to go 2-0 up, and break up, after Lewis had complained of the draft coming across the stage. What you don't see is the crowd were really starting to get on the back of Adrian Lewis after Lewis had tried to wind them up, which resulted in a negative reaction, and a clear effect on Lewis' darts. His opponent, James Wade had played the crowd to perfection. When they went off the stage due to the breeze, Wade stayed out on the oche, threw some darts, joked with the crowd and got them on his side. It seemed to have paid off as he took a 5-1 lead, only to collapse himself and allow Lewis to comeback and take the game, and the place in the final.  Wade then taught Lewis a lesson in sportsmanship too, instead of refusing to go off and carry on playing, something which would have surely seen him wrap up the game comfortably, he agreed to go off and find a resolution to the problem, and a credit to him. Lewis however, continued to whine and moan like a disgruntled teenager, who couldn't get his own way. Maybe the wind had blown the toys out of his pram, but something was up, and he didn't act with much dignity. 

Lewis makes it two: 2011 & 2012 World Darts Champion

As the Sky pundits tried to become experts on air con systems and air flow movements, and blag their way through a break they hadn't expected, a fairly valid argument emerged. The breeze was clearly shown by the Sky cameras as the paper attached to a camera fluttered, but should that really stop a game with 4,000 paying fans inside the 'Ally Pally' screaming for action? Cricketers now play on with the drizzle coming down and golfers play in high winds, and only come off the course during flooding or lightening. All in the interest of entertainment, and giving the paying crowd something to watch. Imagine if the game couldn't have continued and had to be delayed until the next day, the crowd would have been furious. Luckily, that didn't happen and the game was finished that night, despite it running into the next day, and concluding at 00.45am! 

Wade maybe licking his fingers to test that breeze?

The counter-punch (which Lewis eventually landed after the break) would be that in such a high pressure situation, the game being a World Championship Semi Final, and the precision in which darts is played, meant that such a condition that would seem minute, can effect the game in a huge manner. The darts are light, and the breeze was clearly causing enough problems for both players to agree to go off. Although Wade was 2-0 up, he seemed to be quite prepared to walk off the stage, probably showing he didn't feel he could control the game enough to stay on and win the match. I can see both sides of the argument, and would have understood whichever way the players and organisers went with their decision, however what they did do well was communicate to the paying public and audience at home what was happening and where everyone stood.


Some other sports may want to take a note on how to handle an unexpected situation, something the PDC did well, by using Sky Sports. Within minutes the tournament organiser Tommy Cox was interviewed on Sky explaining what had happened, what the players felt, and how they were trying to resolve the draft issue. That was followed by an interview with the PDC Chief Executive who assured everyone the game would continue and all had been done to rectify the breeze as much as possible. A successful PR exercise by using the obvious tool of Sky Sports. It capped a great, and eventful day of darts, and something strange always makes it interesting. It keeps the game of darts going forward and the interest is clearly there for it to continue growing.