“Regret? Not one bit!” – Josh Rock stands by antagonising of Glasgow Premier League Darts crowd

“Regret? Not One Bit!” – Josh Rock Stands by Antagonising of Glasgow Premier League Darts Crowd

There was a moment at the OVO Hydro last Thursday night when Josh Rock, walking down the aisle towards the stage for his Premier League quarter-final against Luke Humphries, looked directly at the camera and held up three fingers, then one. 3-1. The most recent Old Firm scoreline, delivered with a grin to a Glasgow crowd that contained a healthy proportion of Celtic supporters. The noise that followed was not warm.

Rock was booed. Loudly, emphatically, and more or less continuously for the remainder of his walk-on and warm-up. He loved every second of it.

“No, not one bit,” he replied when asked afterwards whether he had any regrets about the gesture. “I love it. If you’ve watched my walk-ons, I’ve been smiling every time walking down that oche because I know what I’m there for in the Premier League, playing in these big arenas.”

The 24-year-old from Broughshane, County Antrim, is a devoted Rangers supporter — a fact he has made no effort to conceal throughout his debut Premier League campaign — and the prospect of playing in Glasgow, a short hop across the water from home, had clearly been circled in his calendar for a while. His pre-match comments had leaned into the Celtic-Rangers rivalry with cheerful provocation. “Luckily, Celtic are playing in the Europa League tomorrow, so hopefully they’re all out and there’s only Rangers fans in,” he had said. “I’m close to Scotland, I’m literally a two-hour boat or a quick ten-minute flight over the water.”

When the moment came, he delivered. The 3-1 sign got the reaction he seemed to be hoping for, and Rock — who has spent the opening weeks of his Premier League debut losing all three of his matches 6-2 — seemed energised rather than bothered by the reception.

“Standing before the doors open for the public, we were all having a practice on the stage and I just looked around and went ‘wow, that’s big’,” he said. “You dream to play in arenas and I’m just grateful I’m playing in them.”

That contentment is striking given the results. Clayton, van Gerwen, Humphries — three 6-2 defeats, zero points, bottom of the table. But Rock’s reading of those performances resists the obvious interpretation. “I haven’t been playing badly,” he said. “Everybody’s just been playing better than me. Johnny averaged 110 and I averaged 106, so there’s not much you can do unless you’re hitting 110s yourself. I think I’ve been unlucky — everybody’s just been playing well at the moment.”

There is some legitimacy to that. The 2026 Premier League has been played at an extraordinary level, and Rock’s averages have not been embarrassing. The margins have been thin in some legs even where the scorelines were not. But three 6-2 losses is a pattern that needs addressing, and with Belfast — his home night, in front of his own fans — arriving on Thursday, the pressure to register first points of the season is real.

It is also worth noting that the Glasgow reception, while noisy, remained within the bounds of theatrical pantomime — the kind of crowd-player relationship that the sport has historically thrived on. The booing was directed at a Rangers fan in Celtic territory who had deliberately poked the bear. It was not the coin-throwing horror of 2011 but its photographic negative: loud, passionate, and essentially sporting.

Rock sees it exactly that way. The boos are confirmation that he is in the right place, doing the right thing, competing at the right level. The points will come, he believes. The walking out with a smile, the knowing glance at the camera, the three-and-one — that is already working exactly as intended.

“I don’t know what to expect from Belfast,” he added, shifting gears towards night four. “Hopefully a lot of cheering. I would like to think, obviously, a homeboy in town. But we’ll see what happens.”

The home crowd, the home arena, and a quarter-final against World Championship finalist Gian van Veen. If there is a night for everything to click, Thursday in Belfast is it.