Raymond van Barneveld reverses his early retirement decision and will play on in 2019
Raymond van Barneveld salutes the Rotterdam crowd after his final match (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDc)
Raymond van Barneveld salutes the Rotterdam crowd after his final match (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDc)

Raymond van Barneveld reverses his early retirement decision and will play on in 2019

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Fri March 29, 2019 · 6y ago

Raymond van Barneveld announced his retirement with immediate effect on Thursday night - but has reversed the decision less than 24 hours later.

The Dutch legend's final Premier League Darts campaign ended in disappointment this week as he suffered a relegation-sealing 7-1 defeat to Daryl Gurney on Wednesday before failing to bow out on a high 24 hours later against Michael van Gerwen on Judgement Night, again losing 7-1.

It brought to an end his 210-game, 14-season run in this tournament, but his intention had always been to bow out completely at the 2019/2020 World Championship.

, he said: "For months my life has been a rollercoaster of emotions. In my private life there have been so many troubles, and as a dart player you try not to but you take all that with you on stage.

"I was humbled that I was given the chance to play in the Premier League this year and really wanted to show everybody the true Barney, but it was only glimpses that I could give.

"My personal problems got the better of me and I was always catching up to my opponents on stage. Yesterday all those emotions came together and I couldn't handle that at that moment.

"I felt ashamed on stage in front of my family, my friends and the Barney Army. I felt I let everyone down and that pain was very hard to deal with.

"In the heat of the moment I only wanted to never feel that again, but I realise that I should not speak out like that when I feel such raw emotion. I want to end my career at Alexandra Palace during one final World Championship.

"I hope people understand the difficult times my family and I have been going through and I need to get my head together.

"I will take a couple of days off for this and then try to compete as well as I can in the floor tournaments out of the spotlight in the coming weeks."

  • WEEKLY GUEST PLAYERS IN BOLD

    • Judgement Night - Thursday March 28
    Rotterdam Ahoy
    TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

    • Daryl Gurney 7-3 Mensur Suljovic
    • Peter Wright 5-7 Gerwyn Price
    • Rob Cross 7-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan
    • Raymond van Barneveld 1-7 Michael van Gerwen
    • James Wade 7-4 Michael Smith

    CLICK HERE FOR FULL SEASON FIXTURES & RESULTS

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