Luke Littler slammed the “pretty bad” Glasgow crowd after he and Luke Humphries were targeted by boos and whistles at the Premier League Darts and a Sky Sports presenter decided to speak out
Luke Littler slammed the Glasgow darts crowd as “pretty bad” following a night fraught with disruptions from boos and whistles during the second night of this year’s Premier League.
The young darts prodigy clinched his first nightly triumph of the 2025 season, triumphing over Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries to secure the win.
The 18-year-old defeated the world number one 6-5 in a last-leg decider, despite being hampered by a cut on the middle finger of his right throwing hand, which required a plaster.
But his victory was overshadowed by controversy as excessive crowd noise disrupted the players, forcing referees and security to step in.
Rob Cross endured boos while holding match darts on two occasions, and both Humphries and Littler were clearly disturbed by whistling during their final game of the night.
Describing the interference, Littler said: “There were a few in particular that were doing it when Luke [Humphries] was throwing,” reports the Express. He added: “Kirk [Bevins, the referee] told them to be quiet and it made it even worse.”
Recounting a critical moment, Littler said: “I missed doubles, Luke breaks at 5-4. I’m just like ‘Kirk you’ve made it even worse for me, I’m 5-4 down.’ But I broke back and held my throw again.”
When asked about the referee’s intervention, Littler suggested: “If it’s the same as it was when Kirk said it, then yeah leave it. Obviously they’ve got to step in and say something, but yeah it was pretty bad. But I got the win.”
Meanwhile, Gerywn Price also retaliated against disruptive whistles from the crowd during his semi-final match against Humphries in a separate bout of the evening’s disturbances.
After nailing a 180 to an unusually subdued reaction, the Welsh darts ace turned to the audience and delivered a sharp whistle back at them.The incident sparked a flurry of comments on social media, with Sky Sports presenter Abigail Davies heading to Twitter to express her annoyance. She addressed her 47,000 followers in a stern rebuke of the audience.
Davies said: “Yet again, well done to those who paid good money to go and watch the best darts players in the world put on a show and actively contributed to them not delivering their absolute best by whistling.
“Really clever, that. There is no way you can be a fan of the sport if you do that.”The Premier League darts stars are set to hit Dublin next, with stops in Exeter, Brighton, and Nottingham on the horizon.