{"id":842868,"date":"2026-03-22T13:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/842868\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T13:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:31:16","slug":"we-shouldnt-have-left-the-eu-chris-dobey-fumes-over-brexit-travel-chaos-after-belgian-darts-open-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/842868\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have left the EU\u201d \u2013 Chris Dobey fumes over Brexit travel chaos after Belgian Darts Open win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Dobey<\/a> has progressed to the next round of the 2026 Belgian Darts Open<\/a>, but it was far from convincing. Afterwards, the Englishman remained notably critical, both of his own performance and the circumstances surrounding the tournament. By his own admission, \u2018Hollywood\u2019 was far from ideally prepared for the match.<\/p>\n

What began as a straightforward reflection on his 6-3 win over Dave Chisnall in the second round developed into a broader story about frustration, ambition and the reality of life on the modern darts circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the best version of either of us\u201dDobey knew he was facing an experienced and dangerous opponent, even if Chisnall is not currently at his very best. \u201cYeah, of course, it\u2019s always good to beat Chizzy. He\u2019s a fantastic player, and the last few times he\u2019s played really well against me,\u201d he told Tungsten Tales afterwards.<\/a><\/p>\n

He remained honest about the level of the match itself. \u201cIt\u2019s not the best version of Chizzy and definitely not the best version of myself, but any win against Dave Chisnall is a big win.\u201d<\/p>\n

European Tour frustration away from the stageWhile the conversation initially focused on the match, it quickly shifted to the travel problems affecting many British players on the European Tour<\/a>. Like Nathan Aspinall and Jonny Clayton, Dobey made clear his frustration with the situation. \u201cIt is frustrating because you want to come here and be prepared well, but it\u2019s just how things go.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed directly to the root cause. \u201cI think we shouldn\u2019t have left the EU, I think that\u2019s the big problem. It\u2019s the same for most of the British lads.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Dobey is the current world number thirteen<\/p>\n

Hours waiting at the airport<\/p>\n

Dobey outlined the reality players are currently dealing with. \u201cIt\u2019s not nice because we had to wait over two and a half hours just for the passport. It was the same in Poland a few weeks back, so hopefully something can change, and we can enjoy these European Tours again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those delays are not just inconvenient, they impact preparation and recovery. \u201cYesterday we landed early, around half one or quarter to two, and we didn\u2019t get out of the airport until about ten to five.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, in turn, takes away one of the usual positives of the European Tour. \u201cI used to enjoy coming here, travelling straight through the airport and getting to see some of the city,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s off-putting because on your day off, you want to go out and see the place, but we didn\u2019t get to do any of that. It was just food and straight to bed when I got in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doubts over future participation<\/p>\n

It raises the question of whether these issues could affect his schedule later in the year. \u201cI think for some it could, but it\u2019s still early doors so you want to play as many as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobey pointed to upcoming events where similar problems may arise. \u201cEaster weekend in Munich is probably going to be the same, so I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s tempting to think about skipping it, but I want to play in them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the frustration, he underlined the importance of the European Tour. \u201cYou love playing on the European Tour. That\u2019s where the big money is on the rankings, so you don\u2019t want to miss them. Hopefully we can get it sorted and start enjoying it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

European Tour remains a challenge<\/p>\n

Notably, the European Tour has not historically been Dobey\u2019s strongest arena. Despite his success in televised events, including winning the Masters, a breakthrough on the European stage has yet to fully materialise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know why it hasn\u2019t clicked. I used to have to qualify for these events, and it\u2019s not easy to come through those qualifiers. You\u2019re playing tough games just to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now seeded, his position has improved. \u201cI just want to stay here, and the more times I do and reach the later stages, it\u2019s going to come sooner or later.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Dobey has progressed to the next round of the 2026 Belgian Darts Open, but it was far…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5226],"tags":[241084,802,748,241083,2000,299,5187,97848,1699,4884,55476,16,15],"class_list":["post-842868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brexit","tag-belgian-darts-open","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-chris-dobey","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-tour","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-pdc","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116273079146372700","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}