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A controversial sporting body which organised a ‘world championship’ and announced a contentious cut in prize money to enormous criticism featured in the UK press, is based at a charity in the Rhondda and competitors did not know how much they would be playing for, The Eye can reveal.
Female players were outraged to learn that the winner’s fund in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) ‘championship’ had been slashed by thousands of pounds, and that quarter-finalists were to receive just £650.
It was reported a few days ago that the male players knew only that the prize money at stake would be much less than previously stated.
At the beginning of the event, just 15 per cent of tickets had been sold, and a week before it started, competitors received a letter stating that prize money was to be cut by an unspecified amount.
In the frantic emails that followed, the female players demanded to know the sum of their work and they eventually learned the winner’s fund had been slashed to £8,000 from the £20,000 promised.
One fan said: “It’s a bit disappointing. There’s not many people. The atmosphere is a bit flat”.
Australia’s Corrine Hammond, who reached the semi-finals for the first time this year, said that she seriously considered whether she should play.
She said: “We were put in the position that we didn’t really know what we were doing. There was a lot of back-and-forth about what is actually happening? What are we playing for? What is the end result?”.
“Happy new year. Your prize money is going to be reduced”, said Tony Martin ironically, darts player and husband of three-times champion and this year’s quarter-finalist, Anastasia Dobromyslova.
He added: “(Officials) didn’t confirm the prize money or wouldn’t confirm the prize money.
“We pushed and pushed.
“It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that (they) confirmed”.
The BDO’s approach is evident in the official website that looks like a relic from the days of dial-up internet, and the disastrous ‘World Masters’ last year, when the draw had to be done twice after some entrants were initially left out.
Soon afterwards, the rival World Darts Federation said it “refuses to be associated with such actions”.
Fallon Sherrock, the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship, dropped out of the BDO women’s tournament after the prize-money issue came to light, and a GoFundMe page was set up in order to boost the ladies’ prize fund.
Documents at Companies House for the BDO correspondence address show that it is on Brook Street in Williamstown, Tonypandy.
They reveal that the income for the Penygraig Boys and Girls Club charitable activities there in December 2018 was £11,267 while total expenditure was £14,642.
Derek Jacklin, the BDO ‘Chief Executive Officer’ (CEO) is also listed as running a property development company Kane Development Gainsborough Limited, from his house in Lincolnshire and the contact phone number for the ‘head office’ is a mobile.
A BBC Cymru Wales (BBC CW) Wales Today reporter phoned Mr Jacklin, who assured him the players would be paid, but when the reporter asked him how much they would receive, he put the phone down.
The reporter was talking about his experience and addressing his television audience (in a ‘piece-to-camera’) outside the old BDO headquarters in Taff’s Well.
Meanwhile Mr Jacklin had published a letter to players where he said that the winner of the BDO men’s tournament would receive £23,000, which is the lowest first prize since Jocky Wilson beat Eric Bristow in the 1989 final.
The BDO ‘Champion’ Wayne Warren said: “It is devastating, absolutely devastating, they have given with one hand and taken away with the other.
“I am just gutted, it has taken the shine off everything.
“I am the world champion, but the money should be there.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get the full amount, but I thought it would definitely be at least half.”
Dutch production company 1:1 has still not been paid for its work at the BDO ‘World Masters’, staged at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet in October.
After the tournament, a bill was sent to the BDO, which was followed by several reminders, and it has risen to more than €10,000.
Owner Erwin Beenhakker said: “…we are still waiting for payment for the… event.
“We know that budgets are not big on the BDO circuit. We are therefore very lenient and try to think along with the organisations in all respects in order to offer as much as possible within the financial constraints.
“Then it hurts even more if you are treated that way.
“There is simply no response.
“This is a very substantial amount and I am currently dependent on the patience of the suppliers and a large group of freelancers hired for the World Masters.”
There were a number of problems at the 2019 ‘World Masters’.
Several seeded players opted not to participate in the event in protest at a change to qualifying criteria, and other players who did attend found they were unregistered, having been unaware of a new rule which required them to register in advance online.
Due to the confusion, officials announced there would be the redraw, which included fake names, apparently so they could be substituted if more real players arrived.
Players were also not informed of the event’s prize money in advance.
With all this in the background the future does not look good for the BDO – but people who are owed money could try the correspondence address in the Rhondda…
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