VAN DER VELDE JOINS ROONEY IN STAR-STUDDED STABLE AHEAD OF ALLY PALLY

JURJEN VAN DER VELDE has swapped early-morning milking for life on the World Championship stage after being identified as a rising star by Wayne Rooney’s management team.

World No116 Van der Velde recently signed with Invictus Darts Management, the agency run by Paul Stretford, long-time adviser to Manchester United and England legend Rooney.

Van der Velde is regarded as one of the brightest young prospects in darts, having reached last year’s World Youth Championship final and the fifth round of the UK Open in 2025.

The Dutchman was raised on a family dairy farm in Zevenhuizen in the north of the Netherlands, which is home to around 180 cows.

Despite his growing darts commitments, the 23-year-old still rolls up his sleeves to help out whenever he returns home.

He said: “At the start of the year I started to live together with my girlfriend but I still work on the farm, milking the cows and driving the tractor.

“How many cows are there? About 180 – there is no particular reason why it’s that number but it fits well.

“We have around 80 hectares including the fields but 180 cows need space to graze.

“When I milk them, the alarm goes off at 4.15am, which always feels very early.

“We start by cleaning the boxes [sheds] and around five o’clock we start milking.

“We clean the udders with towels but the actual miking is done by machines.

“It’s a family business – my grandad started it and my dad took it over.

“We normally finish the milking around 8am, so we go in the house for some coffee and bread.

“After that, sometimes my dad needs my help and sometimes I can go home.

“Believe it or not I’m not an early bird, even though I get up at 4.15am, so sometimes I will go back to bed for two hours and then I start to practise.

“My father told me if you need to travel to play darts, we can get help and that’s okay.

“I don’t drink milk from the supermarkets because I don’t like some of the things they put in the milk – and the taste is very different when you take it directly from the farm.

“That’s the only milk I drink – from our farm, because I know it from the taste.

“It comes from a big tank of 13,000 litres, which empties every two days when we sell it on.”

Van der Velde opens his World Championship campaign on Tuesday evening against Danny Noppert.

At last month’s Grand Slam of Darts, he was physically sick backstage before walking on but still went on to beat Damon Heta and enter the second round of the major.

He added: “When the one-minute call came to get ready for the walk-on I was not ready.

“So I went to the back door, took in some fresh air, took a deep breath and that helped me.

“Some people get so nervous they throw up – I did, but maybe it helped me because I won that game.”

Van der Velde is confident his move into professional darts is being handled the right way.

He continued: “A few weeks ago I signed with a new management team (Paul Stretford) and they are helping me a lot.

“Wayne Rooney and other popular people like Robbie Williams are in the same stable and I have a good feeling about it. I am in good company.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.