Josh Rock blames defeat on soap
Josh Rock has attributed his heavy 6-2 Premier League defeat to Michael van Gerwen in Antwerp last week to an unexpected culprit: Belgian soap, reports BritPanorama.
The Northern Irish darts player revealed that a trip to the backstage toilets immediately before taking to the stage left him unable to properly grip his darts during the quarter-final clash. Rock elaborated, stating, “I went to the toilet just before I went on stage and obviously you wash your hands after going to the toilet, so I put the soap all over my hands and the next minute I’m up there, and I was like, ‘This isn’t going to go well’.” The soap stripped essential oils from his fingers, destroying his grip entirely.
The sensation was immediately apparent, making it impossible for him to feel the darts. “I just could not feel it at all,” he said. Despite his best efforts to remedy the situation mid-match, including licking his fingers and rubbing them along the barrel for some friction, nothing worked.
Rock noted with a chuckle, “I actually laughed at it straight away, because I knew what the problem was. If I played like that and didn’t know what the problem was then, obviously, we have an issue.” Ultimately, the damage had already been done by the time he attempted various solutions during the contest.
The incident has prompted Rock to take precautionary measures for future events. “So now we’ve got a plan B, I’ve got a bit of chalk and wax in the case from now on,” he confirmed. This backup proved unnecessary at the Players Championship this week, where Rock experienced no similar issues.
“I didn’t have to use it this week at the Players Championship, it was fine, but it must have been the soap I used,” he added, emphasising that this was an entirely new experience for him. “That was definitely the first time,” he remarked. “It must be just whatever soap was in the toilet at Antwerp that I used and it just obviously took all the oils out of my finger and lost all grip.”
As he gears up for tonight’s Premier League fixture in Glasgow against Luke Humphries, Rock is seeking his first points of his debut campaign. A devoted Rangers supporter, he expressed hopes that the Scottish crowd will back him given Celtic’s Europa League commitments this evening. “Luckily, Celtic are playing in the Europa League tomorrow, so hopefully they’re all out and there’s only Rangers fans in,” Rock said. “It’s on the day. If I turn up, I win. If I don’t turn up, I don’t win.”
