By Sam Lyon & Piers Newbery

King is the latest high-profile player to cross the sport's divide

Mervyn King's move from the British Darts Organisation to the Professional Darts Corporation has reopened the war between the rival bodies.

King follows the likes of Raymond van Barneveld, Jelle Klaasen and Michael van Gerwen across darts' bitter divide.

BDO spokesman Robert Holmes told BBC Sport: "All the PDC are doing is buying and poaching players. It's the only way they can survive."

But PDC chairman Barry Hearn responded: "'Poaching' is a silly, emotive word."

Following the announcement of King's move on Tuesday, Holmes said: "We at the BDO wouldn't want to run a sport in that way - in fact we would not even describe the PDC as a sport.

There's a good case to say we need the BDO to survive. They provide a conveyor-belt of talent Barry Hearn, PDC chairman

"We look after the sport of darts - over 20,000 players of all abilities and of both sexes - and we have a system in place for producing quality players.

"In effect, the PDC is just a private club of a few players and the only way they have got that far, and the only way they can survive, is by poaching our players."

And Holmes insisted the BDO will not accept King and Klaasen's exits lightly, adding: "I'm personally very disappointed.

"Mervyn has always said he would rather pack in darts than join the PDC and twice during the Lakeside World Championships I went on record to say as much. And now this - I'm stunned.

"We are taking legal advice on his situation, as well as Klaasen's. As far as we're concerned it's a breach of contract. We'll be meeting with our lawyers this week to see what the next step will be."

There are a lot of disillusioned players in the PDC Robert Holmes, BDO spokesman

Hearn responded: "Mervyn King wants to play every week and earn decent money. Any player with ambition would be mad not to join the PDC.

"You can't be a professional darts player with the BDO because there are so few events that pay money - decent money.

"We've never bought a player, there are no restrictions on who plays whatsoever. None of our players have been paid to join us, what we offer them is a future."

606 DEBATE: Your views on this bitter feud

And Hearn was happy to admit that the BDO expects to welcome more players crossing the divide in the future.

"There's a good case to say we need the BDO to survive," Hearn told BBC Sport. "They provide a conveyor-belt of talent.

"We have 350 to 400 players worldwide, with the top 16, maybe top 32, making a good living. I feel the BDO put more into the sport than I do.

"We want to take advantage of that and continue to be a part of it. We're the dream factory of darts."

Holmes suggested the movement of players would not continue to be "one-way traffic" and claimed, "there are a lot of disillusioned players in the PDC."

Hearn said: "I've not heard of more than one player going back but if they want to be a good pub player, the BDO is fabulous for them.