Banned for being too good? PDC Tour Card holder reportedly thrown out of local darts league after 20 years

PDC Tour Card holder Robert Owen has reportedly been banned from competing in the local darts league he has played in for more than 20 years, with one long-standing member claiming the reason is simple: he is now considered too good.

The 41-year-old Welshman, a former UK Open semi-finalist who reached the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in 2025, is said to have been prevented from continuing in the Ogmore Valley Dart League.

Owen comes from the area and has maintained close ties to his local darts scene throughout a professional career stretching back more than a decade.

The claim was made by John Collins, who says he has played in the league for more than 40 years and reacted furiously to the reported decision.

"Local professional darts player Robert Owen has been banned from playing in his local dart league. A league he has graced for more than 20 years," Collins wrote in a Facebook post. "WHY I hear you ask. No. Not for a positive drug test, no not for being abusive to an official, no he didn't lose control and strike an opponent. Simply for being too good."

Collins argued that Owen's achievements in professional darts should make him a figure for the league to celebrate rather than exclude. "I am totally gobsmacked that this decision has been made. In my mind Rob should be the flag bearer of the league rather than outlaw," he continued. "I have played in this league for more than 40 years and this is the worst decision they have ever made. Ogmore Valley Dart League should hold its head in shame. I'm done."

The exact basis of Owen's reported exclusion has not yet been made public. Collins describes him as having been "banned", but it is not yet clear whether the decision relates specifically to Owen or to a broader rule covering PDC Tour Card holders or professional players.

No public explanation from the Ogmore Valley Dart League confirming the reason behind the decision has yet been located.

Owen first earned a PDC Tour Card in 2014 and has repeatedly fought his way back onto the professional circuit during the years since. He remains a Tour Card holder in 2026 and continues to compete regularly on the Players Championship circuit and in European Tour qualifiers.

His biggest major run came at the 2018 UK Open, where he reached the semi-finals, while his most memorable spell at Alexandra Palace came at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. After entering the tournament as a late replacement, Owen defeated Niels Zonneveld, Gabriel Clemens and Ricky Evans to reach the last 16 before losing a deciding-set contest to Callan Rydz.

That run helped him retain his place on the professional tour and he followed it a few months later with one of the biggest wins of his career, beating three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen 10-8 at the 2025 UK Open before losing to James Wade in the following round.

Owen's professional career has often been spent around the fringes of the world's top 64, making the reported situation in the Ogmore Valley all the more striking. While he continues to fight for his place on the PDC circuit, Collins says the league Owen has played in for more than two decades has now decided his standard is too high for him to continue there.

Until the Ogmore Valley Dart League gives its own explanation, Collins' account remains the only public version of why Owen has reportedly been excluded.