Gerwyn Price has been told to expect a fine for walking out of a Players Championship 1 match on Monday. The Iceman was upset about the conditions at the venue in Wigan, with the PDC stating “we understand he felt the venue was cold”.
Price pulled out midway through his third-round clash with Brendan Dolan, in which he was trailing 4-2. He later claimed that the conditions were “absolutely pathetic” in a scathing social media post.
The 38-year-old can now expect a punishment from the PDC, who organise the event. Fellow darts player and pundit Matthew Edgar believes that Price will be fined, and pointed to a previous example that suggests the world No 5 can expect to pay back his winnings from at least his first-round match.
Edgar says he once faced an opponent who walked out midway through a game, with organisers handing the star a fine equivalent to the minimum prize money. A victory in the first round at the Players Championship sees players bank £1,000.
“This is going to land Gerwyn Price in a bit of trouble with the DRA,” Edgar said on his YouTube channel. “It’s likely to going find him having a fine, due to the ruling that you must complete all fixtures to the best of your ability.
“This rule has been enforced before and it’s been enforced in different ways. When we look to the most recent enforcement of it, it was just sort of a formal warning about future behaviour.
“But I believe that was with players who are less known to the system as such. It happened to me once. The player walked off when I was 5-0 up and I got the win, 6-0.
“The player then got a fine to the minimum prize money of that round, which at the time was £500. I’d expect to see the same sort of thing here with Gerwyn Price.”
Price was reportedly unhappy with the temperature inside the Robin Park Tennis Centre and withdrew from Players Championship 2. He did not expand on his issue with the conditions.
