The True Historian Of Darts - Part 1

The following has been taken from the web pages of the PDC and sets out its interview with Patrick over two sessions:

PATRICK CHAPLIN is a man who knows a thing or two about darts. He's spent the last fifteen years collecting every scrap of evidence he can on the game and in 1996 turned his hobby into the beginnings of a PhD. He's been labelled by the press as a 'Great British eccentric' and 'Dr Darts', but doing a doctorate is a serious business. We talk to Patrick to find out what he's eally all about.

Academia and sport have always had a turbulent relationship. Is it a serious enough subject to grace the pages of a PhD?

Elitist views that research should be confined to scientific matters have often held sway, so earlier this year when it was announced that a British University was running a degree in David Beckham, 'serious' people were outraged. How could anyone really expect to progress in this competitive world with a degree in a Manchester United and England mid-fielder ?

It was, as we know, merely a PR exercise. By the end of the day the University had filled all the spaces on its degree course, one element of which was a module on Icons, in which Mr Beckham was but a tiny element - and so it goes with Patrick Chaplin. He doesn't sit around all day writing about how many pints Eric Bristow drinks, or how to beat Phil Taylor. The official title of his PhD is "The Social History of Darts in Britain in the Twentieth Century." It is, as all doctorates must be, original research and once completed will fill a huge gap in the history of the game.

"It covers social history in particular, and darts specifically, just like you'd undertake a social history of any other sport." says Patrick.

Without a doubt, Patrick's choice of subject-matter, has attracted quite a bit of attention from the press, he's even made an appearance on Channel 4's 'The Big Breakfast':

"The fact that it is darts has made it quite an attractive subject for the media. But I'm quite protective of what I do."

The 49-year-old from Essex, hasn't taken on a usual topic, nor has he followed the conventional route through education from under- graduate degree, Masters to PhD:

"I've got no first degree. I was accepted by Anglia Polytechnic University and I'm based at their Cambridge Campus. I was accepted in March 1996, on the basis of my extensive knowledge of the subject of darts. Having no first degree is not that unusual, but I think somebody doing postgraduate research into the game of darts is fairly unusual."

He is self-funded, works full-time as a Administration Officer at Essex County Council, lives with his wife, Maureen, and works part-time on his thesis:

"I've always played pub darts and somebody asked me one day what the true origins of darts were, and I set about trying to find out what the actual origins were.

"I went to the library and found out there were very few books on the subject. And if there were books on the subject, they were mainly either biographies or autobiographies. If they were to do with the game in general they had very little history. So I decided to find the history myself and set about that task in the same way you would set about any other hobby.

"By the early nineties I'd built up such a database at home that someone I talked to said, why don't you make your knowledge work for you and get something for yourself out of it. Why don't you go for a Master of Philosophy (MPhil), or a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) because clearly you know more about this than most people.

"I went along to the Anglia Polytechnic University and had an interview with the vice-chancellor there in 1994/95. In March 1996, after the production of a number of papers to show that I could do the work at the right academic level I was accepted by the University."

He hopes to complete it by 2003, but with so little existing research, he has a lot of ground to cover:

"Nobody has researched the history of the game in as much detail as I have, so we've got a really wide subject. There are plenty of people about who know about the modern developments, since 1973. But pre-BDO and pre-Darts World, there's very little information about. So it's a master-task to pull all the pieces together. Then I have to put darts into the social context of the period in which I'm working.""

But what does he think about those who believe his subject doesn't deserve the title 'PhD' ?

"Jim Bowen said, my work belittles those who undertake medical research and why should I be writing a doctorate about 'throwing bits of metal at walls'? But in my opinion, darts, with its working class past and massive following, deserves a history and heritage as much as anything else. Millions of people play the game and the sport ought to have a comprehensive heritage and that's what I hope to give it."

In fact, the CEO of the PDC, Dick Allix, has called Chaplin "the true historian of darts" a title he prefers to 'Dr Darts' or 'Great British eccentric.'

He is determined to break the barriers between academic writing and the sport he lives and breathes:

"The fact that it is a working class sport does deter academics from studying it. But it has been a major part of working class culture throughout the century, particularly in the 1920s, 30s and 70s."

Part Two of our interview with Patrick will follow tomorrow, when he tells us how he carries out his research and what he thinks of the modern game.

Continue to Part 2

© 2000 Patrick Chaplin