LAKESIDE champion Martin Adams has passionately defended the British Darts Organisation and taken a swipe at the PDC by claiming: “We are the sport”.

Professional Darts Corporation chief Barry Hearn last month saw his big-money offer for the BDO rejected by the counties in a move welcomed by Adams.

The PDC’s stars will entertain a large crowd at the Bournemouth International Centre tonight when the Whyte and Mackay Premier League bandwagon rolls into town.

But Adams, while on a visit to Winton-based Double Top Darts Shop last week, stated emphatically that he would not follow the well-trodden path from the BDO to the PDC.

And fighting the corner of the BDO, ‘Wolfie’ told the Echo: “The BDO is part of a worldwide system – the World Darts Federation. The PDC is just the PDC in my view.

“I have a quotation from my local newspaper in Peterborough from Barry Hearn that they (the PDC) are sports entertainment. Quote, unquote. We’re not sports entertainment in the BDO and WDF, we are the sport.”

Adams, one of the best-known and well-decorated stars in darts, added: “We (the BDO) need to improve quite a lot of things at all levels – grass roots, in the intermediate with the Super Leagues and counties and at international level and with the pros.

“But as long as we get the loyalty from the players in the BDO, then there’s no reason why we can’t achieve what we want to.”

The split between the BDO and PDC dates back to 1993 when a 16-strong group of top players, including arguably the best of all time in Phil Taylor, broke away to form what was initially known as the World Darts Council.