"The referee really made a big mistake" - Vincent van der Voort weighs in on Kirk Bevins after 'whistlegate' during Mike De Decker and Luke Littler's Grand Slam thriller

Mike De Decker went down 10-9 against eventual tournament winner Luke Littler in the second round at the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts. The 28-year-old Belgian looked as if he had the match under control until the Wolverhampton crowd started to get on his back and whistling.

De Decker was visibly annoyed by the whistling and asked referee Kirk Bevins to address the crowd. However, other than saying 'Thank you,' on one occasion, Bevins opted to stsy quiet. "That's where he really makes a mistake," reflected seven time Grand Slam of Darts qualifier Vincent Van der Voort on the podcast'Darts Draait Door'. "When Mike asks to do something about it and he doesn't do anything about it at all.... I think that's really wrong. The referee has to give the darter the choice. He now indicates himself in a statement that he was afraid that if he said something about it, it would only make it worse. But that's not up to the ref, he has to give the darter the choice whether he wants the caller to do something about it or not."

Shouldn't the referee have just had those "whistle blowers" expelled from the audience? Van der Voort is then asked. "Of course that should be done, but you also have to correct each other as an audience. It's not that easy to pick those two out," the Dutchman answers. "Mike was ahead the whole time, then you're not just going to stop either. You might take yourself out of the flow. If Littler comes back in the match and then De Decker starts complaining about it, then people say he will only complain if he loses. That's really hard."

Famously, Gerwyn Price previously made a statement against such whistling by coming on stage with headphones at the World Darts Championship against Gabriel Clemens. But Gian van Veen, also a guest on the podcast and also active at the Grand Slam of Darts last week, thinks it's a shame that so many matches in the modern day are disrupted or decided by the crowd. "This stays that way in sport, unfortunately," he said. "You can't completely rule it out," Van der Voort adds. "Someone can be quiet the whole match and then only start whistling at the end. Before security gets there by then, it's already too late."

Still, it also depends on who the referee on duty is. "Is it George Noble, then the irritating fans have a tough job with him," Van der Voort said. "He's very strict about it. He just walks up to security and points people out. That in itself is good. But it happens everywhere, including the Netherlands. The only country where it goes well and nothing ever happens is Belgium."