Two Of The World’s Best Darts Players Feuding Over Which One Farted On Stage At Major Competition
Two of the world’s best darts players are locked in a major feud — over which one of them farted on stage during a match in England.
Dutch player Wesley Harms complained after losing a match to Scotland’s Gary Anderson at the Grand Slam of Darts that his opponent tried to smoke him out with a series of eye-watering farts. As the New York Post reported, Harms said that the smell was so bad it affected his concentration during the match.
“It’ll take me two nights to lose this smell from my nose,” he said.
But Anderson vehemently denied the claim, saying it wasn’t him.
“If the boy thinks I’ve farted he’s 1,010-percent wrong,” said Anderson. “I swear on my children’s lives that it was not my fault. I had a bad stomach once on stage before and admitted it. So I’m not going to lie about farting on stage.”
The issue has roiled the darts world, with the U.K.’s Professional Darts Corporation vowing to investigate the matter. As the BBC reported, the sport’s governing body can also fine or suspend a player if they show a lack of professionalism during a match, though it’s not clear if that punishment could be on the table for what the U.K. media has dubbed “Fart-Gate.”
Some have pointed fingers at longtime announcer Russ Bray, the only other one on stage with the two men. But the 22-year veteran of darts announcing has owned that he was not the one who dealt it.
That leaves all three men denying that the fart came from their direction. Anderson did admit that he has farted during competitions before, and it’s usually been pretty messy so they would have known if it were him this time.
“Usually if I fart on stage I s**t myself, I’ve told you that before,” he said, via The Express.
The controversy may seem funny to those outside the sphere of darts influence, but the sport has become hugely popular in the U.K. and is the second-most watched sport on Sky Sports after soccer, the BBC noted.
“On a slightly more serious note, this is a top-level competition involving highly skilled sportsmen — so we have no intention of renaming the event the ‘Grand Slam of Farts’ as some have suggested,” said Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) chairman Barry Hearn.
Barry Hearn vows to follow through on promise to get to bottom of darts Fart Gate https://t.co/kRxtdq5DSG pic.twitter.com/26BcqGKiWr
— Sun Sport (@SunSport) November 17, 2018
But it appears that officials are no closer to finding out which one of the professional darts stars farted on stage, and may never find out just who dealt it.
