Life On A Dead Planet

The Jocky Wilson Blues

Listening to: Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True - 1977

When I was about fourteen years old, I was obsessed with the game of darts.

Myself and my friend James Low would regularly head down the sports shops down Bridge Street or Woolworths (when it was still on Union Street) and spend our hard earned pocket money on another set of darts, flights or shafts. The ultimate was a set of nickel-tungsten darts or a real Winmau Bristle Dartboard, the ones that made that lovely dull "thud" sound when the arrow hit the board.

I wasn't a bad player and even considered a career in the game at one point, but my ambitions were cut short when darts was banned at school after Scott Morris, out of sheer frustration after losing a game, launched his set of darts at his opponent, getting him neatly with in both legs. Quite an achievement considering he failed to hit the board with such accuracy during the game.

My hero in those days was John Lowe, who I met one rainy evening somewhere in 1983. My dad took me down to some seedy pub somewhere down near Pittodrie where John was playing an exhibition game. We arrived late because we couldn't find the pub meaning we were stuck at the back of the room somewhere.

So I don’t recall seeing much (darts not being a game for people with short sightedness) but I did get to meet him afterwards. There is a picture somewhere of me standing next to him, resplendent in my snorkel parka with orange lining and fur collar. I used to watch all the games on TV. Those epic battles down at the Lakeside between Lowe, Bristow, Deller, George.

Bullseye was never off the telly in our house. Scotland even had one top representative: Jocky Wilson.

0_Jocky-Wilson

A Kirkcaldy miner, Jocky became a darts player more by accident than anything else. Unemployment from the local mine lead him to try his hand at darts, and from his debut in 1979 until 1991 he managed to reach at least the quarterfinals on every single occasion. He was quarter-finalist eight times (1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991) and three-times a losing semi-finalist (1983, 1984, 1987) in addition to his two World Titles. But he faded away gently from about 1995 onwards and is pretty much back where he started: bankrupt, and living on disability allowance in Kirkcaldy. He eventually became a hermit, rarely leaving his council flat before his death at 62.

A sad end really, all things considered.

I hung up my arrows somewhere around 1987 I think. I retired at the top of my game, pretty much undefeated with a Winmau Bristle Dartboard and a set of nickel tungsten darts to show for my efforts. I never hit a 180, but I was the First Year Darts Champion, 1983. I still have the trophy somewhere, my only record of the only competition I have ever won in my life.

What's all this got to do with Jocky Wilson, or this blog you might wonder?

Well, not much really except that work has become such a chore of late, something so devoid of achievement or pleasure that I look back to the days when I was actually good at something and, more importantly, had something to show for it.

And this is where Jocky and I have something in common.

Music I Listened To

Interesting Links I Found

#80s #writing