Darts players settle feud

A four-year feud involving the world's top darts players was settled in the High Court yesterday when opposing sports bodies agreed to a charter of "peaceful co-existence".

Fourteen top players, including Eric Bristow, John Lowe, "Jocky" Wilson, Cliff Lazarenko and Phil Taylor, began a court action last week against the British Darts Organisation, claiming it had a monopoly on running events and competitions.

In the deal announced yesterday, the players, banned by the BDO when they broke away to form the World Darts Council in 1993, regained the right to compete freely.

Under the terms of the agreement, the BDO and WDC, renamed the Professional Darts Council, recognise the darts tournaments are not the exclusive preserve of any one organisation. They both accepted the need to promote the freedom of individual darts players to play in open competition and to recognise each other's existence.

In return, the players dropped their claim for damages through being barred by the BDO.