Bristow and Deller lock horns again

It's been 27 years since darts stars Eric Bristow and Keith Deller clashed in of the most memorable world championship finals in history.

But the two 1983 finalists came together last night at the Wolverhampton's Rileys Bar on Broad Street for the Legends Challenge, a one-night knockout tournament against 14 qualifiers from the local area.

It was Deller who went all the away at the expense of 'the Crafty Cockney,' the same result that was recorded back in the eighties.

But what drama it's was all those years ago as 'the Fella' came from absolutely nowhere to shatter records and make it to what a good majority of darts fans call the best final of all time.

Bristow looked to have it in the bag going for the first to six set needing the bullseye to finish, but went for and missed a total of single 18 and double 16 to leave the door ajar.

Even then, who would have thought that his opponent would hit treble 20, treble 18 and double 12 to win by six sets to five, by what is still called today as 'the Deller checkout.'

He recalls: "It was a long time ago, but I had told everybody that I would become a world champion that year."

Bristow, who now lives in Leek, Staffordshire, came into the tournament having already been crowned world champion twice, and would win the competition for three years in a row afterwards.

But that night still rankles with the 53-year-old.

He said: "None one will ever forget that final, and Keith certainly won't let them forget it!

"But, if the same thing happened again, I still wouldn't have gone for the bullseye."

Even more impressive that year was that Deller had been the first man to ever come through the qualifiers and win the whole thing.

At age 22 he was also the youngest man to become world champion, a record eventually broken by Jelle Klaasen in 2006 aged 21 years and 90 days.

But his career waned in the years that followed and never again did the 50-year-old reach the heights of 1983.

A regret, but Deller did try and explain why.

He added: "I had come from nowhere and I was borrowing money off people, but suddenly I was a world champion.

"Really, the only place I could go was down after that."

By Craig Birch