Is darts a sport? Oof, that’s a tricky one.
Fans have been arguing about this one for decades and no one has really come up with a conclusive answer.
However, there’s nothing within the realms of reason that says a non-physical game cannot be considered a sport, particularly as it’s impossible to know precisely where the line between physical and non-physical ought to be drawn. If darts isn’t a sport, then why should golf be considered one? And if golf isn’t a sport then why should cricket be considered one? And so on and so forth.
In any case, 16-year-old darts prodigy Luke Littler was asked to settle the debate once and for all following his World Darts Championship final defeat to Luke Humphries, and gave a strikingly staunch answer. It’s a sport, he said when prompted by a reporter, and when asked why he replied: It just is.
Despite the fact 2024 is just a few days old, many are tipping Littler to win Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) when the award is handed out in 11 months’ time which, at the very least, suggests the British public are more than happy to think of darts as a sport … even if they don’t particularly tend to warm to darts players themselves.
Despite the fact the game is dominated by British players, Phil Taylor is the only darts player to have secured a podium finish in the SPOTY award, having been voted runner-up in 2010 after winning his 13th world title.
