'He was about to flip the table, but he's not that strong' - Incredible story of when Co Stompé lost his head

Vincent van der Voort picked up an anecdote from his BDO days in the most recent episode of the Darts Draait Door podcast, at the suggestion of Barry Sander - an acquaintance of Jelle Klaasen. Damian Vlottes revealed that Sander had prodded him beforehand: "You have to let Vincent tell a story about Switzerland and envelopes. That's all I'm saying."

Van der Voort picks up the thread and outlines how during the Open Switzerland - over twenty years ago - he was about to return home together with Arjan Moenen and Mieke de Boer. However, the Swiss organization announced that prize money would not be awarded until after the tournament.

"We thought it was all taking a bit long and started to get bored. Then we told Co (Stompé) - who had also finished - that we had already had our prize money. That completely flipped him off!" laughed Van der Voort. "He started pulling at the table, he made quite a fuss about it. There was even talk of suspensions. Co was about to flip the table, but he's not that strong so fortunately that didn't work out."

Looking ahead to the Swiss Darts Trophy

After the foray into the past, the gentlemen turn their gaze to current events. The Swiss Darts Trophy is just around the corner. Big names like Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler are missing, but there is a solid Dutch contingent present.

"In the first round, Van Veen, Nijman, Wattimena, Van Duivenbode, Van Barneveld, Landman, Veenstra, Zonneveld and Jitse van der Wal will be in action," Vlottes lists. "And Danny Noppert doesn't enter until the second round."

Both presenters expect an exciting weekend. "As a darts fan, you want to follow this," states Vlottes. "Also with an eye on the rankings: who can still qualify, how far do they have to get? Hopefully they'll bring that into focus." Van der Voort adds with a wink: "And hope Filip Brzezinski doesn't promise people places again that end up not being there. The other day he had congratulated someone for the European Championship, but it turned out they weren't there at all!"

Criticism of WDF World Cup selection

The conversation then takes a serious turn when it talks about the WDF World Cup, to be held in South Korea this year with the Dutch team consisting of Alexander Merckx, Danny van Trijp, Jimmy van Schie and Corné Groeneveld.

Although Vlottes is enthusiastic about the field of participants, Van der Voort cannot hide his indifference. "I really don't care about that at all," he says plainly. "I competed in that tournament myself, but I'm not going to sit and watch all night on DartConnect."

Even harsher is his criticism of the selection policy of the Dutch Darts Association (NDB). According to Van der Voort, it is illogical that players can qualify through the PDC Challenge Tour, while the NDB organizes its own ranking tournaments. "You make your own tournaments less important," he argues. "If you throw NDB tournaments for a whole year and you finish second or third on the ranking, you should be rewarded for that. But now it can happen that someone ranks higher, even wins the Open Netherlands, and still doesn't get selected."

He points to the youth as an example: "Kensie Steinbach is first, Bradley van der Velden second. Bradley has won the Dutch Open, is higher in the world and Dutch rankings, but is not allowed. Then the number three is allowed. That's weird, isn't it?"

Van der Voort compares the situation with the PDC Premier League selection: "There is a lot of discussion about that too, but in essence it is the same. If you have ambition to make it to the national team through the NDB, why would you still participate if you are not rewarded anyway?"

His conclusion is clear: "That just sucks. I wouldn't be happy if I came in second, ranked higher everywhere and still didn't get to compete. Then something's not right."

The presenters conclude by saying that soon they would like to invite Paul, the director of the NDB, after the Dutch Open. "Then we can ask him this directly," said Vlottes. "Good luck Paul. You have months to think about your answer," Van der Voort then concludes cynically.