Looking Back: When James Wade Cleared the Oche and Peter Wright Stepped Off
Remember that night in Leicester when a darts match briefly turned into something you wouldn’t expect at a Players Championship?
Back in June 2025, during Event 17 of the Players Championship, James Wade and Peter Wright were locked in a tight last-32 scrap. Wade would go on to win it 6-5. That result is not what anyone still talks about.
What fans still replay is the moment Wade let one go right in front of Wright.
Wade had just thrown and was heading to the board to collect his darts when it happened. Wright heard it, looked baffled for a second, then stepped back. The laugh that followed was the uncomfortable kind. You could see Snakebite deciding the air needed more time than Wade was offering.
Referee Owen Binks didn’t miss it either.
“Oh boy, okay then… this is a streamed match, guys.”
Wade’s reply has lived on ever since.
“It slipped out… give it a second.”
Wright clearly thought a second wasn’t going to cut it. He stayed off the oche. Wade, trying to get the game moving again, called over: “Go ahead. Do you want nine more arrows?”
That was the scene. A streamed ProTour match, two veterans, and a pause nobody had on their bingo card.
It wasn’t even Wade’s first time being accused of the same thing. Less than a year earlier, in September 2024 at another Players Championship event, a similar sound came from his direction during a match with Callan Rydz. Wade later addressed it on social media and pointed to his shoes. This time there was no shoe defence. He owned it on the spot, even if the timing was unfortunate.
Looking back, the clip did what darts clips often do. It spread because it was human. High-level sport is supposed to look clinical. Then someone on the oche reminds everyone that these are just blokes standing on a stage with darts in their hands.
Some fans treated it as classic Wade — unpredictable, a bit chaotic, impossible to script. Others felt it crossed a line on a live stream. Both views were fair at the time. Darts has always mixed theatre with tension. This was just a louder, smellier version of that mix.
Did it change the match? Wright had to reset. Wade still found a way to sneak the 6-5. Later that week Wade kept winning and ended up lifting a Players Championship title. Whether the moment helped or just sat there as an awkward interlude is something only the two of them really know.
What it did do was add another chapter to Wade’s reputation as one of the tour’s genuine characters. Wright, for his part, handled it the way a lot of players would — half laugh, half retreat, then get back to the arrows once the air cleared.
Years on, the clip still gets pulled up whenever someone wants to remind you that darts isn’t always polished. It’s a reminder of how quickly a serious contest can turn into a story people tell in the pub.
So what do you remember most? Wright’s face when it dawned on him? Binks trying to keep a straight face? Or Wade standing there like it was just another Tuesday in Leicester?
Drop your memories. That night still gets a laugh for a reason.