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Eric Bristow has been dropped by Sky Sports after appearing to mock the victims of football's sex abuse scandal.

The five-time world champion, who also has an MBE, sparked outrage by saying if he was abused when he was young he would “have went back and sorted that p**f out.”

In a rant on his Twitter account, he said footballers aren’t “proper men” and branded them “wimps”, adding “bet the rugby boys are ok ha ha.”

And Sky have now acted to drop the darts legend ahead of their coverage of the PDC World Championships in December and the New Year.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

A statement from a Sky spokesman said: "He was a contributor to our darts coverage in the past but we will not be using him in the future."

Newcastle United have also cancelled a planned event with Bristow which was set for next month.

Bristow posted a stream of messages on his verified account on Monday evening.

He began with: "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 p**f out,”

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

“Dart players tough guys footballers wimps,” he added.

He then added: “U got to sought him out when u get older or don’t look in the mirror glad I am a dart player proper men.”

(Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow)

The former champion faced a backlash on social media, labelled by some users as "out of touch” and an “f***ing disgrace”.

Survivors Manchester , a group supporting boys and men affected by sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation condemned Bristow's comments, and said they had forwarded them to the police.

"Appalled at @ ericbristow tweets, we have asked @ StaffsPolice to look into it as homophobic hate crime - clearly needs educating on humanity," they posted.

A number of former football stars have spoken out about their ordeals as young players in the past week, launching a series of investigations.

(Image: Rex Features)

The scandal has embroiled some top flight clubs and seen more than 20 former players come forward to claim they had been abused.

One called Bristow a clown while another said: “@ericbristow You’re off your nut.” One even called for him to be stripped of his MBE.

Despite heavy criticism, Bristow stands by his comments made on Monday night on the account which states all “thoughts, predictions, comments & opinions are 100% Eric’s.”

"Trouble is nowadays u cant tell the truth what do u feel out there tweet me,” he wrote.

"Everybody that works on tv is frightened to say the truth because they are frightened to lose their job, life shouldnt be like that.

(Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow) (Image: Twitter/@ericbristow)

"What i was saying was when the football lads got older and fitter they should have went back and sorted him out.

"U people replying don't twist what i sent out, i tell the truth if u dont like it tough."

Last night former England rugby player Brian Moore, 54, who was himself sexually abused as a child by a teacher, criticised Bristow.

He said: “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.”