Luke Littler's title defence at the World Grand Prix ended in a seismic shock in Leicester, and Vincent van der Voort believes something deeper is amiss. The 2025 winner fell at the first hurdle to an opportunistic Luke Woodhouse, who took his chances to send the world number one tumbling out of the double-in, double-out tournament. Despite both players averaging 82, it was Woodhouse who prevailed, taking out 75 in two darts.
Littler's clean sweep aspirations had already been abolished in Amsterdam, where Jonny Clayton defeated him 10-4 in the quarter-finals of the World Series of Darts Finals. His doubling let him down in that contest, and against Woodhouse it proved extremely costly. Key doubles missed in crucial legs opened the door for Woodhouse to capitalise.
Speaking on Viaplay, Van der Voort analysed Littler's recent struggles. "You can see that he's not completely comfortable in it either," he said. "And maybe it's everything together, that he's also just a little bit at odds with the crowd and perhaps with himself." The crowd troubles in Amsterdam left a nasty stain on what has been a stunning campaign, and Van der Voort believes it may have had an effect on Littler's performance on stage.
It was fairly obvious which side the crowd were supporting in Leicester, making it even more striking as Littler was on home soil. "It's gradually becoming a bit of an image problem, isn't it? Because you hear it again now: every time he misses a dart, you hear people in the crowd cheering. And this is in England. He should be idolised here, shouldn't he?"
Presenter Koert Westerman suggested darts fans could be split into categories. "You know, a venue like this is really great to watch and experience. But you've got the darts fans and you've got the partygoers. And the partygoers don't really care what happens on the stage. They're also often the ones who are whistling and booing. Not the darts fans." Van der Voort agreed: "No, a real darts fan wouldn't do that. They're just watching and want to see a good match. They want to see two players playing as well as possible and they want to see a good game."
He drew a comparison with the changing atmosphere at the Ahoy. "All those partygoers are also a bit of a distraction. But we saw that in the first year at Ahoy, of course. There was a very different crowd to what there was this year, for example. It's just changed."
Van der Voort made the point that Littler's nationality may have something to do with this, commenting that if he was from somewhere else outside of England, then the support would be much greater. "But that's why you expect that when he plays in England, you know. If we had someone like Luke Littler in the Netherlands, we would say, 'If he was Dutch, he would have become a crowd favourite everywhere.'"
He made contrasts with a certain two-time world champion. "Adrian Lewis had it all the time as well. He's only really popular now. But when he was playing, he was booed very often too."
Overall, Van der Voort was adamant that Littler's greatness and success should be embraced by English darts fans. "So you notice that, you know... Usually, when you've got a prodigy like that, a country will really embrace them. Then you're completely praised and celebrated. And with him, somehow, it doesn't happen."