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Darts Fly in Brooklyn: The long medieval history of the sport

May 17, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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The Brooklyn Daily Eagle will be hosting a series of dart-throwing contests in Brooklyn, kicking off on May 24 at the Brazen Head bar at 228 Atlantic Ave. Darts have become increasingly popular in Brooklyn, but well-accepted rumors tell a tale of a chivalrous history of the game.

The medieval story tells a tale of a contest between bored soldiers in England during quiet-time between battles that would entail throwing short spears into wine barrels. When the contest intensified, a slice of a tree became the more precise target, with the rings of the tree marking score. The game was eventually forced indoors due to a fierce winter.

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Darts is most likely so popular because there are nearly no restrictions as to who can play. Men, women, children — no matter how short or tall, weak or strong —can throw spiked instruments at a wall.

Henry VIII of England was given “darts of Biscayan fashion, richly ornamented,” or basically small throwing spears, in 1530. Pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620 were said to have brought similar darts to the new lands as weapons, but eventually they became used for target practice.

The original popularity of the sport came in 1908 when the Magistrates in Leeds, England, in an effort to destroy the sport, ironically made it more popular. “Games of chance” were declared illegal in bars until pub owner, “Foot” Annakin argued in court by challenging magistrates to a dart-throwing contest on the courtroom floor. His skill cemented darts into the category of “games of skill.”

As dart boards spring up in bars in Williamsburg and Park Slope now, the majority of pubs in Britain in the time leading up to World War II hung boards on their walls. 

The popularity of the sport as an international game is given credit to the News of the World, a British newspaper that instituted its darts championship in 1927. The competition went national in Britain after Word War I and eventually spread across oceans.

Here in Brooklyn, the New York Dart League and the Gotham City Dart League, founded around 1942, are two of the most popular communities to compete in professional dart throwing in the metro area.

The sport often brings out rookies that don’t seek fierce competition, but even if the stakes do rise high, at least they aren’t spears flying past beer-drinking hipsters in Williamsburg.

 


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