Fans ban a ‘slap in the face for sport’, says furious World Darts Championship boss Barry Hearn

Barry Hearn has labelled the decision to ban fans from the World Darts Championship as “a slap in the face” for sport.

The 2021 World Championship begins on Tuesday with 1,000 fans allowed inside the Alexandra Palace, with the tournament set to take place through to the final on 3 January.

But the government decision to place London, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire under tier 3 restrictions means that the action will be forced to take place behind closed doors from Wednesday onwards.

The Professional Darts Corporation hopes to review the block on any fan attendance on 23 December when London’s restrictions will be reviewed, but chairman Hearn has hit out at the decision and questioned why it will be any different to the heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev last weekend that saw 1,000 fans allowed inside Wembley Arena under socially distanced restrictions.

"We had the AJ fight on Saturday, there was 1,000 people there, they all had a good time, they behaved themselves, security was very good, they met all the criteria and it passed without any problems," Hearn told Talksport.

READ MORE: Premier League and darts fans banned as London enters tier 3

"We can't go one day this, one day that forever. We have either got to say 'close the lot or open it'. You can't have a world of inconsistency because people don't know where they are and that involves sport.

"I am getting very frustrated, we are doing all the work and then getting slapped in the face."

Along with the darts, Premier League and English Football League clubs will be impacted by the new restrictions, with the likes of Arsenal, West Ham United and Fulham forced to shelve plans to have supporters at matches this week.

It follows a similar move by the government to scrap pilot events during the summer, which included the Snooker World Championship at the Crucible. After welcoming small numbers of supporters in Sheffield, the tournament was forced to close its doors after just days after confirming some ticket holders could attend, and the sudden decision taken on Monday has left Hearn with a familiar feeling.

"We had the same situation with the Snooker World Championships, we did a huge amount of work, huge costs to get everything Covid friendly as much as you can, and then the plug was pulled on us 24 hours later,” he added.

"Sport is such an important part of this country's mental health, this country's entertainment and yet they are throwing us around like a used doll.

"It is going to have fundamental long-term effects on the whole country and sport if we don't get a grip on this. We have got to stop changing our policy every other day."

London’s risk level will be upgraded from 12:01am on Wednesday morning, with sporting venues forced to close their doors under tier 3 restrictions. Areas of the north and Midlands have remained in such conditions since the second national lockdown ended on 2 December, but London and much of the surrounding area has been allowed to welcome supporters to sporting events in numbers of 2,000 outdoors and 1,000 indoors in tier 2 area, and 4,000 outdoors and 2,000 indoors in tier 1 locations.