Martin Adams has revealed the real reason why he turned down the opportunity to join the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the riches that come with competing at the top level of the organisation.
Back in 1993, a group of high-profile players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World Darts Council (WDC) – which later became the PDC following a legal row between the two organisations.
As a result of the split, the BDO lost most of its top talent to the PDC including Phil Taylor and Eric Bristow.
While the likes of John Part and Raymond van Barneveld initially stayed put, they - and many others including Gary Anderson and Stephen Bunting - would eventually swap the BDO for the PDC, partly due to greater prize money on offer in the latter organisation.
Advert
Some of the top players in the PDC would go on to earn life-changing money, with 14-time PDC world champion Taylor winning an eye-watering £12m during his professional career.
One player that refused to leave the BDO, however, was Adams.
The Sutton-born darts player, nicknamed 'Wolfie', won six major BDO titles during his career, including three World Championships in 2007, 2010 and 2011, and is arguably the most high-profile player to have remained loyal to the organisation.
Adams did play in three major PDC television events in 2000 and 2001, but after eligibility rules changed at the start of the following year – he was prevented from competing as he decided to remain with the BDO, never making the permanent switch.
Before facing Adams at the World Seniors' Champion of Champions tournament in 2023, Taylor stated: "He's a player I thought, 'You should have come over [to the PDC].
"He sticks by what he believes in. But when I look at Martin now, I think, 'You could have been a multi, multi-millionaire'. He might be one, I don't know.
"But he had the talent to get up there and be in the top three in the world. Could he have made a splash on the PDC? I don't think he would. I know he would have done. It would have improved Martin and his game."
Adams has since explained his decision to remain loyal to the BDO from his debut in 1988 all the way up until 2020, when the organisation went bankrupt and ceased to exist until it was effectively replaced by the World Darts Federation in 2022.
Speaking on William Hill's Club 501 YouTube account, Adams said: "At the time, I was captain of England and I didn't want to give that up.
"But to get there, to get to that position, over the years you've had loads and loads of help from all the different officials. Who do their job for nothing.
"And I wasn't going to walk away from them. [I] weren't going to let them down.
"So that's one of the reason I stayed. And the main reason was, I was still captain of England. I was part of the BDO, so why change?”
Adams had previously stated that he had "no regrets" about snubbing the PDC despite missing out on the riches of the World Darts Championship.
"I don't regret any decisions I've made," Adams told Sky Sports in 2016. "I'm comfortable. Anything I win now, I look at it as a bonus."
Topics: Darts
Rory O'Callaghan