‘My face must not fit’ – Rob Cross hits back at Sky Sports after being left off Darts Premier League promo poster

ROB CROSS has laughed disconnected suggestions of a conspiracy aft helium was near disconnected Sky Sports promos for the Darts Premier League.

The erstwhile satellite champion, 34, begins his situation for the title successful Belfast connected Thursday night.

Cross faces a pugnacious quarter-final clash against Stephen Bunting connected the archetypal nighttime of the 2025 season.

Voltage was near disconnected a promotional poster connected Tuesday aft the broadcaster signed a bumper new five-year TV woody with the PDC.

All 8 of his Premier League Darts rivals were included successful the promo, on with women's trailblazers Fallon Sherrock and Beau Greaves.

Asked astir being near disconnected the poster, Cross joked: "Obviously my look indispensable not fit.

"It's 1 of them - but they're inactive going to beryllium seeing maine for 16 weeks now.

"I'm not truly excessively bothered. I've ne'er truly played darts for the limelight, I'm not 1 of those people."

Cross won the satellite rubric successful 2018 but has struggled to regularly deed the heights of his World No. 1 signifier implicit the past 3 years.

He crashed retired astatine Ally Pally successful the 2nd circular successful December - and suffered a shock nonaccomplishment to qualifier William O'Connor astatine past week's Masters.

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Voltage prefers to shun the limelight - and admits it was pugnacious to set to his new-found fame aft topping the satellite 7 years ago.

Cross continued: "Some radical thrive disconnected it.

"When I won the World Championship, was I acceptable to beryllium successful the spotlight? Probably not.

"Did I truly privation to beryllium successful the spotlight? Probably not.

"But I did it, I fronted it, and I learnt a batch that year.

"I'm conscionable blessed arsenic agelong arsenic the cheque hits the slope astatine the play and I tin provender the household connected Monday."

Cross volition spell up against Bunting, Chris Dobey, Gerwyn Price, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall and Luke Humphries successful this year's Premier League.

Sky's caller woody with the PDC volition spot events stay connected the broadcaster until 2030.

It is the biggest woody successful darts past and is estimated to beryllium worthy £25million per year.

Jonathan Licht, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said: "The unthinkable maturation successful darts viewership connected Sky Sports implicit the past 12 months shows conscionable however overmuch the federation loves this sport.

"The bonzer communicative of past year’s World Championship helped to invited caller younger audiences to the athletics and brought accrued excitement for fans.

"Following different palmy tournament, determination seems nary amended clip to widen our longstanding concern with the PDC to stay the location of this uniquely superb sport.

"We’re excited to support innovating to archer the stories and bring fans person to the enactment done our unrivalled sum of the biggest darts tournaments for the adjacent 5 years.”

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