Callan Rydz faces Josh Rock at the World Darts Championship while grieving a family tragedy but the popular English thrower is determined to give his best
16:00, 29 Dec 2025
Callan Rydz is playing despite a family tragedy(Image: Getty)
Darts ace Callan Rydz takes to the oche on Monday evening at the World Darts Championship.
The English thrower faces Josh Rock in the last 32 but remains heartbroken following a tragic family loss. Following his victory over Daryl Gurney in the earlier round, Rydz became emotional during his Sky Sports interview while discussing his grandfather’s health decline, forcing producers to halt the segment.
He praised Gurney’s support during these difficult times despite being an opponent at the Worlds, before breaking down. “Daryl has been one of the only lads who knows what has been going on back home with my grandad,” said Rydz. “Every other day he has been messaging me, asking if he is OK. I’m getting emotional thinking about it..”
Callan Rydz is in action tonight(Image: Getty)
Once he’d regained his composure backstage, Rydz continued: “I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m struggling. It’s hard when you have stuff going on back home. I came here to try and forget about it. It’s hard.
“I play for my family. I’ve got a job to do and thankfully I got through. I have too much stuff going on back home. I hear the crowd sing my name and I smile. But I wish I was home.
“We are preparing for this to be the last Christmas. I haven’t practised either. I’ve been ill. Had that flu that has gone around. I was in bed for two days.
“I will go home now, see how the big man is. Listen once he goes, I will probably consider packing in. Probably. But I don’t know. I have a decision if I want to keep doing it.
Callan Rydz in action(Image: Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images)
“My grandad likes a laugh about that – and that makes me happy. I play for my family. My grandma, grandad, my mum, they got us into darts. Everything I do is for them.”
Yet just hours on from his victory over Gurney, Rydz revealed his grandfather had died. Posting on Instagram, he wrote: “There’s not enough words to say [deep frustration emoji]. RIP Grandad [red love heart emoji]. I’ll promise to try and make you and grandma proud up there [red love heart emoji]. I love you.”
When he steps onto the stage to battle Rock on Monday night, Rydz will carry enormous emotional weight, but he’ll be striving to triumph and honour his grandfather and grandmother’s memory.
Callan Rydz will be hoping to win in honour of his grandparents(Image: Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)Rydz has faced micky-taking about his hair(Image: Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
The Ally Pally faithful will undoubtedly rally behind Rydz this evening, though they haven’t always been sympathetic to the player previously, frequently mocking his haircut, yet the star accepts it all with good grace.
“They can say what they say, I’ll not cry about it,” he remarked. “I’ve had worse off loads of people back home. My best friends, they rip the mick out of us all the time. The crowd won me that game, I didn’t win it.
“I’m all for the banter – I can give it them just as much as they can give it me, if I meet them individually. I love the banter with them and I think they won me this game, I didn’t win it through darts, so I’ve got to thank them.”
