Rob Cross admits he was “guilty as charged” after receiving his punishment for a crude on-stage gesture at the World Championship. The 2018 world champion was caught on camera making a rude hand signal as he left the stage during a break in his second round match against friend Scott Williams at Alexandra Palace. After losing the match 3-1, Cross quickly issued an apology via social media, insisting the gesture referred to his own performance.
He wrote: “Massively disappointed to lose out to my friend Scott Williams. Good luck to him for the rest of the tournament. I made a gesture to my manager about how annoyed I was with my performance. If it offended anyone, I apologise. Merry Christmas.”.
Cross has since been fined by the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) and he addressed the punishment following Friday night’s victory over Richard Veenstra at the Dutch Darts Masters, the second World Series event of the year. "I have actually [had the letter from the DRA]. I don't even know whether I'm allowed to speak about that,” he said in his post-match press conference, via Online Darts.
He then suggested the fine wasn’t especially severe, saying he paid it as soon as possible. He added: "Put it this way, for what I got fined, it's the quickest fine I've ever paid. YOUR TURN! Who are you tipping to win the Dutch Masters? Tell us in the comments section.
“Usually I leave it to the last minute. It was decent. I'm guilty as charged and I've apologised about it.”. Cross bounced back from his first-round exit at the Bahrain Darts Masters by overcoming a stern test from Veenstra. The Dutchman produced combination finishes of 84, 97 and 110 as he led 3-2, but Cross took four successive legs to seal his quarter-final spot against Jermaine Wattimena, who knocked out world No.1 Luke Humphries.
