James Wade: If I had earned enough money, I possibly would have walked away from darts

Popular darts player and former Masters champion James Wade has told William Hill’s podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan, that he would have possibly walked away from the sport if he had earned enough money to retire.  

Speaking on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, a podcast hosted by the former Crystal Palace owner who speaks to sports stars and celebrities and challenges their opinions whilst scrutinising their careers, Wade discussed the challenges he has faced during his career and whether his time in the sport is coming to an end.

“If you want the real truth, I’m playing darts for the money,” the 2009 Premier League winner said. “If I had earned enough money to have retired from darts, would I still be playing? I possibly would have walked away by now. But I would never know because I am not in that position.

“I think the older I get, the more I struggle with the pressure of the job. I love working on cars, that’s my passion, and it always has been. It’s in a workshop, on my own, and I can work out what is wrong with a car, whereas I can’t work out what is wrong with people.

“I fall in and out of love with the game – perhaps I should lie sometimes when people ask me, but unfortunately, everything that comes out of my mouth, at that time, is how I genuinely feel.”

Political correctness is changing darts

Talking more broadly about darts, the 40-year-old shared that multiple aspects of the sport had changed over the last few years and that political correctness is causing him a level of annoyance, saying: “Everything has changed; the players, the organisations, and the game as a whole – some of the players now have an ‘I should be here’ attitude, a sense of entitlement.

“I just think we were all a bit more humble a few years ago, and perhaps that’s why the game has moved on. It’s hard for someone like myself to change my outlook and the way I perceive the game and the players.

“I think political correctness has come into the game and that does my head in; you have to be polite at all times, even if it’s when you shouldn’t have to be.

“If someone has upset or offended you, you should be able to say you’re not happy with it. If you say these things at the wrong time and in front of the wrong people, you get ridiculed for it.”

Ally Pally not exciting for World Championships 

Wade is described as one of the best throwers in the game not to have landed success at the World Championships and the left-handed player cites the Alexandra Palace venue as one of the reasons behind his winless streak.

“I think one of the big things is it’s a long time for me to keep a good mindset – three weeks is a bloody long time for me to keep straight – and secondly, the venue doesn’t feel that exciting to me,” the four-time runner-up said.

“It doesn’t matter what is at stake, it is the venue; lots of players say the Alexandra Palace holds the best atmosphere, but for me, the best atmosphere in any darts venue is Winter Gardens in Blackpool because it is close, intimate, and you can feel the pressure.

“When you go to Alexandra Palace, it just feels cold to me – you get drivers who perform well at certain tracks and some that they don’t, and you get certain venues where darts players do play well at and some where they don’t.”

Despite this, Wade believes he is owed a victory in the illustrious competition, as he continued: “I always used to think that winning the World Championships didn’t bother me, but it does because I’m talking about it. I deserve one. Unfortunately, I had a mishap in one of the World Championships where I chose friendship over what benefitted me to move on to the final and there’s no question that I would have beaten my opponent to get to the final.

“I was 5-1 up against Adrian Lewis, there was wind on the stage, and I had the choice of whether to come off or just play through, and I would have won the next set easily because his head was gone, but I did the gentlemanly thing and came off.”