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List of darts players who have switched organisation

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Between 1993 and 2020 professional darts had two rival bodies which staged tournaments and had separate pools of players, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Both staged its own world championship. In practice, players had to choose which organisation to represent, but many switched between the two, which often caused controversy.

This situation arose following an acrimonious split in the early 1990s between the leading players and the BDO. Darts had boomed in popularity during the 1980s, with as many as 23 televised events in 1983. However, by the end of the decade this had fallen to just one. This, combined with general disillusionment at the BDO's management of the sport, prompted 16 top players to break away and form their own body. Four years of legal action followed, culminating in the 1997 Tomlin order, which confirmed the existence of both bodies, and established that players were free choose which one to play for.

This list documents the players who made the decision to switch from one organisation to the other. In general more players switched from the BDO to the PDC than vice versa, attracted by the greater prize money and better competition offered by the PDC. The BDO folded in 2020, but many of their events were subsequently revived by the World Darts Federation, so the split in darts remains.

World Darts Council foundation

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The sixteen darts defectors who formed the WDC were as follows:

Player Time with BDO Notes
England Phil Taylor 1988–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2018.
England Dennis Priestley 1989–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2014.
England Rod Harrington 1987–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2007.
England Alan Warriner 1985–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2009.
England Peter Evison 1986–1993 Quit the PDC in 2008 to rejoin the BDO. Returned to the PDC in 2011 and retired from darts in 2018.
England Ritchie Gardner 1984–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2006.
Scotland Jocky Wilson 1979–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 1996.
England Eric Bristow 1979–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2007.
England Keith Deller 1983–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2007.
England John Lowe 1975–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2007.
England Bob Anderson 1979–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2008.
England Cliff Lazarenko 1977–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2007.
England Kevin Spiolek 1987–1993 Remained a PDC player until his retirement in 2007.
Scotland Jamie Harvey 1988–1993 Quit the PDC in 2009 due to ill-health but returned to the BDO in 2011. Retired in 2013.
England Mike Gregory 1983–1992 Quit the PDC in 1993 to return to the BDO. Retired from darts in 2005.
Wales Chris Johns 1986–1993 Quit the PDC in 1993 and retired from professional darts the same year.

Since then, many darts players have left the BDO to join the PDC, although some players rejoined the BDO either from finding it difficult on the PDC circuit or lack of sponsorship. The PDC had new talent of their own. However some players left them to join the BDO.

