Callan Rydz: I’m a bit of a daft lad but I can beat anyone

Callan Rydz is a self-confessed nutcase but after a sparkling, and morale-boosting, World Championship campaign he is ready to throw serious darts again.

The Riot made the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace before losing a stunning contest to Michael van Gerwen.

The 26-year-old chucked three of the four highest match averages over the tournament, peaking at 107.06 and even in defeat to MVG ending on 103.88.

It was eye-catching stuff, while there were eyebrow-raising comments about Rydz from his rivals, with Dimitri van den Bergh labelling him ‘unstable’ before their third round clash.

Rydz took the comment in his own unique way, agreeing with Van den Bergh, but also using the words to fire him up before thrashing the Belgian 4-0.

‘His manager spoke to us the day after we played and the way Dimi was trying to word it was more about my darts,’ Rydz told Metro.

‘I am unstable normally, like. I kind of gathered what he meant, but I think it was fire in the belly.

‘He’s right, I am unstable, I am a bit of a daft lad, but I don’t know if he was trying to do it as friendly banter, because we are friends, but it ended up being fire in the belly that I needed.’

The Riot says his ‘daft lad’ reputation has been with him since school and has not left him as an adult who now sports a tattoo which reads ‘Alreet Mush’ on his thigh and can’t always avoid injuring himself on his BMX.

‘It’s just me friends, they call us a nutcase because I’m not really bothered, like,’ he said. ‘I’ve always been the class clown, you could say.

‘In school I was…not an idiot, but the one doing the pranks, the stupid things. For me it’s having a laugh, if you have a laugh you’re always going to have a good time.

‘I still play football with my friends and we’re not trying to hurt each other but we love absolutely snapping into each other. It’s good. It’s the stuff that I love. I used to be a nutcase on BMXs, trying stupid things, had so many injuries, but it’s just things I loved to do as a kid and it stuck.

‘In lockdown I went back on my bike and snapped my foot. It’s my own fault, but I wouldn’t change it. If I could I would go on my bike again but that injury told me I couldn’t do it anymore. I tried to do a trick into a ramp and I just fell off, my foot went under my bike and snapped five bones in my foot. Metal plate in my foot now. It’s just one of them.’

Rydz might be fearless, but self-belief has been an issue for him on the oche and he arrived at the World Championship without much expectation at all.

‘If someone had offered me the quarter-finals before I threw a dart then I’d have bit your hand off. I didn’t think I was going to get to the quarters, if I’m brutally honest,’ he said.

‘Coming into the Worlds I was playing ok, not brilliant, I said to my manager before that if I can get to round two, maybe round three that would do me perfectly.

‘I’ve always had the game but the belief has sometimes left us. I’ve had a terrible 18-20 months on the circuit. I took time away, I didn’t want to go, didn’t want to play.’

Rydz was very down on his game and life as a professional at times over the last two years, even considering quitting the sport.

‘I did! In parts I didn’t want to do it anymore,’ he said. ‘I’ve played darts more than half my life now, not professionally, but round here, Bedlington, County for Northumberland. I’ve had me laughs but now it’s serious.

‘I would just say I wasn’t happy with the travelling. I know it’s not really an excuse and every dart player has to travel, but I just couldn’t be bothered. I was waking up the morning of Pro Tour events and just didn’t want to go. European events, travelling all day, it’s a nightmare but you’ve got to put up with it.

‘I’m quite a lazy practicer, I hate practicing on my own, I hate doing it. When I’m out the house and I’ve got someone to practice with I can do four hours a day, but at home I don’t find it good.’

Being lazy is his own assessment, but Rydz has also put a lot of hard work in to get to where he is in the game, and he is ready to do it again after admitting that he has slacked off.

‘I see things on TikTok of people hitting everything, but they don’t show you what they’re not hitting. They might have a good minute or two throwing darts and it makes darts looks easy but it’s not. It’s so hard,’ he said.

‘You’ve got to put in so many hours of dedication, I used to play five nights a week Monday-Friday and if there were competitions on a weekend I’d go to them, so sometimes it was six or seven days a week and I did that for four or five years and then I got into the PDC.

‘That got me to number 21 in the world but I didn’t kick on, didn’t put the hard work in and that’s my fault. Now I need to put the hard hours and graft in again. Even if it is alone I’ve got to suck it up and do it. It’s stuff I’ve got to do and that’s on me.’

After his Ally Pally performances there seems little reason that with that hard work behind him, he can’t run riot right to the top.

‘World champion is every darts player’s dream. If you ever play darts competitively, that’s all you want to be,’ he said.

‘If I was ever to win one TV event, let it be the Worlds, anyone can call me a one hit wonder, if I’ve got that star on my shirt then I don’t give a monkey’s. Obviously it’s the hardest one to win but I know if I’m playing well I can beat anyone.’