Final treble for Crafty Cockney
THE biggest names in darts said their last goodbyes to Eric Bristow at his funeral yesterday.
The Crafty Cockney’s coffin was adorned with a Union flag and a dartboard with three darts in the treble 20 bed – making the maximum score of 180.
Also with him was the Embassy world championship trophy, which he lifted five times between 1980 and 1986.
Hackney-born Bristow died suddenly aged 60 at a Premier League darts event in Liverpool this month.
Among the mourners at the Stoke crematorium were 16-times world champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, who Bristow mentored to greatness, current world No1 Michael van Gerwen, and rivals from Bristow’s heyday including John Lowe, Cliff Lazarenko and Dennis Priestley.
Some in the packed chapel wore red polo shirts like Bristow wore on the oche.
After the 45-minute service, hundreds of friends and well-wishers convened in some of his favourite pubs in nearby Leek, Staffs, where he lived for years.
Keith Deller, who beat Bristow in the 1983 world championship final, was also at the funeral and summed up the feeling.
He wrote on Twitter “Today we say goodbye to a darting genius... the sporting icon will always live on. RIP Eric.”