"Being boring and people not having an opinion about you": Matt Porter on criteria that leads to Premier League Darts snub

There is still plenty of speculation about the Premier League Darts participants. Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and also Rob Cross are certain to participate. For the remaining four spots, however, it is hard to say who will fill them.

PDC boss Matt Porter acknowledges that deciding which players get invitations is a difficult decision. But he indicates that all the speculation surrounding the Premier League is also only right. "We want guys who are ready, ready to play in front of 10,000 fans every week," Porter said.

"Being boring and people not having an opinion about you are the two most terrible things. There's really nothing worse than not being talked about. So I like having this situation where you can't immediately write down six to eight players. Anything that gets talked about is good for darts."

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But what then is the deciding factor by which it will be determined who will and will not be invited? According to Porter, not only world ranking will be decisive. "Quality. Personality. Confidence. Good behavior," he lists as points that can be decisive.

Because of all the surprising tournament winners this year, it is also more difficult to invite them. Names like Dimitri van den Bergh (UK Open win), Mike De Decker (World Grand Prix win) and Ritchie Edhouse (European Championship win) are therefore no more eligible than others.

"I do want to say something about that. Sometimes players win a tournament and then nothing. My message is: don't waste your tournament wins," the PDC boss continued. "You need tremendous qualities to win a tournament and you put so much effort into that. Get on with that. We don't expect you to win everything right away, but we expect you to be in semifinals and quarterfinals regularly. Show that you can withstand the pressure of consistently getting far at a tournament."

Porter also indicated that it is never fun to disappoint certain players. "We always take care of our players. If guys are disappointed, we explain it. Also, look at it as an opportunity. Often you see players who don't have the pressure of the Premier League actually have a good year. Look at Humphries two years ago. He was fifth in the world, but we didn't pick him because we didn't think he was ready. A year later, nobody was as ready as he was. That's the beauty: it's not a World Cup that's only once every four years and for which there won't be another chance because you're too old. Every year you get the chance," he concludes.

Later today around 4:30 p.m., we will finally have the answer to the question of which eight players will participate in this year's Premier League Darts.

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