‘A complete kick in the privates’ – James Wade suggests PDC thinks he’s too ‘awkward’ for Premier League Darts
JAMES WADE claims it was “a complete kick in the privates” and a blow to his self-confidence that he was snubbed from the Premier League – but he admitted: I know I’m awkward.
The Machine – the seventh seed at the recent PDC World Darts Championship – had a decent 2025 season, having lost in the finals of the UK Open and World Matchplay to Luke Littler.
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James Wade says his mental health issues have made the Premier League snub even harder to takeCredit: Getty
Yet his World campaign ended in the second round – he was defeated 3-2 by Ricky Evans – and he has tumbled down to 11th overall.
Wade, 42, is one of the longest-serving players on the Tour and one of the most recognisable figures.
However, the PDC and Sky Sports decided not to include him as one of four wildcards in the 17-week eight-man invitational event, which starts next Thursday in Newcastle.
Instead they plumped for Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock, Stephen Bunting and Gerwyn Price.
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Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen were automatic picks due to their positions in the world’s top four.
The Aldershot ace, who has bipolar disorder and ADHD, reckons his omission is because he is an “awkward” character and his face does not fit – maybe because he speaks his mind.
Down the years Wade – who was caught in a handshake row after his first round win over Madars Razma – has had his rucks on stage and with journalists in press conferences.
And he embarrassingly caused headlines last year when he LICKED Luke Humphries on the neck before their clash at the UK Open.
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Wade, who plays another rogue character in Gary Anderson in the second round of the Winmau World Masters, feels only Littler, Humphries and Van Veen performed better than him over the past 12 months.
He won the Premier League in 2009 and reached two other finals but has not played in it since 2022.
The father-of-two, who admits his youngest son has a similar mental illness, said: “I had a disappointing back-end to last year.
“I didn’t get picked for anything. I had a disappointing World Championship but I had a bloody good year.
“It’s kind of hard to gather ground and gather a bit of momentum, even though I was good last year. It’s a game of restart.
“There’s only three players that did better than me. Statistics, facts don’t lie.
“I said to my wife: Is it because I’m overweight? No, because there is someone else that’s the (same) size.
“Is it that I’m old? No, because there’s someone else there (that’s older).
“Is it that I’m not great looking? No, because there’s some others that are not so great looking.
“It’s just obviously the way I am, I’m quite awkward as a character. It’s hard to chew when you have the condition I have. It’s a complete kick in the privates.
“It really knocks your confidence, knocks you for six. Because there’s no apparent reason why I shouldn’t have been in.
“But as a business, I wasn’t in their business model, which is fair enough. For someone with mental illness, it’s quite hard to chew.
“I’m bloody awkward. I’m awkward. I know I’m awkward.
“It’s not great for me, though, because I get in loads of trouble.
“I’m still an 11-year-old kid inside. So things are really hard to accept. Things are devastating, things are hard work.
“You know when you think things have come on, and they haven’t?
“And I’m watching my seven-year-old son go through the same things.
“But I will advocate and do my best to make sure my son hasn’t had to deal with the things I have to deal with, even now.
“I honestly believe I deserve to be in it last year but I wasn’t. What do you do? I believe I did enough apart from the top three or four.”
The PDC has now responded to Wades comments.
A statement read: “Selection for the Premier League is always an extensively discussed topic and we respect James’ opinion.
“He has been chosen for many invitational events in the past and remains in contention for future selections too.”
