‘You can’t play darts drunk’ insists Michael Smith as he outlines how be a champ

It’s a question non-darts fans regularly ask about the sport – can you drink alcohol while at the oche?

While pints are regularly downed during a game at the pub, they are nowhere to be seen at the top level, where mineral water is the order of the day.

Michael Smith has said alcohol should play no part in preparation if you want to make it big in the sport. The new world champion was being interviewed by respected North American sports broadcaster and recent darts convert Ariel Helwani about his Ally Pally success and his journey to becoming the finest player on the planet.

READ MORE: Darts players 'drank bottles of Jack Daniels before matches' – and 'most still booze'

Eager to learn more about the sport, Helwani enquired how much of a part alcohol plays in the sport.

"Maybe a stupid question but are you allowed to drink beer during the competition?" he asked.

Smith, who is in the Middle East for this week’s Bahrain Darts Masters, replied: "Some people do, some people don’t. But this is the thing, [if] you want to be professional now and do it properly. You’ve got to prepare yourself properly.

"You can’t play darts drunk, your coordination goes. If you want to be the best, play your best, then you’ve got to prepare the best as well. It’s always water on stage."

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While darts has gone someway to shedding its booze-soaked image of the 1980s, former world champion Dennis Priestley says remains part of many players’ preparation.

"Out of the 64 players now, if there is a double handful who don’t drink, that is pushing it," he said before the World Championship. "They get as much as they want to drink before they go on stage, so there aren’t many who won’t have a drink.

"I was part of that as I was brought up like that. I never drank in excess though like others. I saw people drink whole bottles of Jack Daniels or other spirits. It was unbelievable how much alcohol people consumed."

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