Van Barneveld Apologises for Pre-Retirement Behaviour

Raymond van Barneveld “Sorry for my behaviour in these last years”

Fan favourite Raymond van Barneveld returned to televised darting action this weekend at the Cazoo Grand Slam of darts, and after picking up his first win against Joe Davis on Sunday night, he opened up in his press conference.

Retirement

The 54 year old retired from the PDC 2 years ago, but made a shock U-turn to play at Q-School earlier this year. After picking up his tour card RvB then made an instant impact. Winning a Pro Tour in the opening block of the year.

When discussing his initial retirement decision and his return to return Barney said “I was never ever really happy with the decision…Darts is my life. Darts is my whole. I can’t live without darts” before adding “You always have the feeling maybe your going to come back, but I never thought I would come back after one year”

Raw

The press conference continued with the Raymond talking about the difference between defending money on the order of merit, and starting a fresh, before discussing being omitted as an invitee for the World Series Finals in Holland.

“It would have been nice, but the PDC took the top four players in the world and hey, I had my chances. I had many times to say thankyou to the PDC and I still do.” I wanna say thankyou and also sorry for my behaviour in all these last years, because I know I can be a really bad person. Sorry for that”

The full interview is available below and you can hear Barney go on to discuss missing out on the World Matchplay, the reaction he gets from the crowd and he looks ahead to his next match with Gary Anderson.

The Grand Slam of Darts continues throughout the week, and we will have coverage across our website, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube Channel.