Everyone loves a good psychological mind game when it comes to sport.
Whether it be subtle sledges, tactical manoeuvres or little intricacies with how athletes go about their business, there’s nothing new when it comes to trying to get into the opponents head.
Then there’s the world darts championship, where competitors accuse each other of farting to sabotage their attempt for pub-turned-stadium glory.
Two-time world champion Gary Anderson and Wesley Harms were battling it out in the grand slam of darts in Wolverhampton yesterday, with Anderson taking the match 10-2.
Things took a rotten turn at the end of the match, however, with Harms accusing Anderson of leaving a “fragrant smell” on the platform, throwing Harms off.
Gary Anderson lines up a shot, hopefully not letting one rip in the process
Speaking to Dutch station Dutch TV station RTL7L Harms said that “It’ll take me two nights to lose this smell from my nose.”
Anderson hit back, saying “if the boy (Anderson) thinks I farted he’s 1010% wrong. I swear on my children’s lives that it was not my fault.”
“It definitely came from table-side and it was eggs, rotten eggs, but not from me. Every time I walked past there was a waft of rotten eggs so that’s why I was thinking it was him. It definitely wasn’t me.”
Anderson went further into detail about the stench noting that “It was a stink, then he started to play better and I thought he must have needed to get some wind out. If somebody has done that they need to see a doctor.”
In a moment of filthy truth, Anderon admitted that he had broken wind onstage in the past, but had “never used it as an advantage.”
On Dutch tele last night, two players in one of the biggest darts tournaments in the world ended up in a dispute which effectively ended with "whoever smelt it, dealt it".
Bloody hell, lads. pic.twitter.com/1WpSUD62eY
— Dan Dawson (@DanDartsDawson) November 16, 2018
In Anderson’s defence, he took the game out 10-2, so we can assume if he did indeed unleash a “flying Scotsman” on Harms, it wouldn’t have swayed results too much.
barry Hearn, chairman of the Profession Darts Corporation (PDC) said it was the first time he’d “ever heard of such a contentious – almost contagious – incident.”
“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.”
Check out some embarrassing (for those that understand darts) moments from the circuit over the years
