News of the World Darts Championship also the first year that separate competitions were held for men and women. The lack of televised darts coverage left some players frustrated by the lack of opportunity to make a living from darts, and in January 1992 they formed their own organisation to start up their own tournaments "(see main article: Professional Darts Corporation, and Split in darts)". The News of the World Championship made a one-year reappearance in the 1996/97 season, when Sky Sports and the News of the World resurrected the competition. In his autobiography, Phil Taylor says that his mentor, Eric Bristow always mocked him for
1997 WDC World Darts Championship 1997 WDC World Darts Championship The 1996/1997 Red Band World Darts Championship was held between 29 December 1996 and 5 January 1997 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex. It was the fourth World Championship organised by the World Darts Council, which had acrimoniously split from the British Darts Organisation in 1992–93. As a result of an ongoing legal battle, this would be the last time that the WDC name would be used – an out-of-court settlement (Tomlin Order) in June 1997 meant that the organisation had to change its name to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Paul Lim, who