Wade looks back on much-discussed incident at World Darts Championship: “Everyone jumped on the bandwagon and I was called a racist, a bully, a thug”

James Wade has had a long and storied career in the world of Darts, with many highs and lows. One such low came in December 2018 against Seigo Asada at the PDC World Darts Championship.

Speaking on the William Hill podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan, Wade went into detail about the incident and how people's reaction to what happened affected him. “On that night I jumped around, shouted unintentionally in his face, and it was just unfortunate that he was standing where he was; I was unlucky there," he explains. 

"I was backed up by Laura Woods because she said to hang on and see what I had to say, and I just came out with something that didn’t even make sense and was out of character for me, but people had been asked by trained professionals to not put a camera in front of my face right after the game because I needed time to calm down, and it wasn’t helpful for me when they put a camera straight in my face."

“I was being judged as a guy that had just gone up there and been nasty, but that’s not what it was, I wasn’t very well and you do go through stages where you aren’t quite right, and no one took that into account," continues Wade. "I wasn’t helped, I wasn’t backed, and I was just made to stand in front of a board and be told I was this and that and made to face the full consequence, even though everyone had been given professional opinions from trained people that it was what’s called a manic phase, it was unfair.”

Wade's battles with his mental health have been well-documented over the years. The comments made by commentator and former pro, Wayne Mardle though, cut deep for Wade.

Mardle had claimed that 'the Machine' was using his mental health as an excuse, something Wade admits he took offence to. “What was said by Wayne [Mardle] offended me massively," Wade recalls.  "And it upset me for him to question whether it was me using my problems as an excuse.”