Dodgy Wi-Fi and 'car crash' coverage, but Home Tour a hit with darts fans
London: The images were blurred, and the Wi-Fi decidedly dodgy, but darts stepped up to the oche to provide some rare live entertainment for sports-starved fans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throwing from the comfort and security of living rooms and spare bedrooms, and even a landing, a cast of top players kicked off a novel 32 night Professional Darts Corporation tournament on Friday (UK time) in home isolation.
The prospect of watching any sport appeared tempting to so many fans that live streaming on the PDC's TV channel buckled under the pressure.
"This PDC Home Tour is an absolute car crash. Moon Landings had better picture quality," commented one Twitter user. Another suggested VHS video technology offered better quality.
The connections were not helped by some rudimentary technological fixes, including a suggestion that Welshman Jamie 'Fireball' Lewis had taped his camera phone to a door handle to provide the necessary images.
Lewis provided the shock of the evening with a 5-1 thrashing of world champion Peter 'Snakebite' Wright, who was sporting a multicoloured Mohican hairstyle with the logo of the National Health Service (NHS) on his scalp.
Peter "Snakebite" Wright at the World Darts Championships in December.Credit:Getty
"It's very difficult as you can't read your opponent's body language," said Wright, the world No.2, of defeat to an opponent who ended the evening top of the group and through to the last 32.
Two other top performers had already been ruled out by poor connections. Two-times PDC world champion Gary 'The Flying Scotsman' Anderson said his Wi-Fi was just not reliable enough.
"It doesn't surprise me. I struggle to pay bills online in my house, it's really frustrating," he had told the Sun newspaper.
World No.1 Michael van Gerwen was another big absentee, the Dutchman telling RTL7 television that his home life made it impossible.
"It has to be quiet but with a newborn baby, a child of two-and-a-half years and three dogs, it really won't work," he said.
There were no rolling calls of "180",with the players relaying their scores to a remote commentator whose own connection occasionally went missing.
Reuters