"The World Championships is where it belongs" - Luke Humphries open to playing in Saudi but no at expense of Ally Pally

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been making very visible moves to influence the wider sporting market in recent years. Whether or not darts will become the latest sport affected, remains a hot topic on conversation among fans and darters alike.

During his recent time in Gliwice for the Poland Darts Masters, world number one and reigning world darts champion, Luke Humphries was quizzed on the growing speculation that PDC Chairman Barry Hearn may one day move the World Darts Championship from the Alexandra Palace in London, to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, having recently been very open in his plans to do something similar with the Snooker World Championship and leave the Crucible Theater in Sheffield. 

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"Saudi Arabia, yeah it would be great to play there. I'm not an advocate for it to be the World Championships. I think the World Championships is where it belongs and that is Alexandra Palace, where we all want to play," Cool Hand Luke reflected when asked about the Saudi interest in holding the World Darts Championship in future. "That is one of them things where I feel like you have to be careful because the fans are what make us what we are. So if you move away from Alexandra Palace and go somewhere else you could take away that little bit from the fans. Every year when we go to play the World Championships the fanbase seems to grow and you're nothing without the fans so I'd love the World Championships to stay at Alexandra Palace."

As mentioned though, Humphries isn't completely against the idea of holding darts events in Saudi Arabia, just not the World Darts Championship. "I'd love to see an event in Saudi Arabia, maybe a World Series event or just something, because obviously the sport's growing over there as well," he proposes.

Not all the top darters are in agreement it seems though, as previously, Michael van Gerwen revealed he would welcome the move. "It will be great, I think," the three-time world champion told Mail Online. "They wanna make sports big in that country. You saw the big boxing matches there, the football there. For me, I don't mind where I play. I will be competing, and that's how it is."

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The Ally Pally has been home of the World Darts Championship since 2008