Luke Littler ‘would not assist himself’ with darts boos as icon warns star ‘be extra likeable’
Luke Littler is out to win the Premier League at The O2 Arena in London, but the world champion will likely have to face the mood music of a potentially hostile crowd.
The 19-year-old sensation has earned the right to be called the dominant force in darts, but not everyone is a fan of the teenager who received such incredible support from fans and spectators when he first burst onto the scene.
Littler has become a magnet for boos in recent months, as ‘The Nuke’ sweeps nearly all majors before him. His dominance – coupled with some of his behaviour on stage and spats with rival stars – has inevitably brought frustration among some darts enthusiasts, as there’s seemingly little competition to stop the Warrington star winning trophy after trophy.
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Littler will be back on the big stage on Thursday night when he looks to win back the Premier League Darts title, having lost his 2024 crown to Luke Humphries in last year’s final.
‘The Nuke’ will face Gerwyn Price in the semi-final, before the winner plays either Humphries or Jonny Clayton in a bid to win the £350,000 winners’ jackpot.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, darts legend Vincent van der Voort warned Littler will be booed on Finals Night, but insisted it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Although the Dutchman claimed the teenager does not help himself by egging on a hostile reception.
He said: “We don’t like somebody who wins everything, but only if you’re a big fan, but sometimes he doesn’t help himself as well. He’s been on that stage from 16-years-old, it’s very difficult as well to know what’s good and what’s not.
“I don’t know how good the people around him are with him but sometimes you think he didn’t handle that well.
“But if you win everything, you think you can do whatever you want, but the moment you start losing and the crowd is still against you all the time, ask Gerwyn Price, ask Paul Nicholson, ask other players, then it will get to you, and it will hurt you as long as you win, they can’t hurt you.
“So it could be a problem in the future, but in the moment he handles it easily. Every boo everything, he just still wins matches.”
Reflecting on whether the boo boys actually bring the best out of Littler, Van der Voort didn’t agree. “I don’t think this gets the best out of him because you can see sometimes he’s annoyed and, he loses matches out of it,” he said.
“The moments he really wants to be there he wins and sometimes it’s worse than other times, but I think in the long run, it’s not the best situation you can be in when the crowd is always against you.
“If I were involved with him, then I would talk to him 100%, but I’m not, so let him do it if the crowd will be against him forever, and he plays Michael every day it’s no problem for me!
“But if I were involved with him, I would 100% talk to him and say how you don’t have to change your personality.
“You don’t have to be a different guy than you are, but with some interviews and some things you say, you can just show your other side and you’d be more likeable.”
