There were bizarre scenes in the match between Vincent van der Voort and Cameron Menzies at the Darts World Championship in London on Thursday evening. The Dutchman was so annoyed by his Scottish opponent’s behavior that he asked the officials backstage to intervene.
The match, which van der Voort easily won 3-0, had been emotionally charged beforehand. Menzies is the partner of Fallon Sherrock, who received a wild card for the World Cup despite a lack of sporting qualifications. The organizing PDC didn’t want to do without their female draft horse, which in turn didn’t go down well with a number of players.
This is also the case with van der Voort, who formulated this publicly. He has the utmost respect for Sherrock, but only those who have qualified should play at a World Cup, the 47-year-old said. The fact that he met her boyfriend a little later was quite explosive.
Especially since Menzies is a player who can extremely annoy his opponent. He talks a lot, likes to touch, sings along when the fans do it – in short, the Scot can quickly upset you in the concentration sport of darts with his moody nature. “A weirdo who sometimes does brilliant things,” said van der Voort before the game and should at least feel confirmed in point one.
Van der Voort was annoyed by Menzies early on. “He’s a really nice guy because he’s just the way he is, but he doesn’t realize how annoying he can be,” said van der Voort later, “I really had to hold myself back a couple of times.” That’s how he got Menzies reprimanded him before the first throw on stage: “He talks to you before the game, during the game, during the breaks… When I throw in I already said to him: Stop now, because I have to throw in right away.”
In the breaks between the sentences, van der Voort was always on the toilet, “although I didn’t have to”. He also went backstage to the tournament director to have him intervene: “I said to him, ‘You really have to tell him to stop now, otherwise he’s going too far.'”
It got really uncomfortable after the game. Instead of briefly shaking van der Voort’s hand, Menzies indicated to his opponent that it was now time for a warm hug. The fact that van der Voort had a different view did not bother the Scot. He tries to hug the unwilling Dutchman.
“It was super uncomfortable,” said van der Voort, who at that moment was visibly struggling to keep his composure: “No one comes that close to me. You’re a little more generous when you win, but at a certain point I said stop it now. Otherwise you have to give him a beating on stage, you don’t want that either.”
He did not do it. Because he had won and because van der Voort was sure that Menzies was like that and “didn’t mean it badly”.