Three darts for a hallelujah: These are the dart cracks from Ebersberg
Created: 01/14/2023 15:06
By: Josef Ametsbichler
Concentration is required when throwing at the dartboard, as Mike Steffens (picture above, front) and Markus Hoßfeld (background) from the "Freizeit- & Sport-Club Ebersberg" know.
© PETER KEES
Dart used to be called Spickern and was purely a pub sport.
It's now a media event.
At FSC Ebersberg, people have long known about the appeal of throwing darts.
The "Freizeit- & Sport-Club" is one of the largest clubs in the district town.
Still, he flies a little under the radar.
Ebersberg
– Depending on whether things are going well or not, the soft dart machine beeps encouragingly or pityingly.
The tones of the electronic clay targets dominate the background noise in the clubhouse of the FSC Ebersberg.
Most people today pass by the bar in the middle of the county seat, where glasses used to rattle when it was still called the Kölsch Bar, without looking sideways.
Many passers-by have no idea that there is still a lot going on inside in the evenings.
In addition to the bar, six dart machines and two analog discs form the focal point of the furnishings.
Almost every second, the arrows fly through the air there at peak times.
"Darts is our largest department," says club board member Thomas Thanhofer.
Everyone calls him "Tanne", the nickname is embroidered on the collar of his jersey.
FSC Ebersberg offers sports that are fun: darts, billiards, mini golf, cartels and more
The offer of the "leisure & sports club" includes billiards, curling, mini golf, card games and other activities that are located in the intersection of sport and fun.
In addition to the clubhouse in Ebersberg, there is a branch at Frauenneuharting.
One of the largest Ebersberg (sports) clubs
Someone once told Thanhofer that his FSC, with currently 277 members, is the second largest sports club in Ebersberg after TSV.
The 42-year-old doesn't know if it's true.
But he's happy when his people regularly get four tournament teams together at curling.
"Other clubs have a hard time with one." Almost half of the members come from the district town or, like the boss himself, from the surrounding area - but some also come from further afield.
FSC Ebersberg has over 250 active members - here some active members in the clubhouse in the district town around board member Thomas Thanhofer (middle with cap) and darts sports director Michi Weich (left).
© Peter Kees
Active people travel to Slovenia for the tournament - shirt sponsors included
The club has around 80 more or less active darts players, estimates Michi Weich, sports director darts (or darts, both are true), who lives in Höhenkirchen in the neighboring district of Munich.
The 50 athletes are in nine teams all over the surrounding area from Dachau to the Mangfalltal and have already won one or the other title.
Both men and women from the club, yes there are, have already successfully participated in a hobby European Championship in Slovenia.
The club has landed the savings bank, the construction company Grabmeier and the tinsmith Kupferspecht as shirt sponsors.
And when guest teams play in Ebersberg, the clubhouse on Heinrich-Vogl-Strasse is packed.
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Leaders at Freizeit- & Sport-Club Ebersberg: CEO Thomas Thanhofer (left) and darts sports director Michi Weich in front of the dartboards in the club's premises.
© PETER KEES
With all the ambition of the Ebersberg club in league operations, the fun must not be neglected, which is written into the name with the term "leisure time".
The members watched the World Cup together on the television above the well-stocked bar.
A snack carousel next to the change machine throws out canned chocolate nuts or fruit gums for one euro.
But there are also flammkuchen and chili con carne.
Anyone who wants to take part can become a member
The faint smell of cigarette smoke in the air reveals that access to the clubhouse is restricted to members.
Just like looking at the menu: where else in Ebersberg can you still get beer for 2.50 euros?
Of course, you are allowed to take a look before the membership application is due.
Good points: Bull's Eye and Triple 20 on the dartboard.
© PETER KEES
Little rule book darts: from 501 to 0
In darts, the players alternately throw three darts at the disc - the points achieved are deducted from the starting value of 501, which is usual in tournaments.
Whoever gets zero points first wins a leg.
On the dartboard, the segments are arranged from 1 to 20 and run through by two narrow rings.
In the colored ring on the outside, the points count double, in the inner colored ring three times (so a 20 there becomes 60);
for a hit in the middle (bull's eye) there are 50 points, in the green ring around it (single bull) there are 25 points.
In the perfect game, it is possible to go from 501 to zero with nine throws (“9 darter”).
mbe
FSC Ebersberg: Darts World Cup as member recruitment
Of course, the FSC members also cheered on the television broadcast of the Darts World Cup, the final of which took place in London on January 3rd.
And of course they celebrated that the German Gabriel "Gaga" Clemens sensationally made it into the semi-finals.
"He did a lot for German darts," says FSC darts boss Michi Weich.
Board member Thanhofer explains that the media spectacle recently lured a mother and her two daughters into the clubhouse, who also wanted to try their hand at the disc.
That's actually how it goes every year, reports the 42-year-old: The Darts World Cup arouses people's interest in the club.
“We have been growing constantly for twelve years”.
Anyone who plays darts intensively relies on darts that they have put together themselves with a weight that is exact to the gram, exact wing and length dimensions or simply in their own color taste (in the picture a pink women's kit from an Ebersberg player).
The rest is a matter of the mind.
© PETER KEES
Practice and predisposition: The difference between darts professionals and hobbyists
The difference between the professionals and the amateurs is based on two factors by Sportchef Weich: practice and disposition.
"There are natural talents," says the 43-year-old.
And while the Ebersberg hobby darters only practice a few hours a week, the internationally renowned cracks are on the job nine hours a day.
As puzzling as it may seem to the layman that you can intentionally throw into one of the small fields with triple value or the bull's eye in the middle of the disc: "You can see from the cut of good players that it's no coincidence", says Thomas Thanhofer.
And his darts sports director adds: "90 percent is a matter of the head!"
You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.
By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.
