Kai Gotthardt from Esslingen was previously only known to darts insiders. In the first week of the World Cup in London, however, the 29-year-old made a name for himself. In the middle of the match against Scot Alan Soutar, Gotthardt’s dart broke in two – and now he had a problem. He had stored his spare set at the other end of Alexandra Palace and so it took a while before the game could resume. While Gotthardt was sweating behind the curtains, his opponent on stage was filling the break and the trained firefighter tried to save the situation. But there wasn’t just applause for his performances, no, whistles could be heard in the Ally Pally. Apparently German fans whistled against him.
Celebrating, shouting, staggering – this is part of the audience at the Darts World Championship, like the target on the stage and the shaft of the arrow. However, German supporters are increasingly attracting verbal attention at darts tournaments, as was the case recently in the game between Gotthardt and Soutar. A few do not limit themselves to celebrating or cheering on a player, but expand the spectrum to include booing the opponent and whistling.
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Gotthardt himself summarized his perception at the press conference after the game against Soutar. “At some point it was too much for me, even with Alan Soutar,” said Gotthardt, who had signaled to the fans several times, mainly in the first part of the game, to calm down “so that it doesn’t become unsportsmanlike.” Things then got better, also for Gotthardt: He turned the match around and moved into round two on his World Cup debut, where the favorite Briton Stephen Bunting awaits him on Friday.
Now one might object that insulting one’s opponent has a long history in world sport. For example, in football, where “Take Bayern’s Lederhosen off” is still one of the harmless variants, it often becomes much more violent; Whistles and boos are part of everyday life in most stadiums. In contrast to football, however, individual clearly audible signals from the audience have a greater, immediate effect in darts: players are disturbed in the crucial concentration phase – targeted whistles can cause the dart to miss the target.
The German fan whistles against the Welshman Gerwyn Price two years ago are unforgettable
It should be mentioned that when you enter the gate to Alexandra Palace, almost every ticket holder behaves differently than they hopefully do otherwise in life. That’s the appeal, the essence of the fascination with darts: The Alexandra Palace, or Ally Pally for short, is like a protected space that allows, almost requires, an escape from everyday life. The event is comparable to carnival or Oktoberfest. Dressed up, whether as a pirate, Super Mario or Smurf, people here suddenly appreciate the waft of beer and the wild party beats. What happens in Ally Pally, stays in Ally Pally. With the effect that decency is sometimes completely forgotten.
What is striking in the Ally Pally: The German opponents are not compulsorily booed, but when it comes to the decision. In the first round game between Nuremberg’s Ricardo Pietreczko on Tuesday against China’s Zong Xiao Chen, there was no sign of insults in the fully occupied Westhalle. However, the German marched through the match relatively relaxed against the outsider and won clearly 3-0. Instead, Gotthardt’s duel with the Scot was very close, especially in the first half of the game – Gotthardt was 0-1 behind. And so one was reminded of inglorious German fan performances of the recent past.
The German fan whistles against Welshman Gerwyn Price two years ago will remain unforgettable. Out of sheer desperation, Price put on earmuffs in the middle of the match in the fourth-final duel with Gabriel Clemens from Saarwellingen – and still lost. The most prominent case last year occurred in the third round match between Pietreczko and the eventual world champion Luke Humphries. The German was already leading 3-1 and had a chance to take the necessary fourth set. The predominantly British fans respected this; in any case, almost no whistles were heard. But then the Englishman Humphries caught up – and was constantly whistled by some fans until he converted the match dart to make it 4:3. A few “ruined” the game, Humphries said, which “affected him greatly.” Pietreczko himself has always asked the darts fan base to refrain from insults, even before the start of this year’s World Cup. However, some don’t give a damn.
More than 20 percent of the tickets this year, similar to 2023/24, went to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as the World Darts Association PDC reports. Apart from the preponderance of English home fans, there are also a large number of Dutch people at the Ally Pally. They stand out less because of their intermediate tones and more because of their orange hue.
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