Joe Cullen produced one of the explosive moments of the World Championship and it had nothing to do with what he did on the oche
Joe Cullen delivered one of the most dramatic moments at last year’s World Darts Championship, abruptly leaving a press conference following a tense Sky Sports interview. After defeating Wessel Nijman 3-0 in the second round, Cullen responded to Sky Sports Darts reporter Abigail Davies with curt one-word answers during an uncomfortable on-stage interview.
He then stormed out of his press conference just moments after taking his seat, accusing the gathered reporters of disrespecting him. Cullen, one of the 32 seeds, was annoyed after being labelled the underdog for the match against the rising Dutch star.
He said: “I don’t know Wessel personally but I think the surrounding of the media led to his demise a little bit.
“I’ve struggled this year on the oche and off the oche so to find a performance like that… To be honest, I’ve got you guys to thank because I don’t think I would have played like that if I had read some of the nonsense that I read beforehand.
“The media attention that Wessel has got – again, this is not a reflection on him – he seems like a fantastic kid. The way I’ve been treated with the media and things like that….
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“I know you guys have no control of the bookies, but I’ve been shown no respect so I won’t share any respect to any of you guys tonight. I’m going to go home. Cheers.”
Davies got even less out of Cullen during their on-stage chat, but she holds no grudges against the Yorkshire thrower.
Earlier this year, she said: “As [Sky Sports commentator] Stuart Pyke was throwing to me, he did whisper in my ear that he wasn’t going to give me anything in that interview.
“But, look, I respect Joe, I get on with Joe. I have no bad feelings about that at all. He wanted to put his point across.
“Do I think it would have been better for him to take the opportunity to say something like, ‘Look, you all doubted me, nobody thought I could do this, now I’ve proved you all wrong’? Yes, I do.
“As journalists, we all know one of the hardest things to deal with is someone giving you one-word answers because you’ve got very little time to scrape around in your head [for questions]. But I found it a little bit funny, to be honest.”
Cullen, who once again is the 32nd and final seed for the tournament, will kick off his 2025/26 campaign against Bradley Brooks on Sunday afternoon.
Watch the World Darts Championship on Sky Sports
The PDC World Darts Championship gets underway on December 11 and fans can watch every match exclusively live with Sky’s Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle.
