George Noble to retire as a PDC referee following 2025/26 World Darts Championship

George Noble has announced he will retire as a PDC referee following the 2025/26 World Darts Championship.

Noble, 56, will call time on his career as a top referee after more than three decades after officiating at Alexandra Palace for a final time.

One of the sport’s most iconic and recognisable voices, Noble announced his decision on Viaplay during the weekend’s Dutch Darts Championship – which was also his last European Tour event.

After confirming his plans to step aside, Noble also weighed in on the future of refereeing, commenting: “I think it’s time we had the first female referee at a major tournament, and maybe even the first non-British one too.”

He will become the latest experienced referee to leave the PDC circuit in recent years, after Paul Hinks and Russ Bray.

Noble, who is nicknamed ‘The Puppy’, began calling at county level in 1992 and just two years later made his first big stage appearance at Lakeside, going on to call every BDO World Championship final between 1995 and 2007.

He joined the PDC in 2007 and had the honour of calling the first nine-darter in PDC World Championship history by Raymond van Barneveld against Jelle Klaasen at Ally Pally in 2009.

A year later, Noble became the first referee to call two nine-dart finishes in the same match when Phil Taylor achieved the historic feat against James Wade in the 2010 Premier League final at the Wembley Arena.

Noble has gone on to call 21 televised nine-darters, seven of which at the World Championship, more than an other professional referee.

A keen player, the Crawley caller participated in the Dutch Open pairs earlier this year and has plans to remain involved in darts in various other capacities after his retirement.