PDC referee George Noble: "Unbelievable the amount of last leg deciders I do, I just don't get it"

PDC Referee, George Noble has been involved in darts since the early 90's going from the BDO to the PDC in 2007 but like players had to adapt to the new normal of Coronavirus and no crowds.

Welcoming them back this past week, he discussed their return as well as the victor Jonny Clayton.

"It's much better with a crowd back, I think the players enjoy it more, I think it leads to better performances. Just the whole atmosphere, it comes across better on television, it's great for the fans who have been loyal to have the opportunity to come back into the venues now. I thought Jonny Clayton was absolutely superb in lifting the Premier League, he's a serious player now," he said to Weekly Dartscast.

One of the games he refereed saw Jose de Sousa once again have a criminal miscount busting 37 with 47 against Nathan Aspinall and he discussed 'The Special One' also.

"It's just pretty normal for Jose, you can see it coming. I think he hit 17 when he wanted 64, he never really asked. Bless him, he doesn't have a clue what's left anyway. It wouldn't be Jose without that. Outside Jonny Clayton, Jose de Sousa is right up there, his scoring ability is fantastic."

Noble's last in a long line of Lakeside final refereeing appearances was the 2007 epic between Martin Adams and Phill Nixon and he spoke about how he thought it'd be easy going on at 6-0 up, little did he know what was to come.

"That was my last hoorah refereeing BDO tournaments. I thought I'd played it perfect, when you first start you want to do finals but when it gets on a bit, you don't crave the finals as much. I was thinking I'm going to get three legs here, this is absolute Christmas. I come off stage and I couldn't repeat what was on my phone."

One of the main traits of 'The Puppy' is his tendency to go to last legs also known now as 'The Noble' and he spoke about the initial story behind it all stemming from the European Tour.

"I do a lot of the Euro Tours with Russ (Bray). Lose the toss and you either go first or second. If you go first, you wind up doing the final, if you go second you don't so you end up doing an extra game. We'd done a Euro Tour where he'd done the final and I'd wind up doing 50 legs more than him which sounds impossible. It's a standing joke."

"Unbelievable the amount of last leg deciders I do, I just don't get it."

His role extends to not only the PDC but also with MODUS and the Online Live League and he discussed that as well as the World Seniors.

"I don't have too much to do with the World Seniors, I think it's definitely grown legs. There's plans to put it on television. All the big names are in it, all other sports have senior tours, tennis, golf and there's probably room for it. There's a place for it in the game as long as it's done correctly."

"I'm more involved in the Online Live League. It's a great concept for the players who are outside the 128. We want to move the first prize fund from £5,000 to £10,000."

This includes the new link-up with Modern Amateur Darts who will produce talent to come through and he spoke on the plans for the Live League.

"We need fresh players to come through, the standard is just improving all the time. We're hoping MAD will unearth some unknown talent for us. We want to work alongside the PDC in relation to Challenge Tour events, we don't have any plans to run over Challenge Tour weekends. I think this is a great starting point where they can ply their trade and get practice in to go onto the Challenge Tour."

"A stepping stone to the Challenge Tour and then onto the PDC Tour is where we see ourselves really."