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Tim Pusey has made his World Darts Championship debut at Alexandra Palace on Friday night against Irishman Keane Barry but has done so without his risque nickname after the PDC stepped in to block it.
The 33-year-old qualified for the World Championship back in September by securing top spot on the Australian Darts Association Tour rankings, clinching back-to-back titles on the final weekend of action in Victoria.
However, his nickname of ‘The Magnet’ was not permitted on his shirt in the first round at Ally Pally after it was banned by the PDC, who reserve the right to “prohibit offensive, vulgar or inappropriate nicknames”. When combined with his surname of Pusey, ‘The Magnet’ has been deemed to create a pun that breaches those standards.
Pusey spoke to the Tungsten Tales podcast and laughingly explained the situation.
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Australia’s Tim Pusey ahead of his match against Republic of Ireland’s Keane Barry on day nine (John Walton/PA Wire)
“I don’t have any of that on my shirt,” he said. “I’ll have to find a new nickname and maybe we’ll have to put it to a poll and get something.
“It’s hard because anything can be turned (laughs)… at the moment I don’t have any and the chants can be colourful!”
Given the propensity for rowdiness among the Ally Pally crowd, PDC bosses have probably made a good call to ban the nickname. Earlier this year during a tournament in Wollongong, the Australian was serenaded with the chant: ‘Oh Pusey we love you.’
This isn’t the first time that the PDC have blocked a player’s cheeky nickname from appearing on shirts at the World Championship. Back in 2023, current world No 80 Owen ‘The Master’ Bates reached the Ally Pally and duly had his tag banned.
Incidentally, Bates reached the World Championship for a second time this year by finishing in third place on the PDC Development Tour, but lost 3-0 to Ryan Joyce.
This year’s edition of the biggest event in darts has been expanded to 128 players, who will compete from 11 December to 3 January. The prize fund has also increased with the total pot now up to £5m, with the winner’s cheque doubling to £1m.
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Owen Bates had his nickname ‘The Master’ blocked by the PDC back in 2023 (Getty Images)
And Pusey acknowledged that increased prize money would definitely come in handy as he travels from Australia for the tournament.
“Yeah it definitely helps! I came so close back in 2018, I just missed the final and blew a few match darts but we won’t talk about that,” he said.
“I’m stoked, it took a while for it to actually set in, it’s kind of been on the back-burner. It’s just about getting excited and getting the preparation in, before we wouldn’t have darts for three months since the last event, but now we’re playing each weekend and hopefully it all falls in line to deliver in December.”
