GWYNNE: BRISTOW AND EVANS ALMOST STARTED A RIOT

JOHN ‘Voice of Darts’ Gwynne remembers the night he feared darts fans would rip the King’s Hall apart. The 2019 BDO Lakeside World Championship will be the veteran commentator’s 30th year at the event. Andy ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton fulfils an ambition when he steps on to the Lakeside stage where he saw Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and Eric Bristow battle out their epic passing-of-thetorch final in 1990, Taylor ushering in a new era with a 6-1 thrashing. Jocky Wilson beat Eric Bristow in the first final Gwynne saw live at the Lakeside – in 1989 - and ‘The Crafty Cockney’ features prominently in Gwynne’s reminisces of a life spent in darts. Gwynne regularly worked on the exhibition circuit with Bristow before his death in April and remembers a tense night at Stoke’s King’s Hall in 1983 when Bristow and Alan Evans duelled over the best of seven sets. ‘I was asked to compere,” said Gwynne, “and I knew it would be a tough night. “They hated each other. “I almost came to blows with Alan Evans once and there was real needle between him and Eric. The atmosphere when they played at the King’s Hall was charged. “There were 500 partisan fans there. Evans brought a lot of support with him from South Wales and Stockport and Eric had lots of support there as well. “Eric and Alan didn’t help matters either. They were niggling each other, barging into each other and masking threats to each other under their breath. “I ended up taking them off stage. “There was supposed to be a break after four sets, but I had to take them off early because I thought there might be a riot. “They were winding the crowd up – and they were already wound up. “I told them: ‘If you don’t start behaving yourselves, I will call this off. You could cause a riot’.” Bristow went on to win the match 4-2 and provided Gwynne with many of his favourite memories from a lifetime in darts that he intends to relive in a book he is currently working on.