James Wade has claimed the World Darts Championship “ruins Christmas” for those involved, with the four-time semi-finalist admitting “I don’t want to be playing”
James Wade has hit out at the timing of the PDC Paddy Power World Darts Championship, branding it a “s*** time” and claiming it “ruins Christmas” for players.
The four-time semi-finalist crashed out at the first hurdle earlier this month as he was lost 3-0 to Jermaine Wattimena. Wade, the 16th seed, won the first leg of the round two contest at Alexandra Palace, but lost the next eight in succession as Wattimena turned on the style.
But he has expressed his dismay at usually having to put family festivities on hold, especially now that he has young children who are excited about the holiday season. Despite matches not being scheduled for Christmas Day itself, the calendar of the tournament at Alexandra Palace means players often have to travel during the festive period, disrupting their celebrations.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Wade said: “I enjoy it – ish. It’s just Christmas though, isn’t it? Yeah. I don’t want to be playing darts at Christmas. I want to be at home. Yeah, it kind of ruins Christmas. You’re robbed of Christmas.
“I’ve got young children now so I actually do like Christmas. I genuinely do like it. I love seeing their little faces and their little eyes light up.
“But yeah, it’s a kind of a s*** time to have it, isn’t it? But it’s obvious why we have it because Christmas is a great time to capture an audience.”
He added: “It’s a great business model and it’s a great idea, and it works really well, but it’s not so great for people that have to work around it.”
Unfortunately for Wade and his fellow professionals who lament the schedule, it looks set to stay, reports the Express. However, changes could be on the horizon for the much-loved event, with growing concerns that the Championship may relocate from Alexandra Palace permanently.
For 17 years, the competition has been a fixture at the North London venue, yet darts bigwig and Matchroom boss Barry Hearn is contemplating a move to accommodate the soaring demand for tickets. In a staggering display of the sport’s escalating appeal, it emerged that this year’s World Championship tickets were snapped up within minutes.
Hearn shared with talkSPORT: “For the world championship this year, 90,000 tickets sold out in 15 minutes. I asked my people in head office: ‘Tell me, how many could I have sold?’ They said, somewhere over 300,000. Now that puts a different emphasis on it.”
Reflecting on historical shifts, such as when they exited Circus Tavern, Hearn considered the current status of Ally Pally. He said: “Same as when we moved from the Circus Tavern all those years ago, now I’m looking at Alexandra Palace.“And I’m saying, well, it only holds 3,500. I have to grow all the time. If you ever get complacent you go backwards. So, next year we will go from 96 to 128 players. We will add four more days, which is eight sessions, which is another 25,000 tickets.”
“Sooner or later, I should be looking and saying: ‘Do you know, like with snooker, I need a bigger venue’.”