Graham Stark, president, Darts South Africa

The article “Strandfontein’s Carolissen clinches darts title” as published in the Plainsman on May 8 2024, refers.

I have previously written to your newspaper with regards to a dart player, other than Mr Carolissen, making similar claims as contained in the article referred to in paragraph 1.

My letter titled “Shedding light on darts world cup” as published in the Plainsman dated June 12, 2019 has reference.

I am now compelled to repeat and reiterate what I wrote then in order to dispel the false claim by Cameron Carolissen that he is “preparing to represent South Africa at the Professional Darts Corporation World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt in Germany in June.”

Contrary to his claim in the said article, Mr Carolissen does not represent the Republic of South Africa as a dart player in any official capacity as he was not selected by the official national federation for the sport, namely Darts South Africa.

Mr Carolissen did not undergo a selection process to represent our country as is required by the National Sports Colours Regulations and cannot claim that he is representing the Republic of South Africa.

Instead, Mr Carolissen participated in a competition which is not recognised, nor sanctioned by Darts South Africa and, as the winner “qualified” to play in the competition in Germany.

The so-called World Cup in which Mr Carolissen will be playing is not hosted by the international darts body to which Darts South Africa is affiliated, namely the World Darts Federation.

Darts South Africa is the official, and only, national federation for the sport of darts in the Republic of South Africa.

As the official controlling body for darts, Darts South Africa is a member of Sport SA, formerly the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

Internationally, Darts South Africa is affiliated to the World Darts Federation, African Union Sports Council Region 5 Darts Confederation and the African Darts Council.

Darts South Africa has the sole mandate to select national Protea dart players, according to specific criteria, to represent our country in international competitions.

Last year our national Protea teams competed in the junior championship of the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Darts Confederation in Zambia and our national Proteas teams, i.e. junior boys and girls, senior men and senior women, also competed in the World Cup of the World Darts Federation in Denmark.

This year our senior national Protea teams will be competing in the continental championships in Eswatini.

When still a member of Darts South Africa, the highest achievement by Mr Carolissen was to be selected into a provincial team. He has never been selected as a national Protea player.

Mr Carolissen has since left our organisation to be a member of the African Darts Group, a body formed outside the ranks of the national federation and which is not recognised by the official national federation in our country.

For Mr Carolissen to claim that he represents the Republic of South Africa based on his membership of the ADG is audacious and false. One also wonders how many persons participated in these competitions which Mr Carolissen claims “qualified” him to claim that he represents South Africa.

In the days of apartheid and prior to the formation of a single and unified Darts South Africa, there were four separate national controlling bodies for the sport of darts in South Africa. With the onset of democracy, it was required that there be only one controlling body for every sporting code in our country and so Darts South Africa was born when the four separate bodies unified.

The unity in our sporting bodies emanates out of the political unity attained in our country. People made great sacrifices, were imprisoned and killed for our political freedom and unity, thus we must jealously guard and defend the unity in our sporting structures. We must not allow any persons to create division in our sporting structures, although it may be for different reasons than in the past. There must be no personal agendas. People died in order for our sports persons to be able to represent our country legitimately.

Formation of bodies outside of official sport structures create division and undermines our hard-earned unity and should be rejected by all.

It is heartening that there is a steady stream of dart players returning to the ranks of Darts South Africa after they had left for what they thought were the proverbial greener pastures. Perhaps they discovered that the grass is not greener on the other side?

In conclusion, I regard it necessary to defend and protect our officially selected national Protea players against false claims to represent our country in our sport of darts as claimed in the article in your newspaper.

• Devon Petersen, founder African Darts Group, responds:

Mr Carolissen is making no false claim based on my research due to the fact that the Professional Darts Corporation hosts an annual World Cup of Darts broadcast globally on Sky Sports to more than nine million viewers. Mr Carolissen will be representing the South African flag as it is his country of birth, Mr Carolissen will be representing all of South Africa as he has won his rightful place through the African Continental Tour hosted by the ADG which is affiliated to the PDC.

The African Darts Group does not select any players to represent the Protea teams, that is only awarded by DSA and the article stated that Cameron and Johan will be representing on the PDC stage not a WDF stage, which in the context of your letter you understand the difference between the two.

Mr Stark attempts to call the event “a so-called world cup” when in actual fact it is globally recognised as the only platform in which professionals from all different countries compete in the only professional team event on the planet. The research clearly shows a superiority in the PDC structure in comparison to the WDF structure.

It is clear to see that DSA has the clear mandate to administer the sport in RSA but ADG has been given the rights by the PDC to handle their events on the African Continent.

Mr Stark and myself has had a number of discussions over the years and it always seems stunted due to the hidden agendas.

Labelling our events and group now as unrecognised when in fact Mr Stark sanctioned all of the events in the past so that the players could benefit from the PDC offerings.

The breakdown since 2021/22 came as a shock because the meeting hosted in 2019 showed promise and it seems Mr Stark has turned around on our agreement and removed sanctioning and all opportunities of players reaching the PDC stage due to the newly-formed PRO DSA.

I don’t understand the reason for the back and forth, as one side hosts events but it’s the controlling body that decides who plays. Is this not dividing the sport more than giving players opportunity?

It also came to my attention that Mr Stark has blocked all youth from participating in the Devon Petersen Darts Academy and the JDC which also gives opportunities to the youth from our communities, an attempt at testing their skills against the very best under-18 players in the world. The true reality of Mr Stark’s intentions was revealed when he sent members to go visit schools we have activated in and instructed them not to co-operate with DPDA when all we wanted to do is give players a platform to develop and succeed.

This continues to shock me as the reason for amateur sports is to develop the sport so talented individuals can aspire to succeed through sport and inspire others from similar communities but it seems in darts this isn't the case.

Mr Stark’s history on Cameron and his achievements won't ever be questioned but I do recall this was a player he once celebrated and is now trying to diminish his achievements through an unsavoury letter due to his choice to be part of the ADG.

Please understand that Mr Stark is looking at the event’’s success by the volume in the room versus the quality in the room which clearly demonstrates an attempt to nullify the event but history shows that Mr Stark does not allow any players to participate and he makes them choose which is the undertone of the continuous argument with ADG.

I won't engage in the politics of the sport and apartheid days because it is the very reason ADG was established which benefits all Africans to take centre stage under the lights we were previously denied.

Regarding Mr Stark’s statement of players coming back and greener pastures, I feel he clearly missed the objective and the opportunities represented by ADG and my attempts to find common ground which can bring the sport together but due to Mr Stark’’s historical approach means the sport can’t move forward.

The sport would be in a better place if Mr Stark focused on developing together instead of taking the time out to write a letter to demonstrate how narrow-minded his organisation is.

Never once did I write to Mr Stark about how he should administer the sport considering how poorly it is performing against its international counterparts that actually work with PDC and its representatives in those countries.

I really feel we should sit around a table and discuss this to ensure the sport does not suffer due to a lack of vision and negative narratives.

#darts

Aiming to set the record straight