Players who transferred from the BDO to the PDC

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Year of transfer Player Time with BDO Notes
1993 Republic of Ireland Tom Kirby 1992 Quit the PDC in 2007. Died in 2008
1994 England Mick Manning 1988–1994 Quit the PDC in 2005
1994 United States Larry Butler 1992–1993 Quit the PDC in 1997 but rejoined them in 2007. Quit in 2011 and is now with the BDO
1994 United StatesSingapore Paul Lim 1980–1994
1994 England Dennis Smith 1993–1994
1994 England Graeme Stoddart 1990 Quit the PDC in 2009
1994 England Dennis Hickling 1980–1994 Quit the PDC in 1996
1994 United States Tony Payne 1985–1994 Quit the PDC in 1995 but rejoined them in 2003. Quit in 2007
1994 United States Jerry Umberger 1981–1993 Quit the PDC in 1997
1994 United States Gerald Verrier 1987–1993 Quit the PDC in 2000
1994 United States Sean Downs 1993 Quit the PDC in 2010
1994 United States Whit Whitley 1993 Quit the PDC in 1995
1994 England Damien Tonge 1993–1994 Quit the PDC in 1995
1994 England Gary Stevens 1993 Quit the PDC in 2009
1994 United States Jim Watkins 1993 Quit the PDC in 1995
1994 United States Jim Widmayer 1993 Quit the PDC in 2007 to rejoin BDO in 2008
1994 United States Dave Kelly 1991–1993 Quit the PDC in 1996 but rejoined them in 2006. Quit in 2008
1994 England Kevin Burrows 1989–1994 Quit the PDC in 2004
1994 England Shayne Burgess 1989–1994 Quit the PDC in 2008 to rejoin BDO in 2012. Quit in 2014
1994 England Steve Raw 1993 Quit the PDC in 2001
1995 United States Gary Mawson 1994 Quit the PDC in 2001 but rejoined them in 2004.
1995 England John Russell 1994 Quit the PDC in 1996
1995 England Reg Harding 1988–1993 Quit the PDC in 2006
1995 England Nigel Justice 1991 Quit the PDC in 2003
1995 England Kevin Kenny 1987–1994 Quit the PDC in 2001
1995 Belgium Jef Scheyltjens 1994 Quit the PDC in 1995
1996 Canada Tony Holyoake 1983 Quit the PDC in 1997
1996 England Phil Gilman 1992 Quit the PDC in 2006
1996 United States Bruce Robbins 1995 Quit the PDC in 2008
1996 England Peter Manley 1995–1996 Quit the PDC in 2017
1996 England Harry Robinson 1990–1996
1996 Belgium Johnny Deley 1987–1990 Quit the PDC in 1996
1996 England Paul Cook 1990 Quit the PDC in 2017
1996 Canada Avtar Gill 1981–1987 Quit the PDC in 1997
1996 Netherlands Frans Harmsen 1995 Quit the PDC in 2000 to rejoin BDO in 2002. Quit the 2017
1996 England Jack North 1975–1976 Quit the PDC in 2004
1996 England Fran Lynch 1994–1996 Quit the PDC in 1997
1996 United States Jason Lucas 1995–1996 Quit the PDC in 1997
1997 Canada John Part 1991–1997 Also a pundit for Sky Sports Darts
1997 Scotland Drew O'Neill 1986 Quit the PDC in 1998
1997 England Dean Allsop 1995–1997 Quit the PDC in 2010 to rejoin the BDO in 2011
1997 England Chris Whiting 1986–1994 Quit the PDC in 1997
1997 England Mark Robinson 1995–1997 Quit the PDC in 2015
1997 Canada Carl Mercer 1993–1997 Quit the PDC in 2004 to rejoin the BDO in 2006. Quit the 2009
1997 Wales Anthony Ridler 1977–1983 Quit the PDC in 2006. Died in 2014
1998 England John Ferrell 1994–1997 Quit the PDC in 2017
1998 United States Dan Lauby 1996–1998
1998 Canada Scott Cummings 1997–1998 Quit the PDC in 2001
1998 England Alex Roy 1998 Quit the PDC in 2018
1999 Wales Richie Burnett 1987–1999 Quit the PDC in 2014 but rejoined them in 2016
1999 Netherlands Roland Scholten 1989–1999 Quit the PDC in 2014 and is now a pundit for RTL7 Darts
1999 England Colin Lloyd 1998 Quit the PDC in 2015 but rejoined them in 2018. Quit in 2018
1999 United States Darin Young 1998 Quit the PDC in 2014 to rejoin BDO in 2014
2000 Netherlands Braulio Roncero 1994–1998 Quit the PDC in 2010. Died in 2018
2000 England Dave Askew 1988–2000 Quit the PDC in 2011
2000 United States Roger Carter 1996–1999 Quit the PDC in 2012
2000 England Denis Ovens 1986–2000 Quit the PDC in 2015
2000 England Les Fitton 1998–2000 Quit the PDC in 2004
2001 England Norman Fletcher 1999–2001 Quit the PDC in 2013
