Straight-talking Luke Littler says sickened darts stars simply have to ignore the disrespectful darts whistlers.
The World Champion was caught in the centre of the Glasgow storm as his Premier League Darts Final against Luke Humphries was hijacked by unruly idiots. Littler and the World No.1 were both badly affected as whistling from the crowd damaged them at key moments of the showpiece clash.
Earlier in the evening, Welshman Gerwyn Price was angry at the acts and fired back at offenders with an on-stage wolf-whistle of his own after slamming home a crucial shot. Referees have taken a tougher stance in recent times with incidents in both World Series events in Bahrain and Holland being called out on the microphones. However, Littler felt official Kirk Bevins’ attempts to quell the disorder during his Humphries encounter did him no favours.
As pundits and true fans slam the moronic practice, The Nuke wants himself and his rivals to be respected during play. But, when that’s not the case, Littler reckons the best approach is to try and block it out as he said: “Yeah, like you said, they [players] have to ignore it. Obviously, as much as I want the crowd to be respectful of us, if they do it to Luke and he misses darts at double, then as a player myself, I’ve got to come back and I’ve got to hit my doubles.
“But yeah, I think it’s best off if they don’t whistle at us. We just want to play our darts. We all know. We’ve been here a long time. All the fans, they are drinking, they’re all, it’s whatever they want to do. It’s been a long night for them and it’s been a long night for us. But we’ve just got to play our darts.”
Players can’t wear headphones, such as Price infamously did at the Ally Pally at the 2023 Worlds, due to PDC rules. But Littler also wouldn’t consider smaller earbuds as he smiled: “Probably not because I just love the crowd. I know it blocks out a little bit, but, the only thing, whenever we’ve got anything in the ears, it’s music. I can’t put earbuds in and there’s music going on!”
Littler, meanwhile, is claiming the fisherman celebration after netting the big catch in Glasgow. The Nuke smashed a stunning 170 finish against Humphries and gave a brilliant rendition of an angler reeling in his prize due to the shot being dubbed the Big Fish.
He said: “Obviously the 170 goes, I’m always going to do the celebration. I said on stage, it’s been a long time coming since I’ve hit one. I was glad to hit one on the final.” With various other players having trademark celebrations of their own, Littler was asked if he was going to keep doing it in the future and replied: “I think it’s my celebration now!”
Littler enjoyed the moment and also the success which he was able to secure on Night Two of the Premier League.
The 18-year-old had found opponents raising their game and defying his high averages to consign him to defeats since his Ally Pally triumph. But Littler was back on top in Scotland as he took care of Rob Cross with a dazzling fightback before comfortably avenging his Belfast loss to Michael van Gerwen and edging out Humphries in the last-game shootout.
The teenager enjoyed gaining the upper hand again to reassert his qualities as he said: “Well, obviously I am the young one.” Despite his status, he’s the kid compared to others in the elite and still feels it at times as he added: “A little bit, because these guys, the ones that have been here for 10, 15 years, they’ve got to hit a 110-plus average to beat an 18-year-old. So that’s one thing I’ll have to get used to.”