Former football star Dion Dublin was seen delighting the crowd at this year's World Darts Championship after downing a pint of beer at the Alexander Palace. Known for its electric atmosphere, the Ally Pally has seen some iconic fan moments down the years.
And now ex-Coventry City and Aston Villa man Dublin has become the latest to catch the eye in the famous venue. The former striker attended the event on Thursday to watch the third and fourth round action.
A number of big names were on show on the Ally Pally oche, but partway through the TV cameras scanned away from the action to focus on Dublin, who was well in the party spirit.
With the crowd cheering around him the 53-year-old - who has 111 Premier League goals to his name - was seen glugging down his pint, which was all caught by the Sky Sports TV cameras. His downed drink was not his first of the afternoon though.
Earlier in the day Dublin shared a photo on social media showing himself and his six friends kicking off their outing at the darts with a drink at 10am in the morning. Along with the group picture, he tweeted: "So it begins! @OfficialPDC."
The posts did not stop there though, as the former striker gave an update two hours later on his drinks tally. As a result, Dublin shared that he and his pals were six drinks deep an hour before the opening 12:45pm match was scheduled to start. He tweeted: "6 down let’s go! @OfficialPDC"
Whilst Dublin proved to be the star of the show away from the oche, he and the rest of the Ally Pally crowd were treated to some exciting action on it. The afternoon session saw Dirk van Duijvenbode, Rob Cross and Stephen Bunting all book their places in the next round.
Who do you think will won the World Darts Championship? Let us know in the comments section below.
This was then followed up in the evening by Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price, and Jonny Clayton who all extended their stays at the championship with victories. The tournament has taken its usual one day break on New Years' Eve before returning on New Years' Day.
As a result 2023 will kick off with four eagerly anticipated quarter-final clashes. Current world No. 1 Gerywn Price will continue his hunt for a second world championship when taking on Germany's Gabriel Clemens, whilst Michael Smith and Stephen Bunting face off in an all-English clash. Jonny Clayton will then take on Dimitri Van den Bergh, before three time champion Michael van Gerwen faces Chris Dobey.
