Excerpt from the book Sports the Olympics Forgot This book describes 40 sports that ought to be played but aren’t, because I made them up.

The Hurlers won the next two Potteries championships too and also the first ever National Dockey Championships, held at Wembley in August 1970. The Hurlers were superseded by the Keele Basketball team in 1971 and for a while tall teams were all the vogue until the arrival on the scene of Paul Smithson from the Stoke City Club, who was the first person to pioneer the underarm throw to boards carried low down to the ground, thus negating the height advantage of taller players.

Smithson’s team carried all before them for a decade, even winning the first ever world Championships Held in Beirut in 1977 when teams from Commonwealth countries such as Pakistan and Australia tended to dominate.

Although goggles are mandatory, teams are not allowed to wear protective helmets, shoulder pads, or gloves, although knee pads and elbow protectors are allowed. It is illegal to deliberately catch the dart in this protection and a foul will be awarded against a player who does this.