VINCENT VAN DER VOORT has been backed by Rafa van der Vaart for glory in the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship.
Former UK Open finalist van der Voort saw his popularity saw last year at Alexandra Palace when fans adopted the supportive chant used initially by Tottenham Hotspur fans in support of their own Dutch hero, van der Vaart.
Van der Voort now enters the arena to KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up", and has become a firm favourite with darts fans across the UK and Europe by using the song.
He visited Spurs' training ground on Friday ahead of his Ladbrokes World Darts Championship opener against Mark Hylton, and was presented with a Tottenham shirt by van der Vaart.
"It was funny when I was watching Vincent and saw the crowd singing his name - I was a very jealous!" said van der Vaart, a former Ajax footballer.
"Darts is really big in Holland and I've seen Vincent play a few times. I've been to watch an event back in Holland and always watch on TV.
"I hope Vincent does well in the World Championship."
Van der Voort said: "It's brilliant to meet Rafa - I support Ajax back in Holland and he used to play there.
"He's one of the world's best players and has done brilliantly, and I always follow how he's doing."
The Dutch star won through to the quarter-finals of the World Championship last year, and admitted that the support of the Ally Pally crowd played a big part.
"It was amazing last year," he said. "I've been playing for the PDC since 2007 and wasn't ever that popular.
"I was always one of the foreign players, often playing an English player, so the crowd didn't cheer for me.
"Rafa came to Spurs and is very popular with their fans, and all of a sudden one guy started the song during the World Championship last year. Now all the crowd sing my name and it's amazing."
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