If you ever need brutal honesty about your dodgy haircut, tragic shirt choice, or general life decisions, forget your mates – just call Vincent van der Voort. The man has zero filter and apparently no interest in sparing feelings. Which is why his podcast appearances are worth their weight in tungsten.
Fresh from Zandvoort’s Formula 1 circus – where Max Verstappen basically plays Raymond van Barneveld circa 2007 to a hundred thousand orange-clad lunatics – Van der Voort and Damian Vlottes sat down for another episode of Darts Draait Door. Cue a chat that veered wildly between motorsport, Antwerp darts, PDC nonsense, and the eternal question: what exactly do we do with Barney now?
Noppert and the Night-Time Curse
Danny Noppert’s form was the first casualty. Van der Voort’s verdict? If there’s an evening session, Danny might as well stay in the hotel. Vinny reckons Noppert needs to think outside the box, though no one’s entirely sure if that means yoga, Red Bull, or just remembering how to hit a double after 7pm. After all, Noppie doesn’t really get to decide when he plays.
The contrast with Luke Littler couldn’t be sharper. The teenager flips a mental on/off switch like he’s a robot designed in a PDC lab. James Wade also got his customary mention – he apparently continues to specialise in winning ugly, turning standard averages into yet another semi-final.
Belgian Soap Opera
The Antwerp weekend also brought peak drama, courtesy of Kim Huybrechts and Mike De Decker. Kim decided to declare war on the darts media, while De Decker revived a row that’s older than most of Littler’s Instagram followers. Van der Voort’s reaction? Classic Vinny: if you’re still arguing after twelve years, maybe darts isn’t your biggest problem.
Rock, Littler and the Final That Nearly Was
Josh Rock gave Littler a proper scare in the final – even throwing in a spectacular 161 to set up a decider – but then immediately sufferered heartache as Littler coasted home in 11 darts. According to Van der Voort, if you get to start the last leg, you force the issue. Rock didn’t. Cue more Littler silverware and more headlines about the future of darts already being the present.
PDC Communication – Or Lack Thereof
Next target on Vinny’s hit list: the PDC and Sky Sports, who apparently treat organisers like mushrooms – keep them in the dark and feed them nonsense. The Humphries withdrawal saga was wheeled out as Exhibit A. For Van der Voort, it was pure arrogance. For Sky, it was probably just another day at the office.
Barney: The Eternal Question
And then came Raymond van Barneveld, because no Dutch darts conversation is complete without him. Barney looked good for a while against Ryan Searle in Antwerp before the wheels came off. Van der Voort reckons it’s a perfect snapshot of where Barney’s career is now: flashes of brilliance, no longer glued together by consistency.
Vlottes chipped in with the inevitable Littler comparison: Littler at 7–7 finds another gear, Barney at 5–3 discovers the brake pedal. The difference is cruel but obvious. Technically, his throw is still beautiful; physically, he just can’t churn it out for six matches in a row anymore.
Vinny’s conclusion? Barney’s legacy is untouchable, but expecting him to regularly take down the elite at 57 is wishful thinking. He can still beat anyone on a good day, but those days are increasingly rare. The fans don’t care – they’ll cheer him forever – but in the cold light of averages and percentages, Barney’s glory days are in the rear-view mirror.
The Big Picture
So there you have it. Littler keeps winning, Rock continues to rise, Noppert keeps losing when the sun goes down, Wade keeps doing Wade things, the Belgians keep fighting, and Barney keeps being Barney. And through it all, Vincent van der Voort keeps telling it exactly how it is – whether you like it or not. Tune in next time!
