"Getting your rest doesn’t mean eating a shawarma or Turkish pizza late at night" – Criticism of Michael van Gerwen’s scuffle in a döner shop

While the best players in the world were competing in the Swiss Darts Trophy, Michael van Gerwen shot into the headlines for all the wrong reasons after footage emerged of him being entangled in a brawl in a kebab shop. The footage has gone viral, with one of his closest compatriots Vincent van der Voort coming to the side of his fellow Dutchman.

Van Gerwen chose not to travel to Switzerland last weekend, with him in no bother for qualifying for the European Championships. He has won a title on the tour this year, defeating Gian van Veen in the German Darts Grand Prix. More recently, he clinched his first major title in two years, defeating World Champion Luke Littler 11-7 in the World Series of Darts Finals. While it seems that his darts game is in a good position, off the oche it is not going all so smoothly.

On the podcast 'Darts Draait Door' translated from Dutch, van der Voort summarised the situation. "It happened after a night out. I'll try to explain it a bit, but when Michael comes in, things get heated. A lot of fuss. But it's also true: he's a famous Dutch person. So, he gets yelled at a lot. It's busier in that place then, and it was also a lot of stress for the staff. It's all busy, everyone needs help, and at some point, there's a bit of miscommunication."

"The man behind the counter thought, 'I'm done with this.' He attacked him. Everyone got involved, and they immediately went outside. Then the nephew came out, and they talked about it right away. There wasn't really a fight. Of course, you end up in that situation. Everyone was playing a tournament in Switzerland, and he was getting some rest. Getting some rest doesn't mean going out late into the night and eating a shawarma sandwich or Turkish pizza."

The three-time World Champion is set to compete in the trio of upcoming Players Championship events in Leicester, as he looks to qualify for Minehead. The Dutchman sits in an uncharacteristic 103rd in the standings, with the top 64 receiving qualification to the players Championship Finals. He sits £9.5k away from his intended target, with work to do to rise into the provisional spots. Van der Voort picked up on this, questioning why he was not practising for the important tournaments coming up.

"You want him to fully dedicate himself to darts and his children. That's what you want ideally. But how he spends his free time, I have no say in. However, if this happens again, it's a shame what's happening. I'm not concerned about the publicity, but him being away for two days means he's not fully focused on his work. Of course, someone can go out and have a party once in a while. That's all fine, but there are three very important Pro Tours coming up. You hope he's busy training and preparing for that."

Mighty Mike also commented on the situation: "The wisest thing to do would have been to walk away," he says, with hindsight. "Everyone who's been drinking sometimes says stupid things, including me. That wasn't smart on either side. I find it much sadder that it was all filmed."