Darts in Cayman is no longer focused on drinking and merrymaking.
With an official sports association on-island plus local leagues and tournaments, darts is a serious sport with its image as a pub game pinned down.
One of Caymans best players is Earl Smith. |
Darts in Cayman date back to the 1970s. In those days, it came about as just a British import to pass the time away at pubs. Friends played amongst each other and alcohol flowed freely to keep the mood light.
Then in the 1980s, a couple of locals got together to make darts a sport. On 14 May 1986, the Cayman Darts Association (CDA) was officially formed. The forward thinkers responsible for the group were Mike Lockwood, Peter Phillips, Geordie Wetherall and Keith Whittle.
The CDA at first stayed true to its roots. A casual league was started where some 40 people got together and basically drank while they played at bars across the island.
As time went on, more people got involved and competition increased. According to CDA officials, there are currently some 88 people who are actively involved in the dart scene.
Today’s players have access to a fair amount of dart matches. There’s the local league with some ten teams playing six months out of the year in the winter and summer. In addition there are local and regional tournaments.
In fact the three major national tournaments are the Pirates Week, Vivian Rankine Memorial and Marjorie Bodden Memorial Shield tournaments.
Over the years, Cayman has produced several winning teams, namely overall Caribbean champions in the singles and mixed doubles events.
The CDA is presently working on having more local leagues. The idea is they want to maximize the level of competition on the island and produce stronger results abroad.
Local play is very governed and officiated. Matches are in accordance with the Caribbean Darts Organization’s rules which are the same as those of the World Dart Federation.
Furthermore, local players will soon have an Olympic berth as motivation. Plans are being made internationally for darts to be played as an Olympic sport by 2016 or 2020. Darts are set to be sanctioned as an Olympic sport in England at the 2012 London Games.
As Arthur Ebanks, President of the CDA since 1996 explains, the shifting of local darts to a more serious activity doesn’t mean it has buried its old image.
‘Plenty people think darts is centred on drinking. That’s not the case. Darts is still very much about building camaraderie and about having fun as a group of friends or co-workers. But you don’t have to drink to enjoy yourself.
‘Darts is an indoor sport and matches are still played in bars as there are no facilities for darts to be played in.’
Darts are normally played in five main bars: Bistro, Corner Pocket, Dog House (formerly Davey Jones Locker in Grand Harbour), Fidel Murphy’s and Triple Crown.
These days the CDA is a non-profit organization. It has yearly membership fees of some CI$25 and encourages players to buy their own darts (which cost CI$25-30) to practise.
Ebanks went on to say that the growth of the sport coincides with the shift in perception of darts from a game for pub-goers.
‘Over the years, people have taken the sport more seriously. Most were motivated by the reward of representing Cayman on the national team.’
In spite of the growth the sport has quietly seen over the years, CDA officials, like Ebanks, still would like to see more public support.
‘Our goal is to put darts on a higher level. We want to bring membership up over 160 members and have more people attend national team tryouts.’
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