In the last two days two of the biggest names in the darts world, Michael van Gerwen and Dave Chisnall, have been sent out of the World Championships after contracting and testing positive for Covid-19.
Following this many questions from fans have been raised as to what happens in different scenarios and whether or not the tournament should be postponed or even cancelled.
Up to now, the opponent of every player who has tested positive has simply received a bye into the next round. However, what happens in the case that a player test positive ahead of the final, is right to award a world championship title by default? – But this appears to be the only way the PDC could consistently apply their rules meaning if one of the finals does contract Covid-19 there will likely be no final of the 2021/22 World Darts Championships.
Should the tournament be postponed or cancelled?
From a pure entertainment standpoint – yes as we all want to see the best player in the world battle it out. However, strictly speaking, this is probably impossible there is no precedent in the PDC for postponing or cancelling a tournament once it had already started. The question raised here is whether given the current situation the PDC was correct to go ahead with the tournament – the WDF had already announced that their World Championships was being postponed. But again issues with broadcasters and venues make it very difficult to cancel a tournament at such short notice.
I think the biggest question isn’t why the PDC chose to run the event, it is why they chose to get so complacent in running the event. The data was plain for everyone to see, Covid cases were rising rapidly in the UK especially in London, where the event is held. Why did the PDC not opt for a bubble environment that saw tournaments being run successfully last year?
But at the same time, this is the biggest event of the year and the players all know that. They had a personal responsibility to minimise the chance they could catch the virus despite this Michael van Gerwen claimed on Twitter that he had done everything in his power to prevent himself from catching it, this is of course apart from the fact that on Christmas eve he went out to a restaurant for dinner with Vincent van der Voort (who after tested positive for Covid), Raymond van Barneveld (who after tested positive for Covid) and Dirk van Duijvenbode (not yet tested).
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the dates were given and the PDC seems set to stick to them. The Show Must Go On mentality has been adopted and for casual fans, this is probably the best approach – however, it would still not shock me to see the final played behind closed door on January 3rd but I don’t have a crystal ball so this all remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, Dave Chisnall probably won’t be the last to test positive this week and while losing these players hasn’t yet completely ruined the tournament it does leave a sour taste in my mouth knowing this tournament could be decided by the last man standing as opposed to who is the best darts player.
