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 I was talking to Andy Rocky Jenkins at the
Paddy Power World Grand Prix, back in October, and he come out with a surprising, yet very welcome statement. It was music to my ears,
proof that a major Professional Player actually thought about the bigger picture, rather than what directly affected him, and him alone. He said that
, what was increasingly annoying him, was the ‘precious’ attitude of most of his brother Professionals. How they took to heart every
comment that was said about them and that they appeared to want a ‘sanitised’ game, presented to the TV World at large. Whereas Andy believed
the way forward was to ‘talk it up’, much like WWF wrestling. To be able to say outrageous, near libellous things on TV that would get the Press and TV
audience to react and talk about the games, the Sport and its outspoken players.
The trick was, of course, that the players, privately, would know and what is
more had agreed beforehand, that such comments were for the ‘effect’, for the publicity, and not to be taken to heart. For instance, in a John Part/Phil
Taylor final, one should trash the other as an ‘egotistical fraud’ whilst the other should jibe back that the game was a foregone conclusion and to book
an early Cab home. They’d go nose to nose at each other verbally or almost physically, all pre arranged and agreed. Outcome? Bigger ticket sales,
bigger TV audience, bigger media coverage, very contented Sponsors, more money, richer players.
Now the purists amongst you, ah go on, there are a few of you, will protest
that once, again I plot to change the game. Not tru! I plot to further the
Professional Game. There’s a BIG difference, and my demonic plan has two facets to it.
The first is the one you all see on TV and at the bigger tournaments, the one
where skill is paramount, where the better man wins. Nice, neat, uncontroversial and reports of which barely creep out of the pages of BEN and Darts World. They occasionally reach the national papers back in the
UK, (but not the most popular), and never reach the nationals here in America.
The second Dimension is the goal to reach those parts of the national media
that consistently ignore the game, even in the UK where the Sport is a nationally recognised as a ‘Big Deal’. Now this, people, is very important. In
Europe, David Beckham, a renowned Soccer player and England captain, who you may have heard of, is consistently tabloid news. Pretty much every
day, in one national Newspaper or magazine, a story will appear about him. They inevitably will not be about his Soccer skills, immense that they are,
(after all he only plays once, maybe twice a week and there’s just so much you can write on that subject), they will be about his fashion sense, life style,
his marriage to ex Spice Girl, Victoria Posh Spice, his ever changing hairstyle, his cars yada, yada, yada… In short, he is NEWS from start to
finish, from dawn to sunset. Now, he’s a pretty cool guy, ain’t nobody close on the Darts circuit, but that doesn’t mean one, two or more of our current
Pro’s shouldn’t wake up and smell the coffee here! It’s pretty much what Andy was trying to say.
You see, darts and its’ players have never learned to use the media, only how
to be abused by it. Well, maybe only Bristow was aware that it was a tool by
which he could further his own cause. He realised very early on that the press would give him and the game a hard time because of its perceived
‘unhealthy, blue-collar image’, no matter what he did to persuade it otherwise. Far easier to encourage them, nurture the bad boy image (which wasn’t too
much of a stretch), and ‘live’ the image that the press so eagerly wished to bestow on him. It worked wonderfully. You know, a whole bunch of people
just love a rogue and a rebel. ‘Bad Boys’ are so much more dangerous and sexy. Guys want to be like’em and girls fancy they can change’em. It
helped him immensely, at the time, that John Lowe, was up there with him performance-wise and had a squeaky clean, white hat, Gene Autry type of image.
Perrrrrdectomundo! The all-important contrast. In the black corner, all
tattoos, attitude and danger Mr Eric ‘I’ll rip your arm off and beat you to death with the soggy end’ Bristow, whilst in the white corner, immaculate, clean
shaven, sweet smelling Mr John ‘your daughter is soooo safe with me, your wife too’ Lowe. The trick is, both Eric and old John Boy knew it was a set up
, worked it, and laughed all the way to the bank. They had and still have the utmost respect for each other and the enduring pivotal place each has in
Darts History. As Eric said very recently, without John there, it would have been way harder for me to be there and visa versa.
Unfortunately, today’s Pro’s seem to have lost that insight and savvy. Where
are my bad boys and good on the current scene? It’s there with Alan The Ice Man Warriner and his ‘war’ with Phil The Power Taylor. (I like to use the
nicknames because, in imagery, they are important.) Phil, I hope, no I’m sure, realises that Alan’s celebrated comment ‘live’ on UK TV, that he would
‘punch Taylor out’ if he kept up his gamesmanship the next day, was just for effect. Though, on reflection, perhaps Alan should have pre warned Phil.
Any way the result was back page headlines in most of the next day’s
newspapers. More column inches, certainly, than of the results themselves of that days play. Come the next day and the match between Taylor and
Warriner, the viewing figures notched up wonderfully, the fringe punters eager to see if Warriner would indeed ‘punch Taylor out’. Happy TV, happy
sponsors and happy players for the welcome increased attention. That Taylor won without his aforesaid lights winking out is of no consequence.
The ‘war’ between the two, nicely simmers on. Excellent!!
Yet, I don’t see any other interesting stuff between players on the horizon.
It’s all a bit too nice, if you know what I mean. What’s this congratulation stuff? You know, the touching of fists when one or the other makes a great
score? Get outta Town! The guy just hurt you and you thank him, acknowledge him. No way Bristow or Lowe would have shown any such
wimpy behaviour. This is war, guys, and no prisoners. He wins, he gets more
money, more points and you DON’T! Don’t be so, well, girly! Tell him it
was a great shot back in the privacy of the player’s bar, if you must, when you can relax and take off whatever mask you wear for this ‘play’ of ours.
I wrote about nicknames a bit earlier. I like’em. Well, some of them. They
should reflect the player’s character or the character that he wishes the public to see him as. So what is this Darth Maple deal, John?
Maple, I understand, you’re Canadian. It sorta fits, sorta, but Darth? If you
had bad asthma and dressed entirely in black including the neat knee-high leather boots, then I’d be there for you. It must be me, must be?
Then there’s the good ones – Rocky, The Rocket, One Dart, The Heat, Tripod (don’t go there!), The Fen Tiger which Peter does well – nice shirts,
Hawaii 501 works ‘cos Wayne’s got the show to back it up – it would fall flat otherwise, and The Power – none better, the tattoo on throwing arm is great
theatre.
Unfortunately, a bit of deeper thought is required with most everybody else.
Nicknames can work for you wonderfully, or they can be a curse. They should be short – think of the merchandising down the road. Alliteration is
good – Crafty Cockney – folks like it to roll off the tongue – the name people,
please behave! The Character it conjures up in the minds eye is all-important. (Roland, what were you thinking?)
So there you have it. I could go on for many more pages, but I believe
important messages should be short. Remember - Good guys, bad Guys, white hats, black hats, nifty nicknames are good. Bland, grey, nice players
with bad dress sense and who can’t talk a lick are bad. Lastly, agree upfront
what the ‘stunt’ is to be, other wise it will get real confusing. Enjoy your lives
as pros. Actors tell me it’s much more fun to play bad guys, so don’t all rush and good guys get the girls in the last reel.
Oh yeah, I try to make these little pieces humorous, almost as if I’m not
serious about the content. Trust me, I am!
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