The air in Leicester’s Mattioli Arena crackled with tension on Monday evening, October 6, 2025, as the BOYLE Sports World Grand Prix kicked off its annual double-in, double-out spectacle. This iconic PDC tournament, where every leg demands surgical precision from the very first throw, draws the sport’s elite to a cauldron of chalk dust and roaring crowds. Over the next week, 32 of darts’ finest—comprising the top 16 from the PDC Order of Merit and 16 more via recent ProTour performances—will battle for glory, with defending champion Mike De Decker gunning to retain his crown after a gritty 6-4 final victory over Luke Humphries last year. Prize money tempts with £120,000 for the winner, but amid the high-stakes throws, an undercurrent of raw emotion bubbled over, as one World Grand Prix star unleashed a blistering critique of the PDC’s opaque decision-making.
Joe Cullen, the burly Yorkshireman ranked ninth in the world, stepped into the spotlight not just for his clinical 2-0 demolition of fifth-ranked James Wade in the opening round. Averaging a shade under 95 but sealing legs with ruthless efficiency—including a 121 checkout that silenced the skeptics—Cullen’s post-match presser turned into a forum for frustration. At 38, with a career etched in near-misses and hard-fought triumphs, Cullen has long been darts’ ultimate bridesmaid: a Players Championship Finals winner in 2021, a UK Open semi-finalist, and a man who’s traded blows with the likes of Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price. Yet, it’s his glaring omission from the 2025 Premier League lineup that has fans and pundits alike scratching their heads—and Cullen fuming.
The Premier League Darts, PDC’s glitzy roadshow that tours 17 UK and European cities from February to May, is the sport’s crown jewel for exposure and earnings. It guarantees its eight participants—Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Nathan Aspinall, Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey, and Rob Cross—weekly showdowns under the brightest lights, often netting six-figure sums before bonuses. The top four qualify automatically via the Order of Merit, leaving four wildcards in the hands of PDC chairman Barry Hearn and his selection committee. For Cullen, who last graced the Premier League in 2022, the snub stings like a wayward dart embedding in the board’s edge. That year, he came agonizingly close to the title, missing a match dart against van Gerwen in a decider that still haunts his highlight reels. “There are plenty of players who’d take their right arm off to come within a wire of winning the Premier League,” Cullen declared, his voice steady but edged with disbelief, evoking the electric atmosphere of that near-miss.
What galls him most isn’t the exclusion itself—darts is a meritocracy of margins, after all—but the PDC’s stonewalling silence. In an era where transparency is currency, Cullen’s plea cuts deep: “To not get an explanation from anyone at the PDC was a massive thing for me.” It’s a sentiment echoing through the locker rooms, where whispers of favoritism and metrics shrouded in mystery have long festered. Hearn, the octogenarian architect of darts’ commercial boom, has built an empire from pub stakes to sold-out arenas, but critics argue his wildcard whims prioritize marketability over milestones. Cullen’s case is Exhibit A: despite consistent top-10 finishes, including a World Matchplay quarter-final run this summer and earnings north of £200,000 in 2024-25 ProTour events, he was overlooked for Dobey (a recent World Grand Prix finalist) and Cross (a 2018 world champion riding a resurgence). “It’s not about entitlement,” Cullen added, his broad frame leaning into the microphone as cameras flashed. “But in a sport where every point counts, why can’t we know the full story?”
This outburst arrives at a pivotal moment for darts, a sport exploding in popularity thanks to teenage sensation Littler, whose 2024-25 World Championship triumph at 17 has minted him a global icon. Littler’s Premier League debut last year drew record viewership, blending boyish charm with nine-dart perfection. Yet, beneath the glamour, fault lines are showing. Just days earlier, Scottish veteran Gary Anderson lambasted the PDC over skyrocketing ProTour entry fees—”I was £1,600 down before I’d even thrown a dart”—highlighting how rising costs are squeezing mid-tier pros. And across the Channel, De Decker’s own Premier League exclusion earlier this year sparked similar ire; the Belgian, fresh off his Grand Prix glory, branded the decision “a bit scandalous,” questioning the fairness of an explanation that felt more like a pat on the back than accountability.
Cullen’s words, delivered amid the Grand Prix’s first-night buzz, have amplified these gripes into a chorus. Fellow pros nodded in solidarity during his on-stage interview, while social media erupted with #JusticeForCullen hashtags. Wade, gracious in defeat, quipped about his own Premier League exile, but Cullen’s candor has elevated the debate. Is the PDC’s wildcard process a savvy blend of rankings and narrative, as Hearn insists, or a black box favoring flash over fidelity? Porter, Hearn’s right-hand man, has defended the choices by praising emerging talents like Dobey, whose nine-dart heroics in Leicester last year turned heads. But Cullen’s retort is unyielding: without clarity, trust erodes, and the sport’s hard-earned unity frays.
As the World Grand Prix unfolds— with Humphries facing Gian van Veen in a mouthwatering opener, and Littler dodging early pitfalls against Ryan Searle—these off-board battles add layers to the drama. Cullen, now laser-focused on a deep run (he’s drawn Damon Heta next), embodies the grit that defines darts: unyielding, unfiltered, and unafraid. His call for “a public explanation” isn’t just personal; it’s a rallying cry for a sport at its zenith, urging the PDC to match its prize pots with procedural openness. In a game where a single wire can rewrite legacies, transparency might just be the steadiest hand on the oche. Whether Hearn’s regime responds remains to be seen, but one thing’s certain: Cullen’s darts are flying truer than ever, and his voice has hit its mark.
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