2001 England Ronnie Baxter 1988–2001
2001 England Steve Beaton 1990–2001
2001 England Andy Jenkins 1994–2001
2001 England Kevin Painter 1994–2001
2001 England Chris Mason 1990–2001 Quit the PDC in 2014 and is now a commentator for ITV Sports Darts rejoined the BDO in 2015. Quit in 2016
2001 England Paul Williams 1993–2001 Quit the PDC in 2007
2001 England Robbie Widdows 1987–2001 Quit the PDC in 2006
2001 England Lionel Sams 1994–2001 Quit the PDC in 2011 but rejoined them in 2013. Quit in 2015
2002 England Matt Chapman 1999–2001 Quit the PDC in 2006
2002 England Mark Holden 1990–2001 Quit the PDC in 2007
2002 England Paul Whitworth 1990–2001
2002 England Ian Brand 1994–1997 Quit the PDC in 2007
2002 Wales Barrie Bates 2001
2002 England Mark Dudbridge 2002
2002 Netherlands Arjan Moen 2000–2002 Quit the PDC in 2003 the rejoin BDO in 2005. Quit in 2010
2002 England Aaron Turner 2000-2002 Quit the PDC in 2015 to rejoin BDO in 2016.
2002 Jamaica Al Hedman 1995–2001 Quit the PDC in 2005
2002 England Mick Savvery 1985–2002 Quit the PDC in 2016
2002 England Lee Palfreyman 1995–2001
2002 England Wayne Jones 1988–2002
2002 Republic of Ireland Jack McKenna 1974–2002 Quit the PDC in 2005 the rejoin BDO in 2006. Quit in 2007
2002 Northern Ireland John MaGowan 1994–2001 Quit the PDC in 2012 to rejoin BDO in 2012. Quit in 2016
2002 Australia Brian Roach 1998 Quit the PDC in 2017
2002 England Wayne Mardle 1993–2002 Quit the PDC in 2012 and is now a commentator for Sky Sports Darts
2002 England Les Hodkinson 1997–2002 Quit the PDC in 2004
2002 England Crissy Manley 1997–2002 Quit the PDC in 2004 to rejoin BDO in 2005. Quit the 2011.
2002 England Dave Smith 2001 Quit the PDC in 2012 to rejoin BDO in 2013. Quit the 2015
2003 England Dave Jowett 1996–1997 Quit the PDC in 2008
2003 Australia David Platt 2002 Quit the PDC in 2010 to rejoin BDO in 2011
2003 United States Ray Carver 2002 Quit the PDC in 2010 to rejoin BDO in 2011. Quit in 2015. but rejoined them in 2018
2003 Northern Ireland Ray Farrell 1985–1993 Quit the PDC in 2009 to rejoin BDO in 2012. Quit in 2014
2003 England Vic Hubbard 1985–1986 Quit the PDC in 2006
2003 Wales Marshall James 1991–1999 Quit the PDC in 2003
2003 England Andy Smith 1997–2002
2003 England Simon Whatley 2002 Quit the PDC in 2008 to rejoin BDO in 2010. Quit in 2011
2003 Canada Gerry Convery 2001–2003 Quit the PDC in 2011
2003 Northern Ireland Colin McGarry 1995 Quit the PDC in 2014 to rejoin BDO in 2014. Quit in 2017
2003 England Vijay Kumar 1989–2002 Quit the PDC in 2004
2003 Northern Ireland Geoff Wylie 1991–2003 Quit the PDC in 2009 to rejoin BDO in 2013. Quit the 2015
2004 England Matt Clark 1996–2004
2004 Belgium Erik Clarys 1989–2004 Quit the PDC in 2006
2004 United States Bruce Cottrell 2003 Quit the PDC in 2017
2004 Canada Norm Tremblay 2002–2003 Quit the PDC in 2007 to rejoin BDO in 2010. Quit in 2017
2004 United States Ricky Villanueva 2004 Quit the PDC in 2011
2004 England Colin Monk 1993–2004 Quit the PDC in 2011
2004 England James Wade 2001–2004
2004 Canada Ron Miller 2004 Quit the PDC in 2013
2004 England Dave Whitcombe 1979–1992 Quit the PDC in 2007.
2004 Scotland Peter Wright 1995–2004
2004 United States George Walls 2003 Quit the PDC in 2007
2004 United States Ed de Behnke 2004 Quit the PDC in 2017
2005 England Mark Frost 2004
2005 England Steve Gittins 1985–1990 Quit the PDC in 2005
2005 Germany Tomas Seyler 1998–2004
2005 Australia Russell Stewart 1983–2005 Quit the PDC in 2016
2005 England Alan Tabern 2004
2006 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 1987–2006
2006 United States David DePriest 2006 Quit the PDC in 2017
2006 United States John Kuczynski 2000–2005 Quit the PDC in 2012
2006 United States Bill Davis 2001–2004 Quit the PDC in 2012
2006 United States Brad Wethington 1998 Quit the PDC in 2015
2006 Denmark Jann Hoffmann 1989–2004 Quit the PDC in 2016
2006 Wales Peter Locke 1983–1992 Quit the PDC in 2006
