“Why are you booing that? I really don’t understand it” – Vincent van der Voort calls out Dutch fans’ abuse of Luke Littler

Vincent van der Voort remains far from convinced by Luke Littler at the World Series of Darts Finals. The 19-year-old Englishman escaped on Saturday evening against Nathan Aspinall and edged it 10-9 in a last-leg decider. According to Van der Voort, Littler again left enough chances on the table to be beaten. At the same time, the former pro was impressed by Gian van Veen and Dirk van Duijvenbode, who meet in Sunday’s quarter-finals.

“I know people will say he threw a fantastic leg in the nineteenth, but he missed a lot of doubles,” Van der Voort analysed on the Darts Draait Door podcast. “Today Littler was there to be taken. I think Aspinall will definitely feel that and he’ll be really gutted.”

Van der Voort believes Littler does not currently have the form that impressed at the World Matchplay earlier this year. That does not mean, however, that he has suddenly become easy to beat.

“He doesn’t have the Matchplay form at the moment, but it’s still very hard to beat him.” The deciding leg against Aspinall showed, Van der Voort said, why Littler remains lethal even on an off day. “That is pure quality. That’s impressive. He has to break throw and he just fires in 180, 134… It’s really not normal.”

Van der Voort watched two Dutchmen reach the quarter-finals on Saturday. Van Veen’s win over Karel Sedlacek particularly stood out. The Czech, he said, played an excellent match, forcing Van Veen to dig deep.

“We all thought: Gian should just win that. But Sedlacek averaged 103 and really played a fantastic match. And then Gian still finds a way to win. That’s very impressive.”

Van Veen himself also averaged over a ton. “That also means Gian played a good match. This was just a really high-quality game.”

Van der Voort also sees a change in the young Dutchman’s attitude. Van Veen was previously modest in the debate about who is currently the Dutch number one. That seems to be shifting, according to Van der Voort.

“He was very modest all the time about Michael still being the number one player in the Netherlands. At the World Cup he was quite submissive in that whole story. But now he said: with these results you can no longer say Michael is the number one Dutchman. And he’s absolutely right.”

For Van Veen’s development, it is important he recognises his own status, Van der Voort argued. “I think it’s good from Gian, also for his development. Show that you are the number one Dutchman. It’s fine to say you’re number three in the world and the rest have to try to catch you.”

Van Gerwen, according to his close friend, will not be bothered by it. “Michael has plenty on his plate with himself at the moment. He’s not looking at others and he absolutely shouldn’t. He should only focus on himself.”

Van Duijvenbode also drew praise. ‘Aubergenius’ won a spectacular tie 10-9 against Luke Humphries and banked another big result. “Also very impressive. And good for Dirk, again for his development as a player,” said Van der Voort. “He’d been on the verge of this for a while. Of course he made that semi-final at the Matchplay, but afterwards the results on the Pro Tours and Euro Tours dipped a bit.”

Van Duijvenbode had also beaten Humphries a few weeks earlier in Hungary, but Van der Voort felt this win was extra valuable because the Englishman himself hit a high level. “Again now, and in a very good match. It wasn’t like Humphries didn’t turn up.”

Van der Voort did feel Humphries let chances slip to pull away earlier. That is where he currently sees a key difference with Littler. “That’s the difference between one Luke and the other Luke. Those sorts of matches. When it really matters, Littler delivers and Humphries often hasn’t lately.”

He pointed to the deciding legs in both matches. “It’s 9-9 in both. One throws a twelve-darter and the other is still in the 200s after twelve darts. That’s a big difference.”

Van der Voort expects a lot from the all-Dutch quarter-final between Van Veen and Van Duijvenbode. The two also meet again shortly afterwards at the World Grand Prix. “Now there’s something extra to it. Not only that they have to play each other at the Grand Prix, but also that they’re both Dutch. They’ll both say in an interview: it doesn’t matter to me. But secretly it does.”

Van Duijvenbode could count on support from his three-year-old son Levi on Saturday. Van der Voort even has a nickname for him. “I always call his little boy Beuker,” he laughed. “Dirk once said he would’ve liked to name him that, but his girlfriend or wife didn’t agree. Since then I always call him Beuker. I always ask: how’s my Beuker? That always makes Dirk laugh.”

Van der Voort enjoyed seeing father and son together at the tournament. “These are great moments. Having your little boy there is of course special. I remember when my son came along for the first time. Going to a tournament together with your son is really special.”

For Wessel Nijman the tournament ended on Saturday. He lost to James Wade, but according to Van der Voort the Dutchman has little to reproach himself for. “Wade is simply in very good form. Yesterday Wade wasn’t at his best and still got through. Today you see a completely different player. Much sharper, much better.”

Nijman kept pace to 6-6, after which Wade made the difference. “Wessel certainly didn’t play badly. If you just don’t turn up, then you can blame yourself. Or if you’re not well prepared. But if you’ve done everything, played well, and someone else is better, then there isn’t much to reproach yourself for.”

Van der Voort feels expectations around Nijman might be rising too fast. “Maybe we all want too much too quickly. As long as he keeps his patience and thinks: if I keep playing well, it will come. Then I do think it will happen.”

He drew a comparison with Van Veen, who earlier in his career also produced strong TV displays without immediate reward. “With Gian it also took a while. He really threw brilliantly on TV, but kept losing in the first round because someone was firing like mad against him. You’d think: good draw, and poof, out.”

Van der Voort was again irritated on Saturday by the behaviour of part of the crowd. He especially struggled to understand the booing during Littler versus Aspinall. “More booing again today. Littler against Aspinall, a cracking match. Why do you need to boo that? I really don’t get it.”

He has no issue if some fans aren’t keen on Littler. “That’s all fine, but it adds nothing. Just make it a great night.”

For the Dutch quarter-final Van der Voort hopes both players are mainly cheered, without targeting the opponent. “You hope they’re both really loudly encouraged and that people behave normally in between. Not that if they’re for Gian, they start booing Dirk, or the other way round.”

Raymond van Barneveld also came up for discussion at length. The five-time world champion is working for ITV at the event and on Saturday did his familiar walk-on before play.

“In itself that’s nice, because he really is a legend,” said Van der Voort. He himself would pass on such an entrance after his career. “Everyone should decide for themselves. In my case, people shouldn’t expect it. It won’t happen.”

At the same time, Van der Voort admitted he has mixed feelings when watching Van Barneveld as a player these days. “I find it hard at the moment to watch him as a player. When I started, he was simply the number one in the Netherlands. He won the titles. If Van Barneveld walked in, he came for the trophies.”

That image has changed. “That he’s now making up the numbers and hoping for a good run, I find that hard to watch.” That’s why Van der Voort now prefers seeing his former colleague relaxed in another role. “I’d rather see him like this than see him on stage shaking his head during the warm-up.”

With Van Veen and Van Duijvenbode, the Netherlands are assured of a semi-finalist on Sunday. Van der Voort is especially looking forward to their head-to-head. “It’s simply good for the Netherlands and also for the people who bought a ticket. It’ll be very interesting to see how those two play against each other.”