Features

‘I want to go a long way to changing lives’: Devon Petersen on national identity, being Africa’s only professional darts player and influencing a country’s future

by Nick Friend - 01195

The Fang dialect is spoken throughout Central Africa – it spans one million speakers spread across Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and the minute islands of Sao Tome and Principe. Its part in the burgeoning growth of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) could scarcely register on even the most microscopic scale

A numbers game: Kirk Bevins on an obsession with numbers, life as a darts referee and conquering Countdown

by Nick Friend - 05213

To enter Apterous.org is to arrive in a different realm, a Narnia of the sharpest minds waiting beyond a digital wardrobe. On its homepage – for this is no mythical haven, but the home of a thriving online community – is a disclaimer. ‘Apterous is definitely not Countdown; it is not

“You have to play with the hand you’re dealt with”: Jamie Caven on defeating both logic and adversity

by Nick Friend - 02109

Much of the populist appeal of darts – first, in its takeover of terrestrial television screens in the 1970s and 1980s, and then in its unprecedented revival and growth under Barry Hearn’s chairmanship – has been aligned to the sport’s accessibility and its promotion of the ordinary accomplishing the extraordinary. As

“I love the game and I’m in love with the game”: Deta Hedman on rewriting history, darts’ gender pay gap, working nights and an elusive world title

by Nick Friend - 0641

Deta Hedman is a trailblazer. Quite simply, it is what she has always done. She laughs as she recounts the details of an extraordinary sporting career that has found space for itself in amongst a life packed full of challenges. “You could say that I’m a freak,” she says. To afford

“We just keep delivering a world class product”: PDC chief executive Matt Porter on growth, inclusion, Phil Taylor and Prince Harry

by Nick Friend - 02113

At the beginning of June, the sport of darts grew immeasurably. The rise in prize money at the PDC World Championship – now at £2.5 million – is, indeed, quantifiable. The sheer value, though, of the increase of participants – from 72 to 96 – is far more significant. It

‘It was hard but it was enjoyable’ – Jenny Archer MBE on her decade with the Crazy Gang and coaching career at Fulham Ladies

by Aramide Oladipo - 0337

Jenny Archer MBE is perhaps better known for her influence on Paralympian David Weir CBE, who has thrived under her guidance, winning six gold medals and securing eight London Marathon victories in the process. The pair founded the Weir Archer Academy in 2013, and Archer details how the ambitious Weir made

Jamaican Rugby: The long road to sponsorship

by Adam Samuel - 0183

In the second part of our series with the Jamaican men's rugby sevens team, Adam Samuel  finds out why sponsorship has become an urgent matter, heading into the Rugby Sevens World Cup in San Francisco later this year:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGrKxdqnW1c SEE PART ONE HERE

Contemporary dancer Maja Naomi Furnes: “Dancing is serious work”

by Ingrid Sund - 0116

Maja Naomi Furnes is currently performing a solo choreography, a multimedia dance installation, with the Tom Dale Company. I caught up with her when she returned to London from the company's trip to Shanghai. The Japanese-Norwegian dancer has a degree in modern and contemporary dance from Norway's National Academy of the Arts,

Sports Journalism: Ethical Minefield or Vacuum?

by Joe Leavey - 0156

The British media are no strangers to ethical controversies. Phone-hacking scandals, the Fake Sheikh, and treatment of Christopher Jefferies have all tarnished the reputation of the press in this country in recent years. Sports Journalism, however, seems to have escaped these preconceptions. Perhaps because of the nature of the subject