The former darts world champion Eric Bristow has been sacked by Sky Sports after he tweeted comments about the football sexual abuse story on Monday night.

Bristow, 59, had been a regular contributor to the channel’s darts coverage since the early 1990s but Sky announced on Tuesday morning that he would no longer be used by them.

“He was a contributor to our darts coverage in the past but we will not be using him in the future,” said a Sky spokesperson.

Bristow had caused outrage overnight following a number of tweets, starting with one which stated: “Might be a looney but if some football coach was touching me when i was a kid as i got older i would have went back and sorted that poof out.”

The five-time world champion, who was awarded an MBE in 1989, continued with a series of posts which drew fierce criticism, including from Steve Walters, one of the former footballers to have spoken out about his abuse at the hands of convicted paedophile and former Crewe coach Barry Bennell, who tweeted: "Disgusted with Eric Bristows remarks tonight stoneagementality."

So far more than 20 former footballers have come forward alleging they were victims of child abuse as junior players, Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has said. Numerous police forces are also investigating the allegations.

Another of Bristow's tweets stated "bet the rugby boys are ok" - prompting a reply from Brian Moore, the former England hooker who himself was abused as a child.

“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,” Moore wrote.

(Guardian service)