Sports Witness – Dichotomy in Darts

Available for over a year

In the 1970s and 1980s, the sport of darts flourished in the United Kingdom. It was shown on television almost every week and the sports stars were household names. But by 1989, the sport was in decline, and the World Series was the only event still televised. The sport’s top players blamed the British Darts Association for failing to keep the game on television and broke away from it to form their own competitions in 1993. This rivalry became the Darts Players’ Council in 1997, which is now responsible for the sport’s biggest tournaments. John Lowe MBE is a three-time world darts champion and was one of the rebel players. He was talking to Tim O’Callaghan. Eyewitness accounts brought to life through archives and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those interested in the history of sports. We take you into the events that shaped the world of sports through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to witness unforgettable victories and heart-wrenching defeats from around the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sports immortality, or those who were there while amazing sports moments unfolded. The final episodes explore a forgotten FIFA Women’s World Cup, a plaster player who fought a boxing legend, the biggest loss in the history of international football, and the man who swam the Amazon River. We look into the lives of some of the world’s most famous Formula 1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who have had a pioneering impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the world’s No.1 squash player for nine years, and the first female figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about the wonderful and amazing stories, like the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the computer game FIFA was created. (Photo: John Lowe at the 1993 World Darts Championships. Credit: Mark Leach/Sneak via Getty Images)

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