Raymond van Barneveld is a crowd favorite and an integral part of the darts scene. However, the Dutchman has a feud with his compatriot and former colleague Roland Scholten, and there is probably no prospect of reconciliation.
Scholten now opened up about the dispute in the podcast “Double Top”. “Some things have happened in our careers. I am always very black and white and very honest with everyone. Regardless of whether they are a friend or an enemy. Things have happened that are not acceptable to me,” said the 59-year-old, referring to his relationship with van Barneveld.
The relationship between the two is probably beyond repair. “I no longer wait for him to come over for a coffee. At some point I’ve gotten over it. And that’s a good thing, because you can’t get along with everyone,” said Scholten, who knows van Barneveld well from joint PDC events and trips with the Dutch national darts team.
Darts: Empty envelopes and shares instead of money
From the time before the conflict with “Barney” had overshadowed him, when the darts hype was nowhere near as huge as it is today, the 1998 BDO World Championship semi-finalist also has nostalgic shared memories with the superstar.
“For example, in 1993, when we received an invitation to play together at the then WDC. We had doubts about this change, especially because of the payment of prize money. Empty envelopes were handed out. Payment was made in shares, but of course we wanted to see money. That’s logical when you try to turn your hobby into a profession,” Scholten described.
In contrast to van Barneveld, who is two years younger and is still active on the big darts stage, Scholten ended his PDC career in 2013. The greatest success of his career was the title at the UK Open in 2004.
Source: www.sport.de
