{"id":7680,"date":"2017-01-03T15:01:34","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T15:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2017\/01\/column-528-it-is-true\/"},"modified":"2017-01-03T15:01:34","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T15:01:34","slug":"column-528-it-is-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2017\/01\/column-528-it-is-true\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #528 It is TRUE!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, January 3, 2017
\nColumn 528
\nIt is TRUE!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her name is Yvonne Whitfield. Until a chance meeting a couple of years ago I hadn\u2019t thought of her, let alone seen her, since 1974. She recognized me. I don\u2019t know how \u2013 I look nothing like I did all those years ago.<\/p>\n

We dated a few times in college at Western Michigan University. She was a cashier at a Meijer Thrifty Acres store in Kalamazoo the day my roommates and I passed through her lane to pay for a couple of six-packs. She was petite and shapely but it was her British accent that caught my attention. \u201cThat\u2019ll be $3.79,\u201d she cooed. I was hooked.<\/p>\n

I was too shy to ask her for a date so I placed a classified advertisement with my phone number in the student newspaper, The Western Herald<\/em>. When she called I thought my roommates were playing a practical joke. But it was really her.<\/p>\n

We went for a pizza on our first date. The next weekend we caught a flick at an old film festival \u2013 I remember it was The Lion in Winter<\/em> and I was bored. Once we went to a hockey game.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t work out. We drifted apart\u2026<\/p>\n

Then in November, 2008 I was in a little restaurant in Soho in the west end of London having dinner and conducting an interview with Nicola Moriarty, one of the Sky Sports walk-on girls for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). We were interrupted when the waiter asked if my name was Paul Seigel. I looked up and said something like, \u201cWell, yeah \u2013 but how would you know that?\u201d He said that a lady at another table was asking\u2026<\/p>\n

As unbelievable as it may seem and as it still is to me today \u2013 particularly considering the events that followed \u2013 that lady was Yvonne Whitfield!<\/p>\n

We talked for a while, laughed a bit. She told me she was married and divorced and for the past eight years employed as the joint managing director of Saatchi & Saatchi in London. I filled her in briefly on three decades of my life, introduced her to Nicola, and told her I was kind of into the darts scene. Yvonne said she was a big darts fan and followed the players so we talked for a little while about the upcoming world championship. We exchanged e-mail addresses and that was that.<\/p>\n

I finished my dinner and interview, wrote up the column about Nicola (see Dartoid\u2019s World column #339), and headed home. I didn\u2019t give any of this another thought\u2026<\/p>\n

Until about a year ago\u2026<\/p>\n

This is when the e-mail from Yvonne appeared on my computer screen. It was a very, very strange message. She wrote that she had some information which she was sure I would find interesting.<\/p>\n

She said she was having dinner the night before at L\u2019Atelier de Jo\u00ebl Robuchon in Covent Garden and was seated next to a table of four gentlemen, two whom she recognized from the telly. She wrote that if I wanted to know more \u2013 and assured me that I did \u2013 I should call her.<\/p>\n

What Yvonne related when we spoke was unlike anything I\u2019d ever come across during my years around the sport of darts and, believe me when I say I have heard some pretty amazing stories. But nothing, not anything, ever, compared to this. I could not believe it. I refused to believe it!<\/p>\n

But she said she could prove what she was saying \u2013 that she\u2019d done more than just eavesdrop. She said she had surreptitiously video-recorded some of what she saw and heard on her mobile and that this would at least set to rest any doubt that the individuals she said were in the restaurant were really there. She also said that when she got home she had memorialized everything she had overheard.<\/p>\n

For my part, I was so shocked \u2013 so stunned \u2013 that the next day I arranged a flight to Heathrow. Yvonne and I met again \u2013 for the second time in thirty-five years \u2013 at the Palm Court at the Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly in Mayfair.<\/p>\n

