History-making referee considered quitting darts ‘a few times’ before breaking new ground

Darts referee Huw Ware has revealed in an interview that he nearly quit darts before making history at Alexandra Palace.

During the 2025 final between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen, the Welshman became the first openly gay referee to take charge of a PDC World Championship final.

Ware, who came out as gay in 2014, has been on the PDC circuit since 2016 and has gradually risen up the ranks to where he is now.

However, he contemplated packing it all in.

Speaking to Madhouse Mag, he said: “Did I consider walking away? Yes, a few times.

“How I overcame it, I think ultimately I looked in the mirror and said, ‘what do you want to do?’

“Do you want to carry on in darts or not? I found I wanted to carry on in darts.

“I think that is one of the reasons why the ten days I had in the press after I did the world final didn’t make those years worth it, because nothing is worth that.

“But it made me happy that I stayed around.”

Ware was also asked about what the worst match of his career was, as he responded: “The worst one I ever had was, I think, between Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall.

“It was during the last 16 and again it was on the European Tour. Something happened, I don’t know what.

“Funnily enough, I said something over the microphone. Then somebody else started and somebody else did.

“All of a sudden it was like the whole crowd were whistling. So I said something to bring it back.

“We only had a couple of legs left anyway. But I think it sort of brought the game back to some degree of order.

“But the game had been ruined already, there’s no question about that.”

AFP

New role

Ware isn’t just on stage to count the scores and let the players know what they need to finish.

But increasingly, he has had to deal with crowd trouble and heckling from fans towards players.

Ware stepped in during the Grand Slam of Darts to stop Price being targeted.

“It is something that has crept into the game that really is not nice,” Ware said. “It is frustrating because I want to see a good game as much as the fans.

“It upsets me when people feel the need to try and whistle, even if you don’t want that person to win. I think that’s so unfair.

“There is no excuse for trying to put someone off maliciously. I hate it, I really do. I speak for all the referees when I say that because it makes our job that much harder too.

“There have been times I am comfortable to turn around, but you can sometimes end up with a worse problem. Sometimes I can get away with saying something over the microphone, but how I tend to deal with it, especially with the rowdy crowds, is I’ll do it off microphone, the odd gesture.

“I may walk round to the front of the stage to speak to security. I will tend not to use the microphone with a rowdy crowd because you can end up with a bigger issue. Watching on TV it may seem black and white – it’s not as simple as that unfortunately. I wish it was, but we all try where we can.

“If we’re not seen to be doing something, that doesn’t mean we condone it. Something you say nothing because they want attention. There is more than one way of dealing with it, but it really is frustrating.”