"I might lose to someone and we'd go and have a drink afterwards"— Former world champion says modern darts lacks characters
PDCSunday, 27 September 2026 at 08:00
Keith Deller believes the surge in prize money has reshaped darts. According to the former world champion, there is now less room for big personalities, partly because players risk hefty fines for misconduct. Mobile phones and social media have also had a clear impact, says the 66-year-old Englishman.
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Deller spoke at Oche in detail about the differences between his era and the current generation. He feels today’s players must think far more carefully about how they behave.
"The problem is now if they do anything wrong, they're going to get fined and they don't want to be doing that; it's not cheap these days," Deller said.
The financial stakes have grown enormously in recent years. Annual prize money within the PDC has now climbed beyond £25 million. “There is so much money in the game. I mean they are picked up, driven into the arena. Cars waiting for them when they lose,” Deller added.
Keith Deller is the 1983 world champion
“We’d go and have a drink afterwards”
According to Deller, increased professionalism has also changed how players interact. In his day, opponents often met up after a match.
“In a way they're looked after so much now that they don't - I mean I might lose to someone and we'd go and have a drink afterwards. They wouldn't do that now.”
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The rise of smartphones and social media has also, in the former world champion’s view, altered the landscape. Players are filmed and followed almost everywhere.
"It's different. There's so much money in the game now and you've got the mobile phones around now so you can't even go and have a drink and talk to anybody without a phone in your face."
Deller critical of commentators
Deller sees big changes beyond the oche as well. He is not always impressed with modern TV commentary and cites three legendary voices as the benchmark for how it used to be done.
"I look at the commentators for instance. I mean Dave Lanning to me along with Sid Waddell and John Gwynne are the best we've ever had. They used to commentate on darts. They would commentate on the matches.
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Deller believes the focus now too often drifts away from the action. "I find now a lot of it's changed. You'll find the commentators now, they waffle on about anything and sometimes they forget there's a game going on."
The financial shift Deller describes came into sharp focus again earlier this year. Luke Littler became the first player to earn £1 million by winning the World Darts Championship. The Nuke beat Gian van Veen 7-1 in the final, writing darts history both on the oche and in the bank.
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- Great article - but not written by this site. It's taken wholesale from last Sunday's Observer with this interview published online on Saturday.Scoobedybop22-09-2026
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- You know,I said this,in a sentence,not 5 paragraphs!!rick6721-09-2026
- Oh dear,he lost. Well any competitive sport runs the risk of defeat. He is, currently,his own worst enemy. Wind the crowd up,and you get it back bigger. Put your dummy in kidrick6721-09-2026
- Does an exhibition count in the clean sweep though?BandB21-09-2026
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