Have We Forgotten How to Watch Darts? For years, the three-dart average has become darts’ unofficial currency. A 105 flashes up on the screen and social media erupts. Anything below 90 is often dismissed before the match dart has even been hit.
In an era where statistics are available instantly and every performance is dissected online, one number has come to define how we judge players.But has our obsession with averages gone too far?
Undoubtedly, the number measures quality, but it doesn’t always tell the full story. A player can produce a 100+ average and still walk off defeated, while another can grind out victory in the mid-90s through clinical finishing and intelligent game management.
As the standard of professional darts continues to rise, perhaps it’s time to ask whether we’ve become too reliant on a statistic that only portrays one side of a match.The prominence of the average is no accident.
As darts has grown into a global television spectacle, so too has reliance on data. Broadcasts are awash with live statistics, from first-nine averages and checkout percentages to double success and trebleless visits. All designed to help viewers understand what they are watching in a simpler form.
This simplicity, however, can also be its greatest weakness. Fans no longer have to watch an entire match to form an opinion. A quick glance at the statistics on social media or a results app is often enough to spark debate over who “deserved” to win.
In a match where the player with the highest average lost out, the conversation quickly moves away from the flow of the contest itself. Overlooking the tactical decisions, momentum shifts and pressure moments that statistics alone struggle to capture can create a loss of perspective.
This is where moments like the bull up can prove to be so important. Perhaps a professional player holds their throw in 15 darts in every leg of a match, whilst their opponent is left on 101 points after 12. Their opponent wins every leg on their throw in 13 darts where they’re left on the same number after 12 darts.
Player one will have rode the match out without having to break throw, and because it took them three darts to check out, versus Player two who hit their doubles in one, Player one will have won the match with a 100.2 against their opponent’s 106.7.
The greatest players in the world understand that darts is a game of moments. A maximum in the opening leg counts for no more than one thrown in the deciding leg, and a big fish is no more valuable on paper than hitting tops. What separates champions is not the ability to score relentlessly for an entire match, but the ability to produce their best darts when the pressure is at its highest. That quality cannot always be reflected through a single statistic.
Back in 2017, Raymond van Barneveld famously said speaking to the Guardian, “In terms of averages, I am playing the best darts of my career. But you don’t want to play well and keep on losing. I’d rather have an 89 average and win.” This epitomises the idea that as long as you’re lifting the trophy at the end of that final, a few extra zeros on the end of a number is immaterial.
A perfectly timed checkout or a brave bull finish will always outweigh a handful of extra trebles when the result is on the line. They may not inflate an average, but they win matches and make careers.
Perhaps we’ve become so accustomed to analysing the numbers that we’ve forgotten to appreciate the drama unfolding in front of us.
The next time a player wins a title despite averaging less than their opponent, we should maybe be questioning why we expected the higher one to matter more in the first place.
Images: PDC
