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Topics: Darts, World Darts Championship
Jack Kenmare
Joe Cullen has once again accused Mensur Suljovic of "cheating" in their match at this year's World Darts Championship, claiming the Austrian "knew exactly what he was doing".
Suljovic will face defending champion Luke Littler on Saturday evening after securing his place in the third round with a 3-1 victory over Cullen.
Tensions were high throughout the game, with Cullen visibly frustrated by the amount of time Suljovic was taking to retrieve his darts after throwing at the board, as well as the length of his celebrations.
In fact, at one stage, Suljovic was reprimanded by referee Kirk Bevins for taking too long with his celebrations.
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The pair exchanged a post-match handshake but tensions remained, with Cullen shaking his head while retrieving his darts case.
Shortly after making his way backstage at the Alexandra Palace, Cullen made his feelings clear on social media. "If that’s darts, I don’t want no part of it!" he wrote on X.
"Always liked Mensur away from the board but that was plain for all to see! I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way. The old guard will say it’s part of the game but word it how you will - it’s CHEATING! That’s not darts."
Later on, Suljovic refused to apologise to 'The Rockstar' for what was perceived to be gamesmanship
"I never say sorry to Joe Cullen in person. Never. I play on that stage. What's his problem?" he said in his post-match press conference. "I'm sorry to the referee but for Joe Cullen, I'm never sorry. Everybody plays different."
Cullen has stood by some of the comments he made after losing to Suljovic, but admitted he 'lost his head' in the aftermath.
“The game was there for me," Cullen told The Telegraph & Argus.
“It was a bit of a head loss from myself afterwards, though I still don’t agree with what Mensur does. I know he plays that way most of the time, but he was worse than usual.
“He even got warned by the referee, which I’ve never seen before, so I can point my finger at Mensur and say he was an a****ole. But ultimately, Mensur was poor and I let it affect me, which is more of a gripe on my part.
“I still personally think it is cheating. I’ve always said it since I started playing. If you’re doing something to deliberately affect the other player, I stand by believing that’s cheating. I’ve always got on with Mensur pretty well, so it was disappointing."
“He knew exactly what he was doing and he did exactly what I expected, just a little bit worse," added Cullen. "Ultimately he was very poor and that’s the most frustrating thing for myself, because I should win that game comfortably.”
Cullen also opened up on his temperament after it was suggested there may be 'an issue with how easily he gets rattled on the big stage'.
He added: “Maybe there’s a little bit of that. I’ve been playing for a long time now and I think it was one of those games where I just got frustrated.
“Missing darts frustrates you even more, so it was a combination of things, Mensur doing what he did was probably just the tip of the iceberg.
“Now I’ve had a couple of days to reflect, the most frustrating thing for me is that I shouldn’t have lost the game. It shouldn’t even have been close.”