Belgian darts commentator lashes out at Van Barneveld and Van der Voort: "Absolutely 'not good' to hang out your colleagues' dirty laundry"

At the past World Cup of Darts, there was a particular buzz about the feud in the Belgian team between Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts.

During their first group match against Finland, Van den Bergh and Huybrechts did not even glance at each other. Afterwards, however, words were exchanged again. "That first match was really unreal," Matthias De Vlieger, darts commentator at VTM 2, told 433 Darts.

"We did know beforehand that there was a hitch, our colleague Rudy Lanssens was also at the venue and had already noticed it. On stage it splashed off that there was a problem, I do think they missed the mark there. This was bad publicity for Dimitri and Kim, but also for the sport in general. If you see what a great run they had afterwards, had they behaved like this from the start there would have been no rooster watching."

'Not done'

On Dutch channel Viaplay, Dutch darters Raymond van Barneveld and Vincent van der Voort also commented on what could have caused the row between Huybrechts and Van den Bergh. "I think it is absolutely 'not done' to hang out your colleagues' dirty laundry," said De Vlieger. "They name something but don't go further, which creates a lot of speculation. I can tell you in advance that the item most circulating (that one would have done something with the other's wife) is absolutely not true."

"I wonder why Van Barneveld and Van der Voort are doing that and what they have to gain from it. We at VTM 2 know the cause of the quarrel, but deliberately choose not to bring it, simply because it is private. I hope their personal problems get resolved, that won't be easy, but this tournament has also proved that they don't have to be best friends to get far."