An emotional Stephen Bunting has responded to pundits and fans who he says were “writing [him] off” before his Night Four Premier League win in Belfast, insisting he has always deserved his place in the tournament.
Bunting produced one of the best performances of his career, recording his first-ever Premier League night victory. He defeated World No 2 Luke Humphries 6-4 in the quarter-finals, followed by a flawless 6-0 win over Jonny Clayton to reach the final against World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen. Bunting then beat the Dutchman 6-2 for his first Premier League nightly win in 20 attempts.
“Everyone was writing me off before the tournament,” Bunting said. “People were saying I shouldn’t be in it but I know how hard I work. These are the nights I play for and the crowd pulled me through. I’m the only darts player at the moment with a one-year-old child. I have to juggle family life. I have a lovely family at home.”
Despite the defiant tone, Bunting stressed that his mindset stayed positive even after a difficult run in last year’s Premier League. “Last year – losing seven or eight games on the bounce – really helped me. It gave me a lot of experience in this field. When you are playing in the Premier League, you are facing the best of the best. I am overjoyed by this win. It will rank up there with one of my best wins. I was a bit emotional after my first game but I held it together.”
He added that stepping away from social media, having a strong support team and even trying hypnotherapy had helped. “I believe I am one of the best players in the world and deserve to be in the Premier League. This goes a long way to showing I should be here. Every time I step up, I still believe I am one of the hardest players to beat. People find their best game and I always seem to lose to the winner. Tonight, I am the winner.”
Former Premier League star Wayne Mardle, speaking on Sky Sports, praised Bunting’s performance. “It’s great to hear that he wasn’t lacking in confidence and panicking about the situation. What we do as human beings is project how we feel onto other people. We thought ‘he’ll definitely be going through it’. He wasn’t. If that was Luke Littler or Luke Humphries we’d be talking about whether they were unbeatable or unplayable. He was unplayable – just ask Jonny Clayton.”