The True Historian Of Darts - Part 2

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

WE CONTINUE our interview with Patrick Chaplin, the man who has spent the last fifteen years working on a PhD in the social history of darts.

Patrick was faced with a dearth of information when he began his project. So, just how do you go about collecting together definitive information, that doesn't exist ?

"Just writing to people, reading different books, going to see people, interviewing them, writing to local and national newspapers. Trying to piece it all together.

"I started with the books that did exist. In 1936, Robert Croft-Cooke wrote an invaluable book about the game, Derek Brown's Guinness Book of Darts and Keith Turner's Darts: The Complete Book of the Game have all been useful starting points.

"From there I used any method I could. Questionnaires, interviews, I even spent a day in a old post-mortem room in a London hospital. I found records regarding a charity that existed between 1937-39, using darts to raise money to buy iron lungs.

"I've come across soul-searching accounts of darts matches that were played by captives in Japanese prisoners-of-war camps."

He also relies on help from other people who share his passion.

"I have contacts in Canada and Europe who come up with all sorts of obscure information. So I get what I need from all kinds of sources."

Not all of this information is suitable for his PhD however, so Patrick has plans to write the definitive book about darts.

"Most people wouldn't be interested in reading a thesis and there are a lot of things that aren't appropriate for a research degree, so those things will go in the book. It has to be accessible and interesting. The plan is to call it Darts: A History, which will be a proper, accurate, chronology of darts."

Chaplin also plans to launch his own web-site in the next few months with a few interesting accounts and anecdotes.

Patrick may be be concentrating on the history of the game but he also has an eye, like many historians, on the present. We asked him what he thinks about the modern game and current players.

"In relation to modern players, you'd have to say, and I'd think he would say so himself, that in terms of being in the right place at the right time, and doing all the right things at the right time, Eric Bristow will be the most memorable. In historical terms, he is and will be the most recognisable figure in the darts world. Especially after receiving the MBE, which was really something.

"At the moment, and I know it's not original, but for technique and consistency you can't touch Phil Taylor. Rod Harrington has done a lot for the game as well. But in terms of biggest contribution John Ross was the man who worked hardest and devoted his life to darts.

"I do wish the game had a higher profile. It needs to be seen more and doesn't have the level of sponsorship that it had in the 1970s. The biggest problem is how to get rid of the fat, lager swilling image that is lodged in the public consciousness."

As for the qualifying place in this year's Skol World Championships going to a female player, he thinks it's about time:

"It's an exciting opportunity. There are no reasons why the women can't compete on the same level as the men. No physical differences. It's long overdue."

Whatever you may think of the concept of doing a 'PhD in darts', Patrick is filling a void in the history of a game packed with heritage and if he gets his way, all the information that he has so painstakingly researched, will be available to all of us. He is without a doubt, the true historian of darts.

 Back to Part 1

© 2000 Patrick Chaplin