Hearn on current state of BDO after Jacklin returns as chairman: "I find it a little bit amusing because it's carnage, you really couldn't write the script"

Barry Hearn has said that the situation in the BDO currently is 'amusing' and that it should be turned into a film after Des Jacklin was reappointed as BDO Chairman a few weeks ago.

Jacklin himself resigned from his post in February and as Hearn noted he went on to write an essay like statement where he spoke about his tenure only for him to return to the helm a few weeks later after receiving the votes of 66 percent of the counties.

For Hearn, it is mind boggling that he has returned so soon after and that they are in an even worse position than the end of his first tenure.

"I have no idea what’s going on with the BDO but I think there’s a movie there somewhere." said Hearn to Metro.co.uk. "It is a soap opera isn’t it?"

"It’s disaster upon disaster. Man falls on sword and writes the most amazing few pages of dialogue criticising everybody, slaughtering everybody and leaving in a fit of anger.

Fast forward a few days, 66% of the counties vote him back! You couldn’t write it. If he wants an easy life then he’s crazy because he couldn’t be coming back to a worse position could he?"

"Nothing’s happening. What’s he going to do with his TV, venues, ticket sales? God knows. Even when we come back there’s going to be a reticence from a lot of people to go to live events because the fear factor will still be there."

BDO Chairman Des Jacklin

Issues before Jacklin's reign

Hearn went on to speak about the BDO's fate and admitted it's been sealed for years due to the management involved and that when Jacklin joined, he should have looked for the help of the PDC.

‘I think the BDO, it’s a terrible thing to say, but I find it a little bit amusing because it’s carnage, you really couldn’t write the script," he added.

‘They’ve been doing it for years,’ said the PDC chairman. ‘The management at the BDO has been appalling from day one.

‘Clearly no reality, they needed a reality check and I thought they had it [when Jacklin was first voted in]. I thought at last, common sense!

‘All they needed to do was come and ask: “How do you see it Barry? How do you see it Matt [Porter, PDC chief executive]? How could you help?”

‘We’d have said: “Do you want me to go and get you a TV contract? Do you want me to go and get you a sponsor?” It’s a phone call. Not being funny, I’ve got significant sway.’

Issues with emergence of WDF

Hearn previously spoke about offering out an olive branch to the WDF and admitted that while meetings have taken place, they don't have the money and that organisations like the BDO have to stop believing they are something they are not.

"The WDF have some big plans but these guys have no money. I’m sorry to be so basic about it, but unless you’ve got the finance for a business, you can’t launch a business."

"One of their biggest problems is that they believe something that they clearly are not. I think the BDO have always thought they have a certain position in the world which was not justified by the reality of what the world is.

Therefore, it’s very difficult for them to start from scratch. ‘The WDF would have a better chance by saying, “right we don’t know what we’re doing, we haven’t got any money but we’ve got the sanctioning ability and the credibility of the name.”

"But you need the infrastructure of the counties etc, People who do it for nothing because they have passion, they’re essential part of any sport once you get off the mainstream. But you’ve got to realise that you can’t compete with the mainstream."

"It's so embarrassing"

Hearn also spoke about the issue he has with the BDO calling itself a Professional World Darts Championship and that he is glad he didn't take the organisation over when he offered.

‘The first thing they’ve got to do is stop calling that poxy event the World Professional Darts Championship,’ he continued.

‘It’s so embarrassing, it pisses me off and it slightly, not very much now, slightly confuses the marketplace.

‘I don’t want the aggravation of amateur darts, I’m never going to take it over, I tried to take it over, £2m I offered them! I must have been mad! What was I thinking of? It wasn’t worth it then. It’s not worth two bob now.

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