Barneveld does his bit for Charity

By Daniel Owens Courtesy of Northampton Chronicle

DUTCH darts master Raymond van Barneveld hada quick game with Carlsberg employees at the brewery's Northampton HQ.
The five-time world champion, who beat Taylor to clinch his first PDC title last year, stopped off at the brewery's social club last night as part of a fundraiser for Cynthia Spencer Hospice. Staff paid £2 each for a ticket, with all the entrants put into a draw to earn the chance to play against the big Dutchman. Carlsberg spokeswoman Wendy Norwood said: "It was fantastic to get Barney down here for the night, especially on the eve of his game with Phil Taylor. All the staff were really excited when they heard he was in town, it's a great chance for them to get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play one-on-one against a world champion."The 39-year-old was joined at the Northampton brewery by legendary darts commentator Sid Waddell and referee Russ Bray, who helped co-host the evening. Van Barneveld is due to meet Phil 'The Power' Taylor at Sheffield tonight in darts premier league. It's the first time he has faced Taylor since their epic world final last year.He said: "The last 12 months have been amazing for me.
I never thought I would progress so far so soon. People were always telling me I could beat Phil and it took a while for me to believe that but now that I have, I am so much more relaxed."Barney took up darts in 1984 in a back room of a pub owned by his father in The Hague, Netherlands. His first darting idol was Eric Bristow and he spent hours watching his heroes compete in televised tournaments.He said: "I used to watch every tournament on the TV, I loved it. One day someone saw me play and invited me to play in a tournament. I went along, did ok and haven't looked back since."