{"id":205979,"date":"2025-12-27T02:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T02:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/205979\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T02:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T02:54:08","slug":"they-are-probably-on-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/205979\/","title":{"rendered":"‘They are probably on benefits’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wesley Plaisier isn’t letting online critics get under his skin after his breakthrough performance at the World Darts Championship.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Dutchman has faced nasty comments about his appearance on social media following his stunning upset victory at Alexandra Palace.<\/p>\n

But he’s brushing off the negativity with a defiant attitude.<\/p>\n

“Haters make you stronger,” Plaisier told Sportnieuws.nl.<\/p>\n

\"Wesley<\/p>\n

Wesley Plaisier isn’t letting online critics get under his skin<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

He explained that he rarely bothers reading the comments and certainly doesn’t respond to them.<\/p>\n

“I try to shut it out. I don’t respond anyway. I read it very occasionally, but I don’t care at all. I see it as people who are jealous. Most of them are probably at home on benefits.”<\/p>\n

The victory that sparked all this attention was nothing short of remarkable.<\/p>\n

Plaisier swept aside former world champion Gerwyn Price in emphatic fashion, winning 3-0 in sets against the ninth seed.<\/p>\n

It’s one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far.<\/p>\n

“My phone literally exploded after the match. I had never experienced anything like it,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman described the clash as the defining moment of his career so far.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t just a win \u2013 it marked his breakthrough on darts’ grandest stage and earned him a whole new level of respect within the sport.<\/p>\n

Among the flood of messages was one that caught Plaisier by surprise.<\/p>\n

PSV midfielder Joey Veerman reached out via Instagram to congratulate him on the win.<\/p>\n

“I even got a message from Joey Veerman,” Plaisier revealed. “We don’t really speak, but he congratulated me via Instagram. Really nice that he sent a message.”<\/p>\n

What makes this particularly interesting is that Plaisier is a devoted Feyenoord fan \u2013 and the rivalry between Feyenoord and PSV runs deep in Dutch football.<\/p>\n

But Plaisier takes a mature view of it all.<\/p>\n

\"PSV<\/p>\n

PSV star Joey Veerman even sent Wesley Plaisier congratulations<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

“Of course I’ve been disappointed when he scored against Feyenoord. But away from sport we’re all professional toward each other.”<\/p>\n

The focus now shifts to what comes next for the man some are calling ‘Big Wes’ \u2013 a nickname that emerged after a Euro Tour announcer used it.<\/p>\n

Plaisier faces Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski in the third round on Saturday afternoon, the first match after the Christmas break.<\/p>\n

Despite being viewed as the favourite following his demolition of Price, he’s keeping his feet firmly on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"Gerwyn<\/p>\n

Gerwyn Price was fancied as a potential winner this year but was dismantled by Wesley Plaisier<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

“I think it will be 50\/50. People say: You beat Price, then he’s a pushover. But that’s not how I see it, I just have to be sharp against him again.”<\/p>\n

Victory would set up a last-16 clash against either Andrew Gilding or Luke Woodhouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wesley Plaisier isn’t letting online critics get under his skin after his breakthrough performance at the World Darts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,60564,146,85,46,52701,2224],"class_list":{"0":"post-205979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-darts","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-sgg","14":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}