Darts bosses clamp down ahead of Premier League.
The PDC have clamped down on darts players wearing headphones, ahead of the opening night of the Cazoo Premier League on Thursday.
The move comes after Gerwyn Price donned a pair of ear defenders to drown out the noise of a raucous Alexandra Palace crowd, during his World Darts Championship quarter-final defeat to Gabriel Clemens on New Year’s Day.
Use of ear defenders and headphones by darts players.
Price is regularly on the receiving end of abuse from crowds, even if he has been known to give some back from time to time, and his decision to wear the accessory prompted much amusement and debate.
The PDC have since amended their rules to state that “players are not permitted to wear earphones, headphones or headphone-type ear defenders during the throw at the bull prior to the match or during matchplay.
Ear plugs, which can be placed inside the ear, are permitted to be used, although Price isn’t a fan, as he told Sky Sports.
Gerywn Price.
“I’m not a fan of in-ear plugs that Mervyn King wears,” said the Welshman. “I’ve just got to grin and bear with whatever comes my way like I have the last couple of years, and just play darts.
“I’m here to play darts. I’m here to do the best I can, whatever is thrown at me. That’s all I can do, so looking forward to playing in Belfast and Cardiff next week. Hopefully I can reward the crowd again with some good darts and hopefully one or two nine-darters as well.”
Gerwyn Price is BLOCKING out the crowd noise…👀🎧 pic.twitter.com/Ns9pgCxkNt
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) January 1, 2023
Premier League Darts format.
Price is one of eight players vying for success in the 2023 Cazoo Premier League, which gets underway in Belfast on Thursday night.
He is joined by fellow Order of Merit top four incumbents Michael Smith, Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen, as well as Jonny Clayton, Nathan Aspinall, Dmitri van den Bergh, and Masters champion Chris Dobey.
The format sees the eight participants divided into four quarter-finals each Thursday, with the winners progressing to a semi-final, and then a final, all in the same night.
Players will receive two points per semi-final finish, three points per runner-up finish, and five points per final win, before doing it all again the following week, starting off against a different quarter-final opponent each time.
The Class of 2023… 🎓
Here's the line-up for the 2023 @CazooUK Premier League who will battle it out across 17 weeks, starting this Thursday in Belfast!
Be there 👉 https://t.co/pLlSXGOgtJ pic.twitter.com/ezEYvx6zSi
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 30, 2023
Venues.
This takes place across 16 venues in Ireland, the UK and Europe before the play-offs on May 25th, when the top four players in the league table will contest the two knockout semi-finals, with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd.
Each match will be played in a best-of-11-leg format, with every night broadcast live on Sky Sports, including the Dublin date at the 3 Arena on February 23rd.
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