THE Darts Regulation Authority has issued the following statement on Thursday February 8:

On Wednesday February 7, the DRA Disciplinary Committee heard the case of Adrian Lewis concerning the incidents in his match with Jose Perales on Friday February 2 2018.

Mr Lewis has been suspended since the incident.

He admitted breaching the DRA Rules and received a three month suspension from competing which is suspended for six months.

He was also fined £3,000.

ADRIAN LEWIS has issued the following statement on Thursday February 8, further to the incident which occurred in Coral UK Open Qualifier One on Friday February 2.

Adrian Lewis said:
I am now in a position to issue a statement as the due process has taken place and the Darts Regulation Authority have had their hearing.

I deeply regret that my frustrations got the better of me as I felt that my opponent was trying to provoke me.

I realise now that I should have reported any problems to Tournament Officials instead of confronting Jose Antonio Justicia Perales after the match.

I would like to offer my sincere apologies to the PDC, the sponsors of the event Coral, my own sponsors who I thank for their loyalty and support, my manager, darts fans and finally my family.

I would like to say a big thank you for all of the kind messages sent to me from all over the World, and now I just want to put this all behind me and concentrate of playing the game I love and trying to make my way back to the top.

So he plead guilty and still blames Perales?

Cover up, suspended sentence how tragic..........

Back to the top? Got a long way to go there my son.

BlueSpark wrote:Back to the top? Got a long way to go there my son.

He was a great player before he started thinking.....

Shouldnt have been a suspended ban, IMO.

Should have been banned for 3 months and lesson still not learnt as no apology to Perales.

He confronted him during and after the match.

No apology to Perales from Lewis.

So does this mean an instant 3 month ban if he's in any further trouble (for any incident) with the dra over the next 6 months?

He's got a bit of a target on his back now, all his opponents have to do is laugh and smile at him.

why should he apologise to perales if he thinks the guy was out of order? he obviously has told his side to the story to the PDC. he admits he should have gone to the officials not taken the action he did. Would be interesting to hear Perales' side (if he is allowed to?).


For me the punishment seems fair. The fine and suspended sentence is a good balance.

very professional way of doing things by the DRA.

Canuck_bully wrote:So does this mean an instant 3 month ban if he's in any further trouble (for any incident) with the dra over the next 6 months?

He's got a bit of a target on his back now, all his opponents have to do is laugh and smile at him.

Don't think so. darts is a different world these days. If a player tries to wind up Lewis it could back fire on himself if the PDC/DRA become aware of it.

The days of Jocky Wilson kicking Bristow on the shin or blowing smoke in his face have well gone.

devosteve wrote:

Canuck_bully wrote:So does this mean an instant 3 month ban if he's in any further trouble (for any incident) with the dra over the next 6 months?

He's got a bit of a target on his back now, all his opponents have to do is laugh and smile at him.

Don't think so. darts is a different world these days. If a player tries to wind up Lewis it could back fire on himself if the PDC/DRA become aware of it.

The days of Jocky Wilson kicking Bristow on the shin or blowing smoke in his face have well gone.

Bloody haven't, look at Mitchell and Pipe only got pulled because of tv though i think Justin is genuine and wouldn't have done that intentionally.

Whatever the punishment dished out, people would moan it was too lenient or not heavy enough.

Just out of curiosity how much extra did he pick up for winning the match?

markymark wrote:Whatever the punishment dished out, people would moan it was too lenient or not heavy enough.

Well yeah, there are people on fb comparing it against other dra punishments that have received harsher for seemingly lesser offenses, trouble is those are just lines on a page this people saw and judge the severity themselves with nothing to compare against.

I think this is a good result for all.
The little bollox was laughing and looking awful smug.
Deserved a few words from Lewis, although he shouldnt have put his hands on him.
I like how Adrian has not bowed to public pressure and not apologised to the player.
Good stuff.

ifm wrote:Just out of curiosity how much extra did he pick up for winning the match?

Was on £2000 before the match, and £2500 when he won it. He then lost in the SF.

So he has lost the lot from the day, with an extra £500 to boot (£575 if you want to be pedantic and take the PDPA levy into account)

Minty26 wrote:I think this is a good result for all.
The little bollox was laughing and looking awful smug.
Deserved a few words from Lewis, although he shouldnt have put his hands on him.
I like how Adrian has not bowed to public pressure and not apologised to the player.
Good stuff.

An apology draws a line under it.

Joke of a decision.

The issues were clearly around the squeeking floor. Lewis thought that Perales was trying to use gamesmanship.

This truth will be borne out when perales is not fined for gamesmanship.