In the electrifying world of darts, where precision meets passion, a fiery debate has erupted, sparked by a veteran player’s unfiltered critique of the sport’s rising star and his peers. Vincent van der Voort, a 49-year-old Dutch maestro known as the “Dutch Destroyer,” has unleashed a scathing takedown of the Premier League Darts lineup, accusing some players of being overly chummy with teenage sensation Luke Littler. As the 2025 Premier League season barrels toward its midway point, Van der Voort’s words have ignited a conversation about competition, camaraderie, and what it truly takes to thrive in the high-stakes Thursday night showdowns that captivate fans across seven countries.
Littler, the 18-year-old prodigy dubbed “The Nuke,” has dominated the Premier League like a storm sweeping through a quiet town. Fresh off his World Championship triumph earlier this year, he’s claimed victory on four of the eight nights so far, including a blistering 6-1 thrashing of world No. 1 Luke Humphries in Newcastle just days ago. With an eight-point lead atop the standings, Littler’s meteoric rise has turned heads and rewritten records, his nine-darters—like the one he nailed against Michael van Gerwen in Cardiff—becoming the stuff of legend. But for Van der Voort, a three-time UK Open finalist and practice partner to darts titan Michael van Gerwen, the awe surrounding Littler has softened the edges of his rivals. “There are too many Littler fanboys right now,” he declared, his tone dripping with frustration, suggesting that some players are more focused on playing nice than playing to win.
Van der Voort didn’t mince words as he took aim at the current Premier League cast, a group handpicked by the Professional Darts Corporation to showcase the sport’s elite. He singled out the likes of Stephen Bunting and Nathan Aspinall—two of Littler’s recent victims—as emblematic of a troubling trend. “Some players just show up and act like the perfect son-in-law,” he blustered, painting a picture of a league where fist bumps and backslaps have replaced the raw, cutthroat intensity he believes the game demands. For him, the Premier League—a 17-week gauntlet offering a £275,000 prize to its champion—should be a battleground, not a buddy comedy. His solution? Inject some chaos into the mix with a player like Dirk van Duijvenbode, a fellow Dutchman and former aubergine farmer who’s yet to claim a televised major but brings a fiery unpredictability to the oche. “Compared to some of the players in it now, I’d much rather watch Dirk,” Van der Voort insisted. “There’s always something happening when he plays.”
The critique lands at a pivotal moment. Littler’s reign has been nothing short of spectacular, his averages soaring past 110 in matches like his whitewash of Bunting in Newcastle, where he silenced a booing crowd with a finger to his ear and a performance that lasted a mere ten minutes. Yet, Van der Voort argues that this dominance exposes a lack of fight in the field. “He steps up to compete against him and does everything to win,” he said of Van Duijvenbode, contrasting him with those he sees as too eager to applaud Littler’s brilliance rather than challenge it. It’s a sentiment that echoes through the darts community, where Littler’s meteoric ascent—he’s already notched 11 PDC titles in the past year—has some wondering if his peers are intimidated or simply starstruck.
Van der Voort’s own history adds weight to his words. A seasoned campaigner ranked world No. 29, he came tantalizingly close to a Premier League spot last year, only to see injury derail his season. “I was really close,” he recalled, hinting at a missed opportunity when the PDC invited him for an on-stage interview in Rotterdam—a tease of what might have been. Now, as an outsider looking in, he’s unafraid to ruffle feathers, even if it means calling out the sport’s establishment. The Premier League’s geographic spread—designed to showcase darts from Belfast to Berlin—relies on its eight-player cast to deliver drama, not diplomacy, and Van der Voort believes the current lineup is falling short.
For Littler, the noise is just background static. He’s too busy breaking records—like Phil Taylor’s 44-match unbeaten streak, now in his sights—and shrugging off hostile crowds, from Cardiff’s boos to Exeter’s chaos, where a fan barged his mum during a walk-on. “I think we all know some have been good and some have been a bit bad,” he said of the fans, ever the cool-headed champion. His rivals, meanwhile, are left to ponder Van der Voort’s barb. Will it light a fire under Humphries, who trails by eight points, or Aspinall, still chasing consistency? Or will it simply fade into the din of a sport propelled by Littler’s unstoppable force? As the Premier League rolls into its next stop, one thing’s clear: the Dutch Destroyer has thrown down a gauntlet, daring the “fanboys” to step up or step aside.
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