Premier League darts: My tongue-in-cheek prediction came through on epic night in Brighton
Last night, I was lucky enough to go to the Premier League darts event at the Brighton Centre, and I was not disappointed.
After interviewing home-favourite Rob Cross the day before previewing night five of the Premier League, I was very excited to be seeing him and seven of the best players in the world play in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 people.
When going into the press area, I was shocked to walk past three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen, as he was standing in the hallway having a discussion with someone.
When the darts started, we went down to soak up the atmosphere of thousands of fans cheering and singing along to the classic darts songs, raring to go for a great night of darts action.
The first game was not a disappointment, with Gerwyn Price just losing out to van Gerwen, with the Green Machine’s walkout a very special one.
I watched that game at the back of the arena, but manged to find my way down to the right-hand side of the stage, with a first look of Luke Littler.
‘The Nuke’ just found a way past Chris Dobey before former Hastings man Rob Cross faced off against world number one Luke Humphries.
Before the darts started, I was joking with the journalists around that we could see a nine-darter, but that was very tongue-in-cheek – with us not expecting that.
That is why we got very excited when Humphries hit six treble twenties in a row, before he nailed a 141 checkout to clinch the nine.
I have been to a lot of sporting events, but that is the first time I have seen a crowd all in unison jump around in joy and excitement, in shock and awe of what they just witnessed. Even I was jumping up and down as well.
After the game, I was lucky enough to watch two of the best walkouts in the sport, with Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting providing a show to the crowd with their chosen walkout songs.
Shortly after, I rushed back up to listen to Humphries talk about his nine-darter, despite losing to Cross. With the quarter-finals over and the semi-finals next, we were very excited to get back down to the action, but we did not expect what would happen in the second game.
In the first game, we saw a repeat of the most recent World Championship final, with Littler stepping up a gear and proving to a great of the game that this is his stomping ground now, and it was a pleasure to see a current/future star of the sport do his stuff as such a big stage.
The second game produced the second nine darter of the night, with Cross going a different route on the 141 to Humphries, as he finished on his beloved double 18 after pausing and composing between each dart, teasing the crowd and making them hold their breath for a bit longer.
When that last dart went in, the place somehow went up a notch. My excitement levels also went through the roof, as I felt my voice starting to struggle with beer going airborne around me and just fortunately just missing us, along with a colourful sombrero hat having fell from the balcony above where I was standing.
The fact that it was the guy I was having a chat to the day before, and that it was a home hero for the Brighton crowd made it the more special for me.
Unfortunately, Cross did go on to lose but there were little complaints from my end with there being another chance to witness ‘The Asp’ Walk onto Mr Brightside.
Littler capped the night off with another fine performance, winning the night in convincing fashion, even with the distractions from the crowd before the game (this I did not notice until after).
In the press conference, I spent most of it figuring out how this guy is winning all these majors, beating the best with ease and becoming the most dominant force in darts despite being only 18-years-old. I was also impressed with how he spoke, with his maturity coming through with how he answered and took the questions in good humour and sense.
That capped off the night at the darts for me, an event that I will never forget. I have been a darts fan for a good few years now, and have watched hours of it on tv, but being there in the flesh with the opportunity and responsibility of reporting and covering it was an exciting proposal, and to have seen the best players in the world was a delight and a dream come true.
The fans were loud and passionate, taking the experience to a whole new level with the noise and support they produced last night.
Adding to that, to see not one but two nine-darters was phenomenal, and a bit scary as I do not think it can get much better than that – my live sporting experiences in my life could have already peaked exactly when Cross nailed that double 18.