Opposites attract George and Mardle

Bobby George and Wayne Mardle saw that darts was the only winner of their exhibition at the Hatherton Country House Hotel in Penkridge.

George, the voice of the BDO for the BBC, met counterpart Mardle, a rising force as a commentator on PDC events for Sky Sports, last night.

The only thing separates the two is the 'code,' which was introduced when the BDO imploded with a breakaway faction initially called the WDC, changing name to the PDC in the late 1990s.

George reached the BDO final in the first year there were two world championships in 1994, the year after Mardle started out in the BDO before defecting to the PDC in 2002.

'The Bobby Dazzler' expects the 'turf wars' of the BDO and PDC to continue long into the future, having seen the storm that saw both factions formed first-hand.

The 65-year-old has been in the sport long enough to remember when unrest in the National Darts Association of Great Britain led to the birth of the BDO in 1973.

He said: "People think I am all BDO but I am not, I commentate and give my views, but I am not in the PDC or the BDO, I play with the boys from both.

"Everyone says 'are you BDO or PDC' and I say 'are they lions and tigers or something?' It's ridiculous.

"I am here with Mardle and he's PDC, but he used to be BDO. It's all the same. People in the street don't know the difference."

The PDC, owned by Barry Hearn, actually made a £1million offer two years ago to buy the BDO, which has been floundering under pressure from the competition for years.

Mardle feels he was a beneficiary of the original 'split,' reaching the BDO World Championship semi-final a year after his Lakeside debut in 2001.

But 'Hawaii 5-0-1? could never shake off the feeling he was playing in an inferior field and insists he crossed over to the PDC to test himself at the top level.

The 38-year-old became 'the nearly man' of PDC darts, reaching the World Championship final four times between 2004 and 2008.

And Mardle believes that, whether the buy out had gone through or not, the PDC and BDO can co-exist.

He said: "I wanted the PDC but the BDO as a stepping stone is a must.

"Even though they are both darting bodies, they are two separate entities, they really are.

"The PDC are there for the professionals and are interested in selling darts as a sport worldwide, I think they realised pretty quickly that you can't sell the amateur game worldwide.

"It's horses of courses, there are two million registered darts players in this country and I would say about one per cent want to make money.

"The BDO gives them the chance to play on big stages."

By Craig Birch

Follow Craig Birch on Twitter @Craig417