THERE’S NO PINT TOOLING UP
MVG cools security fears after yob pelts him with beer
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN insists there’s no need to beef up security at the World Championship after “stupid people” ruined his return to the Ally Pally. The world No.1 was left soaked and shaken after an idiot in the crowd lobbed beer over him as he prepared to walk on for his first-round match against Alan Tabern on Saturday night. Emotional van Gerwen had tears in his eyes after the disgraceful incident and confessed he felt “destroyed” for a few moments afterwards. The Dutchman did superbly not to react and regained his composure to book a second-round clash with Max Hopp but the issue has raised questions over crowd behaviour.
But Van Gerwen insists the rest of the supporters should not be branded by the actions of a clown and is confident there are no long-term problems for the game’s chiefs to fear.
He said: “Nah. This is one incident. Otherwise you would need to have 4000 security to have an eye on all the people. It’s impossible.
“I hope they regretted it in the morning. Luckily I didn’t do any damage, I handled it quite well.
“It was a few drunk blokes who like to be big boys.
“I was getting emotional. They think it was targeted at the security men because they had been told off before. It felt like two pints down my neck.
“You always have stupid people in life. Everyone makes mistakes but it was annoying.”
Van Gerwen had to go backstage to change and feared the crowd would turn on him with the game delayed.
He said: “I had to refocus. Matt Porter, the PDC director, said, ‘Are you ready to play?’
“I said, ‘Not yet’. It destroyed me a bit. It was weird for me, a new situation. I was angry.
“I was a bit afraid the fans were getting annoyed with me because I was taking my time. I had to wash my hands, neck, face. But it didn’t come back on me. The fans were phenomenal.”