“I said I was on my way and simply stayed where I was" – Vincent van der Voort reveals remarkable reason for PDC fine

Vincent van der Voort has regularly dealt with the disciplinary committee during his long PDC career. The Dutchman was not exactly known for always colouring within the lines and was handed several fines. In the podcast Darts Draait Door, Van der Voort looks back with plenty of humour on some of those incidents. One £250 fine came his way in a particularly remarkable fashion.

Within the PDC, the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) is responsible for enforcing the rules and imposing sanctions on players. Van der Voort came into contact with the disciplinary committee several times during his career. He has an idea himself why he was summoned so strikingly often.

“Maybe they just don’t like the look of my face, that could very well be it,” says a laughing Van der Voort. According to the former professional, there was not always equal treatment either. He pointed, with a wink, to his compatriot Michael van Gerwen. “Van Gerwen hardly ever gets fined. Somehow, someone always seems to protect him. It’s been like that from the very beginning. I only have to look at someone and apparently that’s already not good enough. Then I get another fine,” said Van der Voort.

The most striking anecdote, however, concerns a fine he received during the COVID period. During that time, the conditions at many PDC tournaments were different from normal. For instance, there were not always official scorers present, and after their own match players sometimes had to sit at the scoring table themselves to mark the next game.

Van der Voort lost his match and then had other plans. He was already back in his hotel room and had simply put the scoring duty out of his mind, by his own account. “I once received a £250 fine because I didn’t score another match,” the Dutchman says. “It was during the coronavirus period and the PDC didn’t have its own scorers at the tournaments. We, as darts players, had to do it ourselves.”

After his defeat, Van der Voort walked to his hotel room. He wanted to rest for a bit, until he was called by an official with the message that he had to go and score. The Dutchman decided not to return to the venue. “I had lost and had already forgotten about it. I was lying in my hotel room when an official called to say I had to score. I said I was on my way and simply stayed where I was. Forget it.”

At that moment, Van der Voort basically knew what the consequences would be. He had consciously weighed up returning to the venue or accepting the fine. And with an amount of £250, that choice was quickly made for him.

“I knew I was going to get that fine anyway. It was only £250. If it had been £2,000, I probably would have got out of my room,” he says with a smile.

The story offers a unique glimpse into how Van der Voort dealt with the sometimes strict rules within the PDC during his career. The Dutchman was a fixture at the highest level for years and was known for his outspoken character. That regularly sparked debate, while at the same time producing plenty of hilarious stories.

According to Van der Voort, the disciplinary committee’s fines were not always an enormous financial blow. Precisely because of that, players could sometimes decide to accept a sanction when the alternative was simply less appealing.