(See Articles Lady Players Making Their Presence Felt,
More Interest In Ladies Games, Sexual Equality For Darts
Players)
Darts is still one of the most politically incorrect sports with chauvinism rife, although most Leagues will accept lady players these days and there are now plenty of Ladies only Leagues. The traditional domain of male, beer-drinking players is slowly moving with the times and some older players now also see the need to encourage youth players, who after all, are going to be the players of tomorrow.
When a couple of 12 year old lads wanted to play in the one league that I play in there was a bit of a furore about them playing with several players speaking up strongly against them being allowed to play. In the few years since then though, the general attitude seems to be changing amongst the players and with more youngsters joining the League it is no bad thing. In fact this season we have actually had a “Youth,” side join the league, although I think they were a bit tongue in cheek in choosing their name for the team as when they turned up to play my team the other week most of them were
over 6 feet tall and drinking pints of beer! Being fair to the youngsters though, there were several teenagers in their numbers and the others were only in their early twenties, apart from one older player. Compared to the rest of the League they would be considered “Youths!” (See Old Article
The Need For Fresh Blood) Our Captain had had to
jump through hoops beforehand to make sure that they would be allowed in to the
Club for the match, as there is a strict rule against under age youngsters being allowed in. The arguments that won the day were that it was a private function and the bar would be closed with the players having to fetch their beers from another bar.
Another side of darts where the general attitude is being slow to adapt to modern ideas concerns disabled players. I have written about the new “Wheelchair Darts Movement," and associated website before, (See
Darts For The Disabled) and was reminded of it the other week when we played the “Youth,” side. The subject of Political Correctness came up and our new Oche was discussed. It is an intriguing design that could have been one of the
better creations of Heath Robinson. It is a work of art really and makes a beautiful job of putting an Oche where it is. There is a small stage in the corner of the clubs function room for D.J.’s etc and the Oche has been designed to fold out from the stage for players, so that they stand in a bit of a well on the stage to throw. This means that players have a small step up onto the Oche and another small step up to retrieve their darts. On viewing the Oche one player pointed out that a wheelchair user wouldn’t be able to get near to the board. In reply it was then pointed out that they would need a lower board to throw to at and it was also stated that the large flight of stairs up to the private function room would be more than a little difficult for a wheelchair user to navigate anyway!
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