Darts players ‘petrified’ to play without booze – one had to be placed in recovery position

“In today’s darts world, you won’t find top players benefiting from alcohol. Other players who played darts are not significant.

“(Alcohol) has nothing to do with the sport today, but darts still has the cliché of a pub sport where beer-bellied men throw at a board,” said Matt Porter , the chief executive of the PDC, told Darts News in December. .

The Professional Darts Players Association – which works in partnership with the PDC – has informed players that tougher penalties will be imposed after an increase in cases where stars were found to have brought alcohol into venues, disguised as water bottles and containers.

If caught, fines start at £250 and rise to around £1000, with a fourth offense leading to a one-year ban from the sport. The Darts Regulatory Authority is understood to have issued 92 sanctions between 2020 and 2023, most of which related to inappropriate, unprofessional or aggressive behaviour.

It was also claimed that it was normal for some players to arrive at venues between two and four hours early so that they could drink to the required level before the opening matches. The amount of alcohol consumed varies from person to person, with some elite players stricter than others.

It’s relatively common to drink between three and five pints, and at televised events players have been known to drink a shot during breaks between matches. “I don’t think it’s fair to provide an environment for players to drink in the way they do,” an insider told The Times.

“I know a player who has to drink ten pints before playing, probably because it takes them so long to feel the influence now. Many of them are literally petrified at the thought of playing sober. It’s a psychological thing. They feel they need it to perform”.