Some Sky Sports viewers were left raging on Thursday night, when a broadcast of Premier League Darts in Belfast was cut at a crucial moment.
Luke Humphries was storming towards victory against Chris Dobey in the night’s final showdown, with £10,000 in prize money and five Premier League points on the line. But in the last leg of the match, coverage abruptly cut away to an episode of A League of Their Own.
Sky Sports Mix and Sky Showcase were the two channels primarily affected by a mishap which lasted for approximately 45 seconds. And Premier League action only came back on screen just before Humphries threw the match-winning darts.
Among the fuming fans to voice their anger on X was @Kristian7Ross, who wrote: “Sky Sports cutting the end of the darts coverage? What an absolute disgrace.”
Others also chimed in, as @24558965smart posted: “Joke tonight on the logistics. Final game and A League of Their Own pops up. Really?? Ffs.”
A raging @Dudley1976 addressed the broadcaster directly, writing: “Why did you decide to switch the Premier League Darts to ‘A League of Their Own’ just as the final comes to a climax? Utterly shambolic. Name the person that thought that was an acceptable thing to do and advise what their punishment will be.”
Those who tuned in were treated to a bumper night of darts action in Northern Ireland. Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting and Nathan Aspinall all suffered quarter-final exits, as well as reigning champion Luke Littler, who crashed out against Michael van Gerwen in a last-leg decider despite averaging almost 114.
MVG was edged by Humphries in the semi-finals, who came up against Chris Dobey in the finale following his win over Rob Cross. And it was a comfortable victory for ‘Cool Hand’, who trounced Dobey 6-1.
“I thought I played pretty well in the first game,” the world No. 1 told Sky Sports. “Then against Michael I was very fortunate. It’s not like him to miss that amount of doubles but in that eighth or ninth leg, he let me in.
“Then in the final, me and Chris noticed there was a bit of a breeze that was hard to play through. But they were blowing my darts into the doubles so I was happy. Hopefully there’s a breeze more often!”
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