The moment I viewed her little video I had no doubt her story was true.<\/p>\n

Dining together at one of the fanciest restaurants in the world and seemingly enjoying<\/em> themselves were the PDC\u2019s Barry Hearn, the British Darts Organization\u2019s (BDO) Olly Croft, and two other people we did not recognize. \u00a0Documents were spread about the table. According to Yvonne, the two strangers were at the table when she arrived at the restaurant. Shortly after she arrived Croft joined them. Just a little later Hearn arrived.<\/p>\n

Yvonne heard a deal finalized, a deal that had clearly been hammered out in great detail prior to the meeting. So it seemed that the two unfamiliar faces were barristers and the dinner meeting was a formality to sign papers and toast what had been agreed. This turned out to be exactly the case.<\/p>\n

The deal which Yvonne heard discussed and which she saw both Hearn and Croft secure with their signatures was for the sale of one of the two darts organizations. Although not as sensational as the actual agreement itself, the price tag was astounding \u2013 \u00a324 million. It was to be paid in equal installments over a twelve-month period. Yvonne saw the first check for \u00a32 million pass hands.<\/p>\n

With the stroke of a pen and the exchange of a check the extraordinary deal was done.<\/p>\n

Oh there was more. Yvonne heard much more but in hindsight the rest was a bit of silliness, really. To keep anyone who might suspect the secret collusion it was agreed that the two head honchos would act for the ensuing twelve months \u201cas if all was the same as always,\u201d continuing to say and do things that would enrage the other to respond in kind. They agreed to continue to press each other\u2019s buttons in the press and have their minions post derogatory comments at various websites. Both had a hearty laugh about one part of their plan \u2013 for Hearn to make a very public offer to buy the BDO, which Croft would then dismiss as insulting.<\/p>\n

As the first installment was tucked safely away behind the lapel of the one executive\u2019s blazer the two long-time adversaries rose from their chairs, as did their legal representatives. Gleaming, the gentlemen shook hands and slapped each other\u2019s backs. The party of four then left L\u2019Atelier de Jo\u00ebl Robuchon together, presumably to reconvene up the road for several celebratory pints.<\/p>\n

According to an inside source (Croft\u2019s accountant, Dutchman L\u2019irpa Sloof,<\/em> who only recently agreed to go on the record \u2013 and whose signed affidavit accompanied by a Xeroxed copy of the check prompted the final go-ahead from my lawyer to post this column) the final installment of the deal has been paid.<\/p>\n

As of this morning, the sport of darts is unified. It is also dead. The Professional Darts Corporation is now wholly owned by Olly Croft.<\/p>\n

From the Field,<\/p>\n

Dartoid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Her name is Yvonne Whitfield. Until a chance meeting a couple of years ago I hadn\u2019t thought of her, let alone seen her, since 1974. She recognized me. I don\u2019t know how \u2013 I look nothing like I did all those years ago…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[15],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":2962,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg",520,478,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1-300x276.jpg",300,276,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg",520,478,false],"large":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg",520,478,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg",520,478,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg",520,478,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-24-1.jpg",45,41,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Dartoid","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/dartoid\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Her name is Yvonne Whitfield. Until a chance meeting a couple of years ago I hadn\u2019t thought of her, let alone seen her, since 1974. She recognized me. I don\u2019t know how \u2013 I look nothing like I did all those years ago...","authors":[{"term_id":15,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"dartoid","display_name":"Dartoid","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024-02-13-12_01_31-Dartoids-World-_-The-most-widely-read-column-about-darts-in-the-world.png","url2x":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024-02-13-12_01_31-Dartoids-World-_-The-most-widely-read-column-about-darts-in-the-world.png"},"first_name":"Paul","last_name":"Seigel","user_url":"http:\/\/www.dartoidsworld.com","description":"\"Dartoid\" is the pseudonym of Paul Seigel, a prominent chronicler of darts for over 35 years. His columns are celebrated for their wit and insight, often detailing his quest for a game in exotic locales worldwide. His writing offers vibrant commentary on the competitive darts landscape, including players, organizations, tournaments and the sport's unique culture. Dartoid's articles are highly regarded among darts enthusiasts, solidifying his role as a pivotal figure in promoting and documenting darts as both a recreational pastime and professional sport."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7680"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}