"On a personal level, he is a terrible person" - Vincent van der Voort hits out at former PDC boss

Vincent van der Voort has decided to take a sabbatical year in 2025. The 48-year-old Dutchman still hopes to qualify for the World Darts Championship this year, but on his eventual departure from the professional circuit, he does not expect congratulations from former PDC boss Barry Hearn.

If Van der Voort wants to qualify for a seventeenth World Darts Championship at the PDC, it will most likely have to happen through the qualifying tournament for Tour Card holders. "To say goodbye in a dignified way would be nice," Van der Voort said to the podcast 'Darts Draait Door' translated from Dutch.

"Of course, it's not for everyone. I also know what it's like to go to the World Championship and then you wake up in the morning already a little tense. The drive to Alexandra Palace. The feeling in the hall, throwing in. That would be nice to experience again, for sure."

Whether he will be waved off by Barry Hearn after his last match? "I consider that chance very small. He's a great businessman. Really been an icon for the sport of darts, what he has put down. But as a person: a bigger ashtray does not exist. On a personal level he is a terrible person, I think. In terms of business we couldn't have wished for a better one," Van der Voort said.

Van der Voort especially has one major criticism of the PDC and that is the too busy calendar. "Which means you have to play certain tournaments, but also makes it easier to let certain tournaments slip. You have to go to a points ranking, but they're never going to do that. Darters can't let anything slip now, because there's money to lose. Besides, there are many different rankings, such as the Order of Merit (world ranking) and Pro Tour Order of Merit."

"There is no string to it. I personally think the world rankings should always be leading. If you have to talk about the PDC. There is where they go wrong. Business-wise they are doing well, the tournaments are tightly organized. You can't fault anything about that. But there is nobody on the board who has been a player himself or who knows what it is. They basically just do something in that area. What is commercially best for them, but not for the players. That's where they miss the mark."