Darts: Power Prevails As Ailing Fordham Runs Out of Gas

Let there be no more doubt; Phil "The Power" Taylor is now the undeniable, undisputed, unquestioned and just about any other 'un' the great commentator Sid Waddell could think of - except possibly unlikely - champion of the world of darts.

Late last night the publican from Burslem beat Andy "The Viking" Fordham, a 26-stone publican from Dartford, in a televised match arranged between the sport's two world champions to settle the issue once and for all. With the score 5-2 to Taylor in a best-of-13-sets match Fordham, sweating profusely, was unable to continue, struggling to breathe in the heat on the stage. It would possibly have been dangerous for him to play on; in fact he was expected to travel to hospital for a precautionary check-up.

Alas for Taylor, the victory had been spoiled. "I'm absolutely devastated, not just for myself but for the people who have paid all the money and also for the people sitting out there waiting," he said. "During that set Andy said, 'I can't get my breath, I can't breathe.' I said, 'Do you want to have a break?' and he said, 'I need to, yeah'."

It was an unsatisfactory end to a surreal evening but there will probably be a next time because too many people made too much money from this occasion for it to have been a one-off. Ever since a group of disaffected players left the British Darts Organisation 11 years ago and set up the alternative Professional Darts Council there have been two separate world champions and until last night never the twain had met. Now they have and, given that more than a million viewers are reported to have shelled out a tenner a piece for the privilege of tuning in, not to mention the thousand or so punters who snapped up tickets to watch it in person, one suspects it just might be repeated - especially if they demand their money back.

Whether Fordham will be a participant is uncertain, which is a pity because anyone who thinks darts has been beyond parody since it was mercilessly lampooned in Not The Nine O'Clock News some 20 years ago needs to see this man. Earlier this year the 42-year-old won the BDO championship for the first time but, hampered by injury - he fractured a bone in the wrist of his throwing hand in a fall - his form since has been unconvincing. He has forearms like hams. A gentle giant, they call him, but his size did him no favours last night.

By 5pm Taylor, who has won 11 world championships and cuts a relatively svelte figure, had arrived at the Circus and was practising. Fordham had arrived too and was sitting in an upstairs bar nursing a bottle of beer. Three hours later Taylor was still practising and Fordham was still in the bar.

In an arena already dense with smoke that had not come from a dry-ice machine Eric Bristow and John Lowe were warming up the crowd. It was not for long; Bristow thrashed Lowe 6-1.

They were followed by Roland "The Tripod" Scholten who beat Wayne "Hawaii" Mardle 5-0 almost as quickly but the crowd barely noticed. To the strains of Too Sexy For My Shirt and mass hysteria, The Viking ambled amiably on to the stage, Taylor bouncing in a few minutes later to Got The Power.

Judging by the first set - each set was the best of five games or legs - he certainly appeared to have more than Fordham. It was three games to nil and in each and every one he needed only one dart at the game-ending double. Fordham looked nervous but the first 180 of the match settled him. Taylor's darts were wobbling unconvincingly in flight but hitting their target with unerring accuracy while Fordham - "swelling like a hippo in a power shower," as Waddell put it - was beginning to find a rhythm. Mouth open in concentration, sweat dripping from his forehead, he took the second set 3-2.

The third went to Taylor, again by a 3-2 margin, as the players traded 180s. This time he celebrated but not as much as he did when he took the fourth, again by 3-2. Fordham, playing better than many suspected he could, hit back and sets were swapped, but the seventh saw Taylor at his best, time and again closing out three-figure finishes.

Two more sets would have done it but Fordham was struggling. They gave him 15 minutes to sit outside, wrapped in cool towels, but he was too distressed to continue.