WARE NAMES GREATEST REFEREE AND BEST FRIEND IN DARTS

HUW WARE has crowned George Noble as the greatest darts caller of all time.

The Welshman made history by becoming the first openly gay referee to take charge of a World Championship final, officiating the 2025 showpiece clash between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen.

But Ware believes Noble, who brought the curtain down on his glittering career earlier this year, is quite simply the best to have ever picked up a microphone. 

Ware was effusive in his praise as he reflected on Noble’s immense impact on the sport and the benchmark he set on the oche for generations of officials to follow.

He told talkSPORT: “In my personal opinion, George Noble. 

“George’s voice, first of all, is absolutely unbelievable for darts calling. 

“I have learned so much from him in terms of how you referee a game of darts. 

“The old saying is a sign of a good caller is when you don’t notice them. 

“I think George epitomises that. The way his voice matched the rhythm of the game. 

“His command of the stage, the way he deals with the crowd and the way he has dealt with issues between players. 

“His authority, I just think he had a wonderful career both in the BDO and PDC. 

“I think he is the greatest caller we have ever had.” 

‘The Puppy’ joined the PDC in 2007 and had the honour of calling the first nine-darter in PDC World Championship history by Raymond van Barneveld against Jelle Klaasen at Ally Pally in 2009.  

A year later, Noble became the first referee to call two nine-dart finishes in the same match when Phil Taylor achieved the historic feat against James Wade in the 2010 Premier League final at the Wembley Arena.    

Ware also revealed that his best friend in darts is Nathan Aspinall and thanked him for helping to launch his new podcast, Tops and Tales. 

He added: “Off the board, Nathan Aspinall. I adore Nathan. I think he is a lovely lad. Obviously a great darts player, but he is a great guy as well. 

“I love him. We have known each other for years, but I think we have grown particularly close this year, actually. 

“My podcast that I started as an audio series — he was one of the very first people to come and record it. 

“We actually did that back at the World Masters last year. I am so grateful to him and everybody that did that for the first series. 

“They had no idea what they were in for and what I was going to ask them. 

“But they all came and did it. Nathan’s episode is actually one of my favourites. 

“Even aside from that, he is a great guy and I love him.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.