Dick Allix loved the sport of darts. Having stumbled into it, during a successful music career, he became a seminal figure in player management and then in the building and administration of the modern game.

Allix, along with Tommy Cox and John Markovic, were instrumental in the formation of the World Darts Council in 1992 as the sport’s top players broke away from the BDO to form a new era for the sport.

There followed an almost decade long period of acrimony, financial peril and legal battles. Allix, who had been a player manager at that time, stood tall throughout, became the WDC’s chief executive and later moved into the role of event director following the PDC’s subsequent restructure in 2001.

To me the whole ethos was that if you were good enough, you’ll play and I think the PDC stands for that today.

We only ever promised the players that we would get it back to where it was, but I think we more than surpassed that.

People still say that they never envisaged that it would get this big, and it still seems to get bigger and bigger and that’s staggering.Dick Allix

Following his retirement from the PDC in 2014, Allix continued in management and had worked alongside commentators Wayne Mardle, Rod Studd and Dan Dawson in recent years.

He had initially moved into management with Eric Bristow during the five-time World Champion’s hey-day, and also represented the iconic Sid Waddell.

Allix, 78, originally rose to fame as the drummer in Vanity Fare, who enjoyed the hit song “Hitchin’ A Ride’ – which sold over a million copies in America in 1969.

He was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame alongside Cox in 2010 to recognise his contribution to the sport.

We send our deepest condolences to Dick’s family and friends at this sad time

Dick made an immense contribution to the sport across five decades and was instrumental alongside Tommy Cox and John Markovic in harnessing the vision to create a new future for darts.

He held a number of roles within the sport and saw that vision come to fruition, and we know how proud he was to see the PDC go from strength to strength.PDC chief executive Matt Porter. 

In 2020 Dick was an invaluable source of advise to the team who had recently taken over Darts World Magazine which was threatened with closure due to a combination of difficult times and the pandemic and it is no exaggeration to say that without him it would not have reached and celebrated our 50th anniversary last year.

“He will be sadly missed by us all.“

Many, including ourselves will echo Mr Porter’s words. RIP Dick Allix

—–ENDS—–

Images: PDC (unless stated)

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