2006 South Africa Charles Losper 2003–2006 Quit the PDC in 2015
2006 Republic of Ireland Shane O'Connor 2006
2006 Canada Brian Cyr 1998–2006 Quit the PDC in 2008 to rejoin BDO in 2011
2006 Germany Michael Rosenauer 1991–2006 Quit the PDC in 2016 to rejoin BDO in 2017
2006 England Kirk Shepherd 2003–2006
2007 England Jamie Caven 1992–2007
2007 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2003–2007
2007 England Stuart Holden 1983 Quit the PDC in 2015
2007 England Mervyn King 1994–2007
2007 Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 2003–2007
2007 England Dave Ladley 1992–2005
2007 Denmark Per Laursen 1987–2007
2007 Spain Carlos Rodriguez 2006–2007
2007 Austria Mensur Suljović 1999–2005
2007 Netherlands Vincent van der Voort 2001–2007
2007 Canada Rory Orvis 1998–2007 Quit the PDC in 2013
2007 Canada Dan Olson 1990–2007 Quit the PDC in 2011
2008 Philippines Rizal Barellano 2006 Quit the PDC in 2009
2008 United States Sammy Cruz 1990–1992 Quit the PDC in 2017
2008 Hungary Nándor Bezzeg 2000–2008
2008 Austria Dietmar Burger 2002–2007
2008 Finland Marko Kantele 1996–2008
2008 Canada Ken MacNeil 2005–2008
2008 Czech Republic Miloslav Navrátil 2005–2007 Quit the PDC in 2008
2008 Republic of Ireland Aodhagan O'Neill 2003–2008 Quit the PDC in 2012
2008 India Ashfaque Sayed 2005–2006 Quit the PDC in 2015
2008 Canada Bob Sinnaeve 1980–1992 Quit the PDC in 2010 to rejoin BDO in 2010
2008 Scotland Robert Thornton 2002–2008
2009 Scotland Gary Anderson 2000–2009
2009 Sweden Magnus Caris 1987–2009
2009 England Andy Fordham 1994–2009 Quit the PDC in 2011 to rejoin the BDO in 2013
2009 Finland Jarkko Komula 1998–2009 Quit the PDC in 2015
2009 Wales Mark Webster 2006–2009
2010 Spain Antonio Alcinas 2005–2009
2010 United States Stacy Bromberg 1995–2010 Quit the PDC in 2012. Died in 2017
2010 England Steve Farmer 2004–2010 Quit the PDC in 2013
2010 Netherlands Mareno Michels 2004–2010
2010 Poland Krzysztof Ratajski 2007–2010
2010 England Tricia Wright 2000–2010 Joined the PDC in 2005 Still plays in the BDO since 2013
2010 England Ian White 2005–2010
2011 England Dave Chisnall 2004–2011
2011 England Brian Woods 2003–2011
2011 Belgium Kurt van de Rijck 2002–2011 Quit the PDC in 2014 to rejoin BDO in 2014
2012 England Tony West 2002–2012 Quit the PDC in 2016
2012 England Steve West 2004–2012
2012 England Stuart Kellett 2006–2012
2012 England Ted Hankey 1994–2012 Quit the PDC in 2013 to rejoin the BDO in 2014
2012 England Dean Winstanley 2008–2012 Quit the PDC in 2016 but rejoined them in 2018
2012 Scotland Les Wallace 1995–2003 Quit the PDC in 2013
2013 Australia Wayne Weening 1988–2012 Quit the PDC in 2015
2014 Netherlands Christian Kist 2009–2014
2014 England Stephen Bunting 2002–2014
2015 England Alan Norris 2006–2015
2015 England James Wilson 2007–2015
2015 Netherlands Jan Dekker 2008–2015
2016 Netherlands Jeffrey de Graaf 2010–2016
2017 Latvia Madars Razma 2009–2017
2017 Netherlands Jimmy Hendriks 2010–2017
2017 Poland Krzysztof Ratajski 2007–2017
2018 Scotland Cameron Menzies 2006–2018
2018 Netherlands Danny Noppert 2012–2018
2018 Belgium Davy Van Baelen 2016–2018
2018 England Darryl Fitton 2002–2018 Quit the PDC in 2018
2018 Sweden Dennis Nilsson 2006–2018
2018 England Tony O'Shea 1995–2018 Quit the PDC in 2018
2018 England Martin Atkins 2002–2018 Quit the PDC in 2018
2018 England Jamie Hughes 2013–2018
2018 England Ryan Joyce 2007–2018
2018 Australia Eddy Sims 2005–2018
2019 Belgium Geert De Vos 2004–2019
2019 Belgium Andy Baetens 2010–2019
2019 Lithuania Darius Labanauskas 2006–2019
2019 England Glen Durrant 2004–2019
2019 England Mark McGeeney 2010–2019
2019 England Scott Waites 2004–2019
2019 Wales Jim Williams 2012–2019
2019 England Daniel Day 2016–2019
2019 Northern Ireland Kyle McKinstry 2014–2019
2019 England Conan Whitehead 2016–2019
2019 Wales Dean Reynolds 2015–2019
2019 England Scott Baker 2016–2019
2019 Philippines Ronald L. Briones 2006–2019 Quit the PDC in 2020

