Vincent van der Voort has strongly criticised Mensur Suljovic's behaviour at the Swiss Darts Trophy in Basel. The Austrian reached the semi-finals last weekend, but caused the biggest stir during his quarter-final against Ross Smith. Suljovic made a clear effort to get the crowd on his side while his opponent was throwing at match darts. Van der Voort believes he went too far.
Suljovic beat Smith 6-5, but the post-match discussion focused mainly on his behaviour on stage. The Austrian urged the crowd to make some noise as Smith prepared to throw his match darts. Suljovic also did little to win fans over in his post-match interview. He said Smith should stop complaining and made a remark about women that also provoked a strong reaction from Van der Voort.
Van der Voort and presenter Damian Vlottes discussed Suljovic's much-talked-about performance on the Darts Draait Door podcast. Van der Voort believes the Austrian deliberately crossed a line. "He can say afterwards that Smith shouldn't have cried like that, but he knows himself that you shouldn't do things like that. He crosses the line. Isn't this just unsportsmanlike? You have no influence on the crowd, I know that too, but if you go around stirring them up like that. Then he gives the reason that he needs the crowd to win. That's all well and good, but then the fans should just grant you that and do it of their own accord. Not because you tell them to."
The former professional believes the problem is not simply that Suljovic tried to fire up the crowd. What particularly irked him was the way Suljovic tried to justify his behaviour afterwards. After his defeat, Smith said he had not appreciated Suljovic's behaviour. The Englishman stressed that he did not want to blame his loss on it, but still voiced strong criticism of his opponent. Van der Voort believes Suljovic should have openly admitted afterwards that he had deliberately tried to influence the crowd. "If he had just said that he was seriously winding up the crowd because he wanted Smith to miss, then that would be fine. But then you shouldn't tell him not to cry. You should just say that you did everything you could and that you don't give a damn what he thinks about it. That doesn't matter."
The former professional also believes Smith should not expect Suljovic's behaviour to catch up with him eventually. "I don't believe that at all, because then it would have happened much earlier. He's been doing it for thirty years." Although Van der Voort calls Suljovic's actions unsporting, he also makes clear that he does not expect every darts player to behave impeccably in every situation. In his view, a player who deliberately pushes the boundaries should take responsibility for it afterwards. "This just wasn't okay. If you do all that, fine. But then you also just have to say that you don't give a damn about anything and do whatever you feel like doing. Anything to win. I have absolutely no problem with that he does it, because if he isn't called out, then apparently it's allowed."
