Perfection was found twice in Brighton on Night 5 of the Premier League Darts as fans were treated to the most incredible spectacle.
After no nine-darters in the opening four nights of the tournament this year, the proverbial London buses arrived on the south coast as Rob Cross turned punished to punisher.
Luke Humphries hit his first televised nine-darter against ‘Voltage’, before the home hero sent the crowd into pandemonium again with his own perfect leg against Nathan Aspinall in the semi-final.
While the Brighton crowd were behind local hero Cross, whose home town of Hastings is just 30 miles away, Humphries and his reimagined stage presence through his new walk-on song and antics with the crowd and camera crews, saw those in the Brighton Centre give the World No.1 a raucous welcome.
And that level of support from the vast majority of the crowd never dropped for Humphries, especially after he pinned double 12 to take the roof off the venue following his nine-darter.
Humphries was unable to capitalise on the nine and was beaten 6-4 by an inspired Cross, