During the Masters, a moment occurred on Saturday between Rob Cross and Kirk Bevins. The referee was not pleased with an action from Voltage, as seen in the footage below.
Rob Cross was warned for this incident and got away with it, with all his thrown darts still counting. However, this was a different story later when Luke Humphries had a similar moment, and this time it was penalized.
His third dart was disallowed, and he had the misfortune of having a different caller on the stage who was much stricter at that moment. Charlie Corstorphine held the microphone this time and did not issue any warnings.
The thing that stood out for me from that game wasn’t the crowd or the bunting win, it was the great call from the referee to disallow a dart. Not something you see often👏 pic.twitter.com/Uc7ljreBDf
— DartsAnonymous (@anonymous_darts) February 3, 2024
It is not the first time such a moment has occurred on stage with professional players. Several players frequently exhibit similar actions that are not always appreciated by the referees.
Often, a nonchalant attitude is at the root of these incidents, but sometimes there is no intention in the play, and it happens accidentally. We saw this last weekend in ‘s-Hertogenbosch with Gerwyn Price when he threw a remarkable illegal dart in his match against Luke Littler.
The Iceman experiences this more frequently, as during the Grand Slam of Darts, he once had a dart that couldn’t be counted because it was not thrown in accordance with the rules. This moment occurred in the quarterfinal against Jonny Clayton, although it must be admitted that this was also based on a misunderstanding.
This cannot be said for some incidents during the World Matchplay. Some players made repeated mistakes, including throwing darts underhand. The referees could not allow this and labeled them as ‘illegal.’