Darts: The Power and Jackpot delight

Phil Taylor of England. Photo / AP

A man stops to sign an autograph for a youngster wearing a pink onesie.

The man, solidly built, has the word "Jackpot" emblazoned across the back of his loose-fitting shirt.

With the music still blaring and the crowd cheering, the smile across the young boy's face is impossible to miss; he has just collected the signature of two-time world champion, Adrian "Jackpot" Lewis.

Welcome to the domain of professional darts, where, at all times, there is an emphasis on enjoyment.

Whether there are 60, 600 or 6000 people in attendance there is a carnival atmosphere with chanting, singing and costumes all encouraged.

So when Lewis and Phil "The Power" Taylor, the biggest name in the game, decided to come to New Zealand to take part in the Australasian Darts King series, people were right to expect entertainment.

The series had two stops in Invercargill this week before the travelling circus came to the Te Rauparaha Arena in Wellington, a far cry from London's famous Alexandra Palace that houses 4000 people at the world championships during the Christmas-New Year period.

"The atmosphere, it's electric," Lewis says of the venue referred to as the "Ally Pally". "You get people dressing up in God knows what and it's a big party atmosphere."

Tonight, 600 avid punters piled in to the Porirua stadium, which is more accustomed to hosting the Central Pulse netball side or children's basketball.

People are dressed as Thunderbirds and Mexicans or decked out in Hawaiian shirts. Tonight's leg saw more than 1000 in attendance.

Russ Bray is termed the referee of the matches but he is really more of a master of ceremonies as his rasping voice introduces the players and resonates throughout the arena as he calls out their scores.

Hitting three triple 20s in a row will send the crowd into a frenzy as Bray booms out: "One-hundred-and-eighty" in his enchanting style, which draws fans to their feet as they hold up signs with "180" on them.

"If you love the darts, stand up," is the catchcry of many and when that takes off the crowd rises, usually in anticipation of a match coming to a conclusion. There's also the heat inside the arena as any air conditioning could alter the flight of the darts.

"Being normal and approachable, that's got a lot to do with it," Taylor says. "There's not many sports where the general public can go up and meet a 16-time world champion."

He has a point and rarely would you see one of the most dominant figures to ever grace a sport perform in front of fewer than 1000 people.

There's colour everywhere you look from the dashes of red in Kiwi hopeful Mark McGrath's hair to the glitz of the promo girls who walk the players out.

Rob Szabo, an Upper Hutt builder who has played against Taylor at the world championships previously, signed a woman's cleavage after his first match, in a scene similar to the one from the film Happy Gilmore.

For the record, Taylor and Lewis easily won their matches last night but at times it was almost secondary to the party.

It's all in a night's work at the darts.