Stephen Bunting produced an incredible act of sportsmanship and class as he went down to Danny Noppert at the World Masters.
In a dramatic darts finale, The Bullet called for his massive fanbase to stop getting on the Dutchman’s back as he tried to win a thriller. With the quarter-final locked at 3-3 in sets and 2-2 in legs, it was a straight shootout and Noppert first missed darts to win the contest which opened the door for Bunting to walk through and claim success.
But then, in a nerve-shredding scene, the Scouser missed his own chance to the despair of his army of supporters. Desperate to get their man out of trouble, some of the Bunting backers then started to boo and jeer as Noppert walked back to the board for another try. It was at that point the Scouser showed his class. He turned to the offenders and waved them down to stop it, to show some order and respect to his opponent.
The act worked. The booing stopped. And Noppert hit his winning shot to claim a fabulous win and move into a semi-final against Luke Humphries. Bunting had no hesitation about the move and said afterwards about his gesture: “Yeah I should have told them to shout a bit more to be honest! But, no, of course, it’s just a respectful sport.
“We’re both really good friends as well and if he’s got a chance to win the match, I’m happy for him. Unfortunately for me it was against me, but it’s just one of those games and, hopefully, he can go on and win the title now.”
Noppert added his appreciation for Bunting’s grace and quality as he added: “When I was starting at the BDO, he was already No.1 and then I was all learning off Stephen. We are all friends with each other and we like each other.”