"We bullied him so much he walked away" - Vincent van der Voort's amusing anecdote about snooker match with referee George Noble

For Michael van Gerwen, this year's Grand Slam of Darts has turned into a major disappointment. The 35-year-old Dutchman, who managed to win the tournament three times in the past, lost in the group stage this week. His good friend Vincent van der Voort didn't play in Wolverhampton this year, but he told a nice anecdote in the podcast 'Darts Draait Door'.

Van der Voort himself participated in the Grand Slam of Darts seven times. And then it didn't just stop at darts. "Michael and I often went snooker during the tournament," he says. "In one of those snooker halls. Well, those tend to look really nice in the Netherlands. But where we were in Wolverhampton was really a sight to behold. Really such a junkie den. There was a friend of mine, who could still play reasonably, but Michael and I really can't do anything."

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Referee George Noble was also in attendance and he will have known it. "He can play really well, had even brought his own cue," Van der Voort laughed. "We bullied him so much, he just threw his cue away, that's how angry he was. We made comments all the time, so he didn't hit a ball anymore. He also lost to us. Then he just walked away."

Referee George Noble in action

Wonderful man

Van der Voort and Van Gerwen kept harassing Noble. "Otherwise he was bad and couldn't do anything." But Van der Voort keeps nothing but good memories of Noble. "Really a great guy. I still know him from my BDO days and he's also in the same management as Michael and me. We experienced a lot of great things together."