'Cowardly and big headed' A dart storm brews over savage claims aimed at Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney

South African star Devon Petersen rifles back at World Cup winners after comments of disrespect at World Cup

Devon Petersen has fired back at Josh Rock and colleague Daryl Gurney and hammered out accusations of cowardice and big headedness.

The South African star has spoken out strongly in the wake of a feisty World Cup of Darts clash against eventual-winners Northern Ireland last month.

Rock called Petersen “disrespectful” for pouring water over his partner’s darts case and also had a pop at his rival’s chatting on stage. Gurney piped in saying Petersen would be a “millionaire” if he was paid for speaking.

However, the Petersen has rifled back with his response and told Online Darts: “I feel as though, because I’m off the tour, they felt as though they could say what they wanted to because there was not going to be any kind of backlash or talkback or whatever. I think the crazy part is, we celebrated them on the stage, when they came off the stage.

“We saw them at the hotel. We had jokes with them, spoke about the event, spoke about the game, said, listen, the possibilities of you winning is real. So understand that the next steps, make it count. Make it your World Cup, is what we said. Josh and Daryl was celebratory towards us, we miss you on tour and all of that stuff. You get back home to the hotel, you see these headlines.

“And I was almost like, number one, cowardly. I felt like it was a coward move because I was stood right in front of you, could have said it to my face. Number two is, there should be a player etiquette. When you talk nonsense on stage and you’re speaking to a global audience, and it’s the World Cup, so it is the global audience. What Josh Rock was saying about being disrespectful.

“I’ve only been respectful to everybody that I’ve played against and played with and competed against, even Josh Rock. And it feels as though there’s a slight big headedness that came through at that point. And I don’t know if it’s emotion because we’ve seen a lot of players go through that and stress and, obviously, things placed on them and pressure.

“I wanted to win for South Africa. There was no way that I wasn’t going to give it my all, right? And there was comments made by Daryl Gurney saying: He spoke all the time on the stage. It’s a pairs game, there’s four people on the stage. The only way that I’m going to make the player that is partnered with me comfortable, I told him, listen to my voice.

“I didn’t speak to Daryl Gurney or to Josh Rock and say you’re going to play bad or kind of disrupt their game. If you listen to me as well, that’s on you, you got your team. And they were also doing the exact same. “So I don’t know how they went: Oh, we won, but he was so disrespectful. If I was on the stage and they said it, I would have said some stuff.

“In the end, Josh Rock came with the attitude he wanted to win. He came with that almost, I’m going to say arrogance, but not in a bad way. He came with that confidence. Let me call it that, the confidence because he’s been playing well. Daryl said that he told Josh Rock, this is Devon’s game to play. So I think that he built Josh Rock up with this kind of almost aggression and all of that stuff, where it wasn’t my fault.

“And then when they were talking about throwing water on their darts. To understand, to throw water three metres away from where I’m stood? Listen, if I was throwing water that good, I wish it was my darts so that I would have been in the final and not them.

“So, yes, I think that there was a lot that went wrong. I messaged Daryl, I called him a few names, but I congratulated him as well because we have a relationship like that. I felt it was a silly moment for them to do it. If they worded it differently and they said we wanted to win for Northern Ireland, that would have been a lot more tasteful than Devon was disrespectful because there’s no reason for me to be respecting you on a stage if you’re my opponent.

“I respect the game rules, I respect everything else, but we are opponents, I’m there to rip your head off. I didn’t do anything to impede your game. your name or reputation. You did all of that. So it showed a bit of the level or the lack of class from Team Northern Ireland.”

Petersen says saying the right things is important in the modern-darts world as he added: “I think that the one thing that players must be reminded, right, is that you come from nothing and then you elevate it to this level of stardom and celebrity. Not everybody can cope with that. Some people get big heads, some people remain the same. Some people just change attitudes. Just understand that there’s a level of respect that’s needed, understanding what you say goes out to the world and darts is on a platform now where anything said or done, I mean, we’ve seen Michael Van Gerwen playing Padel the other day. It made news. Like he’s playing Padel. That the level that the sport is on now.

“So what you say, what you do in front of the stage, just premeditate it, at least. I know not a lot of players think that far, but do it because the sport is at the point because it can almost hinder your future and you don’t want that to happen.”