Deller reveals Eric Bristow urged his dad to bet against him in World Championship final

Keith Deller surprisingly sealed the World Championship back in 1983 by seeing off the big favourite, Eric Bristow 6-5 in the final.

But in speaking to The Darts Referee's podcast, The Darts Podcast, he recalled a remarkable story in which 'The Crafty Cockney' told his father to bet against him.

“Me and Eric became great friends and he told me a few years later,” Deller told The Darts Podcast. “He said ‘my dad was having a bet on you every day’. He was putting 20 pounds on because I always about 5/1, 6/1."  

“Eric told him to have a bet on me in the final and George said ‘I can’t bet against you’. Eric said ‘if I beat him, you’ve still done well, but if Keith beats me, you’ve won some more money. So Eric couldn’t have been confident as he wouldn’t have said that to George.”

But this led to little communication between Deller and Bristow post match. “People ask if he spoke to me afterwards? Yeah, just one sentence: ‘Enjoy it because you’ve only got that trophy for one year’. That’s all he said to me. Not even ‘well done’. And he won it the next three years after that.”