Hearn on attempting to end darting divide between PDC & BDO: "They were arrogant, one of my concerns then was to destroy them"

Outgoing PDC Chairman, Barry Hearn was in the role for 20 years overseeing the rise of darts into a global phenomenon with his son, Eddie now set to take the reigns.

Hearn spoke to the Weekly Dartscast as part of their 200th episode and discussed in detail the reason for stepping down.

"I've been thinking about it for a year or two. I'm 73 in June, I'm still fit, I'm still capable but the clock's ticking and in some way when I first walked into darts and the PDC and Matchroom, that was the right time. Life's about timing, now's the right time to say to the youngsters, the people that are running the business. It's your time," said Hearn to the Weekly Dartscast.

Getting involved in darts

As a sport like Hearn alluded to that is working class, he discussed the appeal of bringing the masses together both on the oche and in the crowd.

"I just walked into the Circus Tavern one day and I saw a mirror reflection of myself. I love the customers, I love the fans. I love the fact that they were getting involved, they were having a good time. It is a working mans sport we can't ignore that but it's actually classless. You can have bank managers sitting next to dockers and why not. I think darts is a good message to the world that we can all get on with each other in the right environment."

"I love the fact that the dart players themselves were ordinary people but they happened to have extraordinary ability. It ticked a lot of boxes for me, I felt at home."

Attempt to bring PDC/BDO together

Back in 2001, Hearn upped the prize money to surpass the BDO's efforts at Lakeside and he spoke about the story of attempting to bring the PDC and BDO together with the latter recently completing their demise.

"When I first got involved, it was in the middle of a quite bitter time between BDO and PDC. But I did put a hand out to the BDO at that time to say let's sit down and talk. I was rebuffed, they were arrogant. One of my concerns then was to destroy them, to boost our prize money, create more opportunities and make them irrelevant."

"They're now history and a lesson to be learnt for everybody."

Biggest achievement

But what is Hearn's biggest achievement during his time as head honcho of the PDC? He didn't give a specific moment but the success that darts has achieved both in prize money and on a standard level.

"I think people will judge you by prize money and opportunity you give. The essence of all sport in my book is that it should be as level a playing field as possible. There should be as few barriers to entry as possible and players that are prepared to dedicate themselves should be rewarded as highly as possible for success."

"It's a sport that is governed by success and that's probably the biggest achievement was the standard of play has improved so much and it is a by product of increased prize money because players have become far more professional with their approach due to the rewards on offer."