Daryl Gurney the latest darts star to be targeted by vile trolls who ‘wished death on his family’ in ‘horrendous abuse’
DARYL GURNEY’s family were targeted by social media trolls following his exit from the Betfred World Matchplay.
The Northern Ireland star's manager Matt Ward revealed that the world No.7 had received a “horrendous amount of abuse” after his 11-5 loss to Dutchman Vincent van der Voort in the second round in Milton Keynes.
In a tweet today from Gurney’s official account, which has 36,000 followers, it said: “This is Matt not Daryl tweeting this.
“After last night’s game a horrendous amount of abuse was forthcoming.
“Why? Because he lost to, let's be honest, the better player. VDV was great. Did Daryl give up? No, so why the hate?
“Wishing death on someone's family is beyond the line…
“I’ve said before any hate just gets blocked and Daryl won’t see anything. I’m the filter.
“Please think before you say horrific things about people.
“You really don't know what effect it could have.”
Several darts stars and pundits have been subjected to abuse in recent months, often from disgruntled punters who have lost bets on tournaments.
SunSport reported last month how Fallon Sherrock had been threatened with explicit violence from a sexist troll after she lost in an Online darts match.
Rob Cross, the 2018 PDC world darts champion, Kyle Anderson and Paul Nicholson have all spoken publicly about rising numbers of abusive messages.
A number of players are on social media platforms but they don’t have control over the accounts and therefore are immune from the worst form of criticism.
Welshman Price, whose Twitter and Instagram accounts are run by his wife, said: “This needs to stop. Something has got to be done.
“The darts players are humans not robots. They have feelings. They have off-days.
“They make mistakes. Think before you tweet crap.”
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The Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA) and the PDC offer support for any stars that have been affected.
A PDC spokesman said: “We condemn any form of abuse, either online or otherwise, and will support any player who is encountering this, as well as working with the PDPA to educate and offer guidance for players.”
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Keith Deller, the 1983 BDO world champion, said: “Daryl is a top guy and gives his all every time. He has a lovely family who support him.
“The people who know him in darts would not believe these horrible things said to him. People should not be allowed to get away with it.”