Once the living deity of darts, Luke Littler’s standing with the sport’s fans has considerably soured of late following two on-stage incidents that appear to have turned public opinion against the double world champion.
While there has long been more than a hint of pantomime behind the booing and whistling occasionally aimed at the dominant 19-year-old, the frequency and intensity of ill-feeling has grown in recent weeks and months.
Littler’s near-total dominance of the sport since reaching the World Championship final on debut means there was perhaps always going to be a time when Littler turned from hero to villian. Indeed, it is something Luke Humphries predicted it in an interview with ESPN in December.
The sight of one of the country’s most famous sportspeople being regularly booed will certainly surprise more casual viewers — so how did Littler’s relationship with the crowd get to this point, and how is it affecting him?
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Why is Luke Littler getting booed?
‘The Nuke’ has never really been the flavour of the month in darts’ European heartlands, often attracting boos and whistles from fans in Germany, in particular.
Littler, a passionate Manchester United fan, has often revelled in a friendly rivalry with fans when playing in cities that are traditionally hostile to United, such as Leeds and Liverpool.
But the relationship with spectators in his home country has turned to a level of derision after two incidents.
World Championship flashpoint
The first distasteful incident came at the World Championship in December when defending champion Littler battled past Rob Cross to reach the quarterfinal stage.
The to-and-fro contest had the Alexandra Palace crowd siding with Cross, mainly due to their hopes of seeing a match for the ages. The support for his opponent agitated Littler during the contest, and he was visibly angry when speaking to Sky Sports in his post-match interview after he had wrapped up a thrilling 4-2 victory.
“I’m not bothered [by the booing]. Really not bothered. You guys pay for tickets and you pay for my prize money so thanks for booing me,” Littler said to the jeering crowd.
“No-one wanted me to win but I proved them wrong yet again.”
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Luke Littler admits he lost his head after Rob Cross win
Luke Littler reflects on giving some back to a hostile Ally Pally crowd after beating Rob Cross.
Littler’s outburst meant that speculation over his reception in the arena ahead of his quarterfinal walk-on was the talk of darts, but beyond some pantomime booing at the start, he was well-received.
“Obviously, it is a new year, first day of the year. A few boos here and there,” Littler said after his 5-0 win over Krzysztof Ratajski. “But as soon as I got on stage, the crowd was absolutely unbelievable. Leading up to it, family and friends were just like, whatever happens, happens.
“As soon as I got on stage, I clapped everyone just so they knew, I want them on my side again. They were on my side tonight and I got the job done. So hopefully, it is the same again tomorrow.
“I am growing as a player mentally. I know how to deal with it and I think the Rob Cross game definitely tested me. But yeah, I got through it. In future games, I know how to deal with it and get past it.”
There were few signs of unrest during his eventual triumph over Van Veen in the final and it seemed that a line had been drawn under the incident.
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Premier League spat with Van Veen
After a period of cordiality, Littler returned to something resembling public enemy No. 1 status after becoming involved in a tense exchange with the popular Van Veen during Night Nine of the Premier League in Manchester on April 2.
With the match hanging in the balance at 5-5, Van Veen missed a match dart — a miss that he says Littler celebrated. The action caused the usually mild-mannered Van Veen to stare disapprovingly at his opponent which in turn appeared to anger Littler who gestured to Van Veen on his return to the oche.
After failing to wrap the match up himself, Littler performed a ‘cry baby’ gesture to the crowd as Van Veen stepped up to seal his 6-5 victory. The pairs were involved in a brief handshake before Littler quickly walked off-stage.
Van Veen, who lost his fourth nightly final of the campaign to Gerwyn Price, said after his opening win that Littler was a “bad loser” and that his conduct on the oche was “out of order.”
On Thursday evening, 19-year-old Littler shared an image of Van Veen’s comments on his Instagram Stories, adding three laughing emojis below. Van Veen later said “I don’t think things will be very friendly between us anytime soon.”
In a subsequent interview with Online Darts, Littler said his reaction to Van Veen’s miss was meant for his girlfriend and her father who were in the crowd.
He also said the television cameras didn’t show Van Veen placing his darts down on the drinks table as Littler threw for the match, something Littler hinted was an unsporting psychological trick.
Whatever the sequence of events, the incident lowered Littler in the estimation of fans.
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How has it affected Littler?
This is a difficult one to answer as sometimes Littler appears out of sorts when playing amid a cacophony of boos, and at others he uses it as fuel to wipe the floor with his rivals.
He weathered the storm against Cross to progress in the World Championship and eventually lift his second title, for example.
However, there are signs that, perhaps understandably for a player of his age, the crowd’s reaction can have an effect on his game.
Considering the usual hostility that he is often faced with in Germany, it is perhaps notable that he has never won a major senior tournament in Germany — not even a Pro Tour, a Euro Tour, or even a Premier League night.
The only two tournaments missing from his CV are the World Cup (held in Frankfurt) and the European Championship (held in Dortmund).
Asked in December if he has a problem with playing in Germany, Littler told reporters: “Yeah, I mean, whatever. I don’t know. The crowds were good in Dortmund. Not really any booing going on. So maybe I might try a Euro Tour, and if they start booing me then, I won’t go.”
One week after the incident with Van Veen in Manchester, Littler posted his worst career performance in a televised PDC event as he was beaten 6-4 by Stephen Bunting amid a chorus of boos in Brighton, averaging just 83.94.
He later put his lack of performance down to a lack of practice and the feeling that he “didn’t want to be there.”
Littler told Sky Sports: “Thursday night didn’t get to plan. I had the worst average. I knew it was pretty bad even when I got on stage I didn’t want to be there. I just couldn’t be bothered.”
The following week, though, he braved a heated atmosphere created by Van Veen’s home crowd in Rotterdam — to reach the nightly final where he eventually lost out to Jonny Clayton.
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What have Littler’s rivals said about it?
World No. 2 Humphries has said he expects the recent heated exchange between Luke Littler and Gian van Veen will soon be forgotten, telling ESPN it’s “hot news now, it’ll be gone next week.”
Asked for his views on the incident ahead of the Premier League night in Brighton on April 9, Humphries said: “It happens every now and then in darts, to be honest. I just think it’s just one of those things and it can get caught up in the emotion and it’s a cauldron, darts. Sometimes you get caught up in the emotion, you do things that you think, ‘s—, I wish I wouldn’t have done that.’ And you can’t go back — it’s done.
“Darts is a very game full of pressure all the time. And sometimes you just accidentally explode and things can annoy you. I don’t think Luke or Gian or any of them are right or wrong. I just think that these sort of things happen and, yeah, just enjoy the spat for what it is and it’s a bit of drama, a bit of ‘it is what it is.’
“Everyone seems to have written about it a lot this last five or six days, but they’ll be forgotten in two weeks. So it’s one of them scenarios and it is hot news now, it’ll be gone next week.”
Meanwhile, 16-time world champion Phil Taylor has backed Littler to deal with the adverse reaction from darts crowds.
“I think Luke’s tough enough to ride it out. The only way with fans is you’ve got to perform on stage,” Taylor told The Sun.
“If he performs like he can, he’ll get them back … But I think he’s capable of dealing with it. He’s not a bad lad. He could go up there and think, ‘I’m going to show you how good I am’ and play brilliantly.
“I don’t really do social media. It gets done for me. But if I was to advise Luke I’d say keep off social media. Don’t put anything on. Don’t do it. Don’t rise to it. Leave it alone.”
