Dartin’ all over the world - from the comfort of their home!
By Stuart Tynan
MANY sports have experienced a major downturn in participation as a result of Covid-19. But darts, in many ways, have thrived in lockdown.
It’s quite straightforward how ‘lockdown darts’ work. Each player will have a device, whether a phone, tablet, or laptop, to link up to a score tracking system called Nakka, while another device will be displaying a video feed of the dartboard.
In addition, Nakka can store your win/loss information, who you have beaten, as well as the three-dart averages a player is posting per match.
For darts aficionados like Margaret and James Quigley, who are well known in darting circles locally and across the country, it has been, in Margaret’s words, a lifeline.
“The thing about it is, for the likes of us not going out to work, it is a lifeline. There is only so much television you can watch,” Margaret told The Connaught Telegraph.
“It started out in April last year. Macra used to run an annual competition in Hogs Heaven and they decided to do one online out of curiosity while in lockdown. Online competitions were very big in England but hadn’t took off here yet.
“They ran it for a couple of weeks. There were some initial teething problems in terms of setting it up initially and getting people to understand it but it went well.
“Then the INDO (Irish National Darts Organisation) ran a big competition later in the year. More and more pages were then appearing on Facebook, with lots of groups appearing in England. You could play all day if you wanted to.
“You can go back to your room and you don’t know who you will be playing. Our son Paul has just moved home and he plays a bit, but not as much as we do.”
Margaret added: “There is a couple of competitions that run every week, one on a Tuesday and one on a Wednesday with a couple from the north, which brings in a lot of the English players.
“We did a singles round robin on the Tuesday with a couple in Limerick we know from the All-Irelands.
“For the singles, he graded us over the competitions we played and put us in teams of three. I was playing with a lady from Waterford and another lady from Cork.
“In the final, the two teams playing had two women each from Mayo: the winners had Mayo county players Tania McAreavey (who also plays in the Castlebar Town Ladies Darts League with Hogs Heaven) and Bangor Erris native Sheila Deane, while the runners-up had another Mayo county player Catherine Fleming (Tania’s teammate with Hogs) and Marion McDonagh, who plays with the Cobweb.”
Groups with the opportunity for dart players to play in various competitions can be found on Facebook, with Castlebar’s Kenny Cook doing one for the men, and Keith McManamon from Newport running one for the ladies, with many of these games across the country, in particular the finals of competitions, being live streamed.
WORLDWIDE
One of the most magical things about lockdown darts is the opportunity to play against opponents neither Margaret or James would have never had the chance to.
“You can play against people from countries all over the world. James played a guy in Atlanta one night and was complaining about how bad the rain was. His opponent said ‘don’t complain, it’s -19 where I am!’
“He’s also played people in Spain, Holland and USA, and the furthest one I have played is someone in Cape Town (South Africa).
“The online games would never replace the live events in the pub, but they’re great for the times we’re are currently in.”
How long these times will be sticking around for is unknown. Many town leagues that were underway before the pandemic struck have yet to be finished, and Margaret feels it will be some time yet before they resume.
“Until we’re all vaccinated,they (town leagues) won’t be happening. I was hoping for maybe October but the way the vaccinations are going, I don’t think so. The pubs might open under restrictions at the end of the summer, but without the vaccinations, we’re going nowhere,” Margaret concluded.