Vincent van der Voort has described the Premier League Darts night at Rotterdam Ahoy as an "anti-climax" from a Dutch perspective, citing early exits for home players and a disappointing atmosphere dominated by booing aimed at Luke Littler. Both Dutch participants, Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen, lost convincingly by 6-2 scores. Van der Voort bluntly assessed: "From a Dutch perspective, it was two times 6–2, which isn’t great. And both losses were pretty heavy as well." He acknowledged their opponents played strongly, noting: "I thought Clayton played brilliantly against Michael van Gerwen, and Luke Humphries was also very good against Gian van Veen," but added: "But we definitely expected a bit more."
According to Van der Voort, the entire evening revolved around the booing of Luke Littler rather than support for Dutch players. "Yes, it seemed to dominate the whole evening," he said, adding: "main theme seemed to be booing Littler instead of supporting the Dutch players. It would’ve been better if the crowd focused on creating a great atmosphere." He felt this was a missed opportunity, especially for Gian van Veen's Premier League debut on home soil: "That’s fine, booing Littler. But I had actually also, it was Van Veen’s first time, kind of hoped. A bit behind him. Chanting his name constantly. That disappointed me." Even Michael van Gerwen received less support than in previous years: "With Michael it was also much less than normal."
Van der Voort believes the atmosphere has changed because a different audience now attends Ahoy. "It’s about the type of crowd. Now it’s more of an event crowd—people coming for a night out. That changes everything," he explained, contrasting with early years when "real darts fans" created an "incredible atmosphere" that amazed English managers and the PDC. He summarized: "It’s different now. They’re focused on Littler the whole time." To improve the situation, he suggested a system where loyal visitors or members of darts organisations get earlier ticket access: "For example, if you’re a member of a darts federation, you could get earlier access to tickets," expressing hope that "more darts fans will attend again."
Despite his criticism of the crowd, Van der Voort acknowledged Littler's performance in hostile conditions, noting it would have been "a fine sporting tale" if he had won the night. "That would have been the best outcome for the whole evening," he said, explaining: "Everyone was against him. He may not have behaved well a few weeks ago, but this would have been a great sports story." He observed that during the final, "He went for it. At the start of the final I thought, wow, are we going to see it again—another match like that?" but ultimately "He faded, and Clayton won the match."
