A dart of gold
The ex-electrician who has gone from winning £7 games in pubs to scooping £400,000 to become world champ BEST OF ORDER FOR A NEW SPORTING SENSATION
JUST a year ago Rob Cross was picking up the princely sum of £7 for his part in winning a darts doubles competition in a pub.
Now he is the world champion and yesterday banked a cheque for £400,000.
It has been an incredible rise to the top for the down-to-earth dad-of-three.
He gave up his job as an electrician just 16 months ago.
And he only took up darts seriously after his uncle Robert nagged him to return to the sport.
He had played for fun before giving it up when his first child was born.
Now Rob “Voltage” Cross has just thrashed the greatest player in darts history, Phil “The Power” Taylor, during an astonishing PDC world final on Monday night.
But he vowed the fame and money would never change him.
Rob said: “I’m quite adamant it won’t change me as a person.
“I might play darts on TV now but really I’ve not changed. I think if I did get carried away with it I would get complacent, and then it would be all over before you knew it.
“I’ve got a good backing behind me with my management team, and my family are all down to earth.”
Twelve months ago Rob, 27, teamed up with a local lad, James Stephenson, to win £14 in a doubles tournament in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Until last month, he had never set foot in London’s famous Alexandra Palace venue, where he memorably won the Sid Waddell Trophy on Monday evening.
He lives in a modest semi-detached house in St Leonards-on-Sea, a suburb of Hastings in East Sussex, with wife Georgia, son Leyton, six, and daughters Imogen, three, and seven-month-old Maddison. His parents live close by. And his family always comes first. On Christmas Day he posted a picture on Twitter of himself sitting with his wife and children wishing all his supporters “a Merry Christmas”. Rob said: “I actually
gave up darts for three years after my little boy was born.
“I was 20 when he came along, and then I started just playing down at the pub again, until my uncle half forced me to go to Norwich to play the qualifiers, in the Rileys [sports bar], and it was just sort of life changing.”
He watched last year’s world championships on TV and made his professional debut shortly afterwards. And he was paid a mere £250. Rob has since experienced a meteoric rise up the rankings.
He was unseeded in January last year before making it to 107th in February, 73rd in March, 40th in August, 30th in October, 21st in December. Now he is the world champ and ranked number three.
He won the admiration of former England cricket star Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff and ex-footballer Robbie Savage, who were seen in the crowd for the gripping final.
Non-sporting celebrities also seek him out – TV presenter Davina McCall tweeted a selfie with Rob during the tournament. And Stephen Fry tweeted his sheer admiration at the 7-2 victory saying: “Lordy lordy lord. Double Crossed, outscored and blown away by @RobCross180 who looks to be the future of darts.
“My mouth had been hanging open for the last hour and a half. Stunning.”
Unlike some of his rivals, Rob prepares for his events like an athlete. He even changed his diet to give himself an edge.
He said: “Yes, it’s all been new and I’ve had to change things drastically.
“Sometimes you come home and you think, ‘That weekend never went to plan’. Then I try to think what I can change to make it better.
“I’ve carried on like that. For instance,your eating times are all over the place.
“I can’t eat too late before I play because it makes you feel sluggish.
“And I’ve started to change my diet too. I just want to feel fresher – eating fatty food does you no good.
“I never used to really eat fruit and I’ve started to eat a lot. “You feel better in yourself. “I know it sounds silly that you change things like that and probably people looking in will think it’s an easy life, but it is quite demanding if you are going to take things seriously.
“If you want to do well you have to sacrifice certain things.”
Rob, a devoted Chelsea fan, recalled his time working as an electrician on building sites and houses across the South East of England.
The job would involve getting up at the crack of dawn driving miles up and down the A21 from Hastings and working in cold, wet conditions.
He said: “It was anything – domestic, building sites up in London.
“I worked a bit around Mayfair and places like that. It wasn’t too bad but I don’t miss working outside in this weather!”
And his former occupation is the reason he walks on to stage to Arrow’s iconic song Hot, Hot, Hot.
Rob’s love of darts started at the age of 15 when he started playing in local leagues in the towns and villages of Kent and Sussex.
His first teams were The Swan in Edenbridge and The Fountain in Cowden.
Rob played in the Edenbridge and Oxted League on Mondays, The Sevenoaks Charity Darts League on Tuesdays and the Crawley Friday Darts League.
He stays on top form by religiously practising twice a day, putting in between one and two hours at lunchtime and then another hour during the evening.
Earlier this year, Rob told how he was spurred on to reach the next level and win trophies after son Leyton saw him lose to Michael van Gerwen on TV – and promptly started crying.
He recalled: “I lost the game and Leyton apparently burst into tears and I felt awful.
“When I got home he just said he wanted the big trophy that Michael had won.
“There is no bigger inspiration I could have than to do it for Leyton, my missus and the family.”
Leyton certainly wasn’t crying on Monday as Rob got his hands on the biggest, most important trophy of all. And as his proud father said yesterday: “I couldn’t have expected how this year would have gone. It has changed my life.
“I’m going to be a very busy boy.”
I could not have expected how this year has gone. It’s changed my life ROB CROSS ON METEORIC RISE TO BECOMING WORLD CHAMP