Van Gerwen reveals he taunted Price over now-infamous ear defenders
‘You don’t have the balls to put them on’: Michael van Gerwen reveals he taunted Gerwyn Price over his ear defenders… as the Dutchman insists he would NOT wear them and questions his rival’s decision to do so
- Gerwyn Price emerged for fifth set with the ear defenders on after struggling
- Welshman has faced an antagonistic Alexandra Palace throughout tournament
- Michael van Gerwen revealed he taunted Price over whether he would use them
- Dutchman – who advanced to the semi-finals – said players shouldn’t use them
Michael van Gerwen has revealed he taunted Gerwyn Price over whether he would actually use his now-infamous ear defenders.
Price, 37, emerged for the fifth set of his quarter-final clash with German Gabriel Clemens wearing ear defenders over ear buds after clearly struggling with the antagonistic crowd – despite having wrapped up the first set within minutes.
In the major talking point from a day of high drama at Alexandra Palace, Price sought to cancel out the noise in an unprecedented way. He removed them after losing the fifth set, but kept his ear plugs in.
Gerwyn Price donned ear protectors to block out the jeers from raucous Ally Pally crowd
Clemens was comfortably the better supported player, with a large section of the crowd seemingly from Germany and taking great pleasure in egging their man on – while booing and often whistling when Price stepped up.
Price, who was seeded one for the tournament, was dumped out in astonishing fashion by first-time quarter-finalist Clemens 5-1.
The ear defenders did briefly work, with Price hitting a maximum on his first visit in the fifth set but thereafter it followed a similar path with Clemens dominating his Welsh counterpart.
Van Gerwen, who saw off Chris Dobey in brutal fashion, winning 5-0 to set up a semi-final with Dmitri Van den Bergh, revealed he had taunted the former world champion about whether he would use them – but added that darts players should not be allowed to, and he certainly would not don them.
The Welsh former rugby player wore the headwear during his World Championship quarter-final clash with Gabriel Clemens
Price later removed the ear defenders but kept his ear plugs in – he had been wearing them under the ear defenders
‘His ear defenders were behind him and I only said to him “you don’t have the balls to put them on”. And he did!
‘In his position, with how big he is in darts, I wouldn’t have done that but he’s going through a rough period and that doesn’t always make it easy,’ Van Gerwen said.
‘[Wearing ear defenders] has never been done in darts before and also he doesn’t need it, but he’s in a tough period so he’s thinking about things.’
Asked whether he himself would wear them, Van Gerwen quipped that he ‘brought them once’, but gave them to his young daughter ‘at the Grand Slam’ – presumably for her to block out the loud noise.
Van Gerwen put in a brutal showing of high scoring to eliminate Englishman Chris Dobey 5-0
‘I don’t think [I would use them]. It’s never been done in darts before. And also Gezzy, he doesn’t need them, but he’s been going through a tough period and he’s trying to think about things and he doesn’t need to put himself in that position – but that’s darts unfortunately.’
Price, writing on social media after his defeat, suggested that he might not play in the World Championships ever again after being disappointed by the way he has been treated by the crowd.
‘So frustrating you play all year round preparing for this one tournament. So gutted I wasn’t let play but good luck everyone left in. Not sure I will ever play in this event again,’ he posted on his Instagram story.
Following the event Price wrote on his Instagram that he was ‘not sure’ if he would ever play in the event again
Sky Sports Wayne Mardle said he hoped it was just a knee-jerk reaction in the midst of an emotional evening – but added that the ear defenders have shown there is a frailty there that perhaps before hadn’t been evident.
‘The fact he has had them for a week or so shows you there is a bit of frailty there but nothing about him is frail – he hits everything head-on and takes everything in his stride.
‘Normally he deals with things brilliantly but he obviously felt the pressure and is not 100 per cent comfortable right now.
‘Mentally he couldn’t have been that strong where normally that is his game. He is one of the most mentally-strong darts players I have known.’
‘I hope [saying he might not play at Ally Pally again] is just a knee-jerk reaction,’ he added.
Van Gerwen faces Van den Bergh on Monday after Michael Smith, last year’s runner-up, takes on Clemens.
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