Premier League Darts: Raymond van Barneveld Retreated His Retirement

Raymond van Barneveld must “get back on the bike” after his Premier League Darts elimination, says Wayne Mardle.

The Dutch legend lost consecutive matches in Rotterdam last week, to Daryl Gurney and Michael van Gerwen, bringing a premature end to his final season in the tournament.

He then announced his retirement before retracting it, and now plans to quit after the next World Championship in January 2020, but has since changed his mind on Thursday.

Raymond van Barneveld went to Paris last weekend to escape from the commotion his comments had caused on Thursday evening.

The 51-year-old suffered back-to-back 7-1 defeats during the Premier League Darts double-header in Rotterdam. Van Barneveld announced to retire with immediate effect after his defeat to Michael van Gerwen. He made an U-turn one day later and decided to finish the season, as he had previously planned. The five-time world champion used the days off in Paris to think about his future.

“I have thought about a lot of things”, Van Barneveld told Radio 538. ”It’s a difficult situation. Sponsors and thousands of fans are messaging me to continue my career. While friends say to me ‘we can no longer watch this, please choose for yourself’, I think, if I decide to retire immediately, I will have problems with that decision for the rest of my life.”

“My performance at the World Championship was bad. Do you want to finish your career with two 7-1 defeats?”, Van Barneveld asked himself. ”It should not become an agony and that’s going on for a bit now. Of course I’m thinking about a life after darts. No stress anymore and no travels. Only nice things, like exhibitions, clinics and workshops.”

Nevertheless, Van Barneveld believes in a fitting farewell from the professional darts scene. The 2020 PDC World Darts Championship would be his last tournament, if he reaches it. ”Two weeks ago I reach a good final on the Pro Tour and a few days later I booked a good win against Max Hopp in the Premier League. That means my talent is not gone yet, with darts the form could be back very soon.’

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