As soulless academies and corporate cash drive a wedge between fans and stars, darts remains one of the last sports where you can bump into the players in the pub or down the shops.
So we really enjoyed this snap of 2001 World Champion John Boy Walton, who now works at Co-op in Sheffield, and was spotted by BBC’s Dan Walker in the home baking and canned fish aisle.
Not all darts players embrace the everyman role like John Walton. Ted “the Count” Hankey went for more of a “clammy and mysterious” vibe, which sometimes got a little too dark for the usually pantomime surroundings of Lakeside.
Last week this famous clip resurfaced, in which Hankey converses with Satan on the oche: “Do I fancy double 12 or double 8? Who is in charge, me or the devil? I think I am in charge. Fucking cunt, double 8, shake his hands. Just do it, come on you cunt!”
https://twitter.com/RWA_002/status/1477810459600375809
Bit macabre for the darts – it’s usually more of a “four pint jugs for a tenner and Smurf costumes get in free” sort of vibe.
If you need something cheery after that, here’s the great Bobby George celebrating a 180 by ripping down his shirt pocket to reveal his dancing nipple. That’s more like it!
https://twitter.com/R_A289/status/1480711813213917187