Ex-darts champion Eric Bristow sparks outrage after claiming victims of sexual abuse aren’t ‘proper men’
By Will Stroude
Former world champion darts player Eric Bristow has landed himself in hot water after making a string of incredibly insulting comments regarding the child sex abuse scandal that has rocked British football in recent days.
An NSPCC hotline was set up last week after former footballers David White, Andy Woodward, Steve Walters and Paul Stewart spoke out about suffering abuse. It has since received more than 100 calls, and both the FA and the police have launched investigations.
Last night (November 29), Bristow, who has been a regular contributor to Sky Sports’ darts coverage since the early 1990s, said that had he been a victim of abuse as a child, he would have “went back and sorted that poof out” when he was older.
The 59-year-old added: “glad I am a dart player proper man,” and “dart players tough guys footballers wimps.”
He went on to joke, “Bet the rugby boys are OK ha ha,” prompting former rugby star and abuse survivor Brian Moore to respond, “I’m not even going to address the many reasons these tweets are wrong. I’ll just say ignorance is no excuse for bigotry.”
I'm not even going to address the many reasons these tweets are wrong. I'll just say ignorance is no excuse for this idiocy. https://t.co/HWPxBBFVW4
— Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) November 28, 2016
After receiving criticism for calling abusers “poofs,” the former darts player clarified in a now-deleted tweet that he apparently “meant paedo not poof.”
Steve Walters, one of the former footballers who has spoken out about abuse, tweeted that he was “disgusted” with the former darts world champion’s remarks.
Meanwhile, Sky Sports wasted no time in dropping Bristow from his role as a contributor for their darts coverage. The broadcaster said in a statement that they “will not be using him in the future.”
https://twitter.com/steven_walters4/status/803348847300845568
More stories:
One of London’s longest-running fetish clubs is closing
The naked boys of the Coitus 2017 calendar will change your life – PICS