Darts stars threaten to pull out of tournaments as trio complain | Other | Sport
Former world champion Luke Humphries claimed the title in the Belgian village of Wieze on Sunday, but there was a lot of chatter away from the oche. Finalist Clayton was one of a handful of competitors who suffered from issues while travelling. On social media, the Welshman posted: “Two-hour wait in Brussels Airport, this could be the last European Tour of the year!” He wasn’t the only one, as Aspinall stated: “Another week, another Euro Tour, another f*** off wait to get through passport [control].”
Fellow pro Chris Dobey was also in Belgium and complained about his airport struggles, labelling the travel a “nightmare.” After his second-round win over Dave Chisnall, Dobey was asked about these problems and claimed that some players could start to bypass tournaments should they continue.
“It is frustrating because you want to come here and be prepared well, but it’s just how things go,” said Dobey. “I think we shouldn’t have left the EU, I think that’s the big problem. It’s the same for most of the British lads.
“It’s not nice because we had to wait over two and a half hours just for the passport. It was the same in Poland a few weeks back, so hopefully something can change, and we can enjoy these European Tours again. It’s off-putting because on your day off, you want to go out and see the place, but we didn’t get to do any of that. It was just food and straight to bed when I got in.
“I think for some it could [cause people to pull out]. But it’s still early doors so you want to play as many as possible. Easter weekend in Munich is probably going to be the same, so I don’t know. It’s tempting to think about skipping it, but I want to play in them all.
“You love playing on the European Tour. That’s where the big money is on the rankings, so you don’t want to miss them. Hopefully we can get it sorted and start enjoying it again.”
Prior to the third European Tour event in Belgium, Wessel Nijman claimed the European Darts Trophy in Germany after Luke Littler won the Poland Darts Trophy.
As Dobey alluded to, the next event will be the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich followed by the European Grand Prix in Sindelfingen, Germany, and the Austrian Darts Open.
