Joe Cullen walks out of interview at World Darts Championship and fumes ‘I’m going home’ after beating Wessel Nijman
JOE CULLEN stormed out of his World Championship press conference blasting that the media had shown him “no respect”.
The Bradford star beat Wessel Nijman 3-0 with a blistering opening performance at the Ally Pally.
But then moody Cullen, 35, lashed out at the press just minutes after booking his place in the third round.
Cullen, whose walk-on is Don’t Look Back In Anger, took questions for under three minutes before walking out in anger.
He said: “I’m over the moon. I played some of my best stuff.
“Proud? I’m 30 places ranked above him.
“I’m happy with the performance. I don’t know Wessel personally.
“I think surrounding the media I think probably led to his demise a little bit.
“I’ve struggled this year on the oche and off the oche. To find a performance like that.
“To be honest I’ve got to thank you guys because I don’t think I would have played like that if I hadn’t read the nonsense that I did beforehand.”
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But then Cullen snapped, alluding to the attention given to Wessell over his return from a match-fixing ban.
He added: “I tell you what. Honestly the media attention that Wessell’s got, again this is not a reflection on him.
“He seems like a fantastic kid.
“He got caught up in a few things beforehand, he’s served his time and held his hands up, a lot haven’t.
“But I think the way I’ve been treated probably with the media. I know that you guys have no control of the bookies.
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“I’ve been shown no respect, I won’t show respect to any of you guys tonight, I’m going to go home.”
Cullen will now face former world champion Gerwyn Price in Round 3.