“Everyone starts acting like fools” – Van der Voort puzzled by Noppert World Series controversy

“Everyone starts acting like fools” – Van der Voort puzzled by Noppert World Series controversy

Vincent van der Voort has hit out at the overreaction surrounding a throwaway comment made by Danny Noppert about the PDC World Series — insisting the whole affair could have been put to bed in a single sentence and that too many people stuck their noses in unnecessarily.

The row began during a recent episode of Van der Voort’s Dutch podcast Darts Draait Door, which he co-hosts with Damian Vlottes. During the recording, Noppert mentioned that he would not be attending the World Series events in Australia later this year, as he had already booked a holiday. The problem was how it came across — as though he had received an official invitation and turned it down. His management quickly issued a denial, insisting Noppert had not been invited.

What followed, according to Van der Voort, was a farcical escalation that left him shaking his head.

“His management immediately said what was said wasn’t true, but he did just say it that way,” Van der Voort explained. “Then they put out a statement and it’s claimed the media is lying.”

The former UK Open finalist was not buying the spin. “A statement came out saying the media had twisted it. But I didn’t think that. In the podcast he says he had already turned it down because he’s going on holiday. He doesn’t literally say he’d been asked, but that’s how it comes across.”

Van der Voort’s frustration was less about Noppert’s slip and more about the chaos that surrounded it. The PDC began making calls, management got involved, statements flew — and what began as an innocent verbal stumble became a full-blown controversy.

“If he had just said: it came out wrong, I meant I wouldn’t go even if I was asked — that’s it, it’s done,” Van der Voort said. “But now everyone starts acting like fools and it gets blown up into something far bigger than it is.”

His verdict was characteristically blunt. If Noppert had simply meant he would not travel to Australia regardless of an invite — a reasonable stance for a player who had already organised a family holiday — then a quick correction was all that was needed. “You can just say: it was a slip of the tongue, he meant he simply wasn’t going to go. Then it’s over. But now everyone climbs into the highest tree.”

The whole episode comes against a backdrop of Van der Voort’s ongoing frustration at Noppert’s treatment by the PDC. Earlier this year he labelled it a disgrace that the Dutchman had been passed over for the Premier League for a fourth consecutive time, pointing out that Noppert had reached the semi-finals of two majors in 2025 and made a stronger case than several of those who were selected. The UK Open only underlined the point — Noppert hit a nine-darter against Dimitri Van den Bergh and knocked out Luke Humphries before losing narrowly to Luke Littler in the semi-finals.

For Van der Voort, the World Series storm was a classic case of a molehill being turned into a mountain. “It was simply a communication error. Nothing more,” he said. “A storm in a teacup.”