Simon Kelner: A throwback to a time when sport had characters

Jocky Wilson, the former world darts champion who died at the weekend at 62, was something of an unexpected presence for the gilded young people dancing away to Dexys Midnight Runners, one of the most popular bands of the 1980s. During their performance of "Jackie Wilson Says", viewers saw a video backdrop, not of Jackie Wilson, one of the most influential figures in R&B history, but of Jocky Wilson, the diminutive man from Kirkcaldy who, for a brief period, made the sport of darts big box office.

Ah, I hear you say, but can you consider darts a sport? It requires stamina, hand-eye co-ordination, skill, and a tremendous amount of nerve, so that counts as a sport in my book. Also, I think it's virtually the only sport in which luck plays no part whatsoever. It breeds great competitiveness and an astonishing amount of sportsmanship. It may seem an odd thing to say, but in the raucous atmosphere in which most professional darts takes place, you will find a significant level of grace under pressure.

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