CULLEN HITS OUT AT PDC FOR PREMIER LEAGUE SNUB

JOE CULLEN has hit out at the PDC after receiving no explanation for being snubbed from the Premier League. 

‘The Rockstar’ opened his World Grand Prix campaign with a superb 2-0 win over James Wade in Leicester.  

Former Masters champ Cullen hasn’t featured in the Premier League since 2022 when he missed a match dart to beat Michael van Gerwen in the final and lift the trophy. 

Cullen revealed how the omission hit him harder than anyone realised. 

He said: “I think, at the time, it didn’t feel like a big deal the year after the Premier League, but looking back now, I’m 36, it had a massive effect on me.

“Not just missing out, but not getting any acknowledgement for what I achieved the year before. 

“There are plenty of players who’d take their right arm off to come within a wire of winning the Premier League. 

“To not get an explanation from anyone at the PDC was a massive thing for me. I think I dwelled on it a bit too long, then got past it, then dwelled on it again. 

“I don’t think I gave that moment the credit it deserved at the time.” 

World No. 27 Cullen began this season with a bang, reaching the Players Championship One final before winning Event Five to end a three-year title drought. 

But since then, the Bradford throwers campaign has gone off the boil, failing to reach the quarter-finals in any of the five majors he’s entered. 

Cullen did remind everyone of his class when securing victory at the Players Championship 27 in Hildesheim. 

The 36-year-old admits the inconsistency at the oche has been eating away at him. 

He added: “I wouldn’t say I’m finding form. That’s the major thing for me this year – I’ve struggled to find that consistency. 

“But if you put it on the other hand and say to me, you’ll reach the last 16 of every ProTour and Euro Tour event, I’d rather take winning a couple of tournaments and not being too great in between. 

“I think that’s what I’ve done. I find something at the right time. 

“I was in jeopardy of not even qualifying for this tournament. I just found something in Hildesheim and I won the tournament. 

“I’m frustrated, so I can’t imagine what the fans and media are like. I’m clearly capable, but I don’t know – there’s something missing somewhere. I’m here to find it.” 

Cullen now turns his attention to a tasty last-16 clash with Gary Anderson at the Mattioli Arena on Wednesday.

Image by Taylor Lanning.