BDO darts players who joined the PDC before returning

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Year of transfer Player Time with BDO Time with PDC Notes
2004 United States Steve Brown 1976–1991 1993–2004
2007 Wales Steve Alker 1998–2005 2005–2007
2007 England Steve Coote 1994–2004 2004–2007
2007 Wales Mark Salmon 1994–2005 2005–2006 Quit the BDO in 2017
2008 England Peter Evison 1986–1993 1993–2008 Was one of the 16 WDC defectors. Quit in 2018.
2009 England Deta Hedman 1990–1997 2002–2005
2009 Austria Anton Pein 2003–2007 2007–2009
2010 Netherlands Remco van Eijden 2004–2008 2008–2010
2010 Scotland Chris Loudon 1998–2009 2009–2010 Quit the BDO in 2018 rejoined the PDC in 2018.
2010 Netherlands Jan van der Rassel 2002–2003 2004–2009 Quit the PDC in 2010.
2011 Russia Anastasia Dobromyslova 2004–2008 2008–2011
2012 England Tony Eccles 2002–2007 2007–2011 Quit the PDC in 2011 rejoined the BDO in 2012. Quit in 2014.
2013 England Andy Fordham 1990–2008 2009–2011 Rejoined the BDO in 2013.
2014 Netherlands Co Stompé 1994–2008 2008–2013 Rejoined the PDC in 2018.
2014 England Ted Hankey 1995–2012 2012–2014 Rejoined the BDO in 2014.
2014 Canada Jeff Smith 2008–2011 2011–2013 Rejoined the PDC in 2018.

PDC darts players who joined the BDO before returning

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Year of transfer Player Time with PDC Time with BDO Ref
2009 Australia Simon Whitlock 2002–2003 2004–2009 [1]
2011 Scotland John Henderson 2002–2003 2004–2011 [2]
2012 Netherlands Toon Greebe 2008–2010 2006–2008, 2010–2012
2015 England Robbie Green 2003–2007 2008–2015 [3]
2018 Canada Jeff Smith 2011–2013 2002–2011, 2014–2017
2020 England Andy Hamilton 2004–2018 2018–2020
2020 England Wes Newton 2002–2018 2018–2020

References

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  1. ^ "Simon Whitlocks World Championship Results". Darts database. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  2. ^ "John Henderson BDO results". Darts Database. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  3. ^ "Robbie Green BDO results". Darts Database. Retrieved 24 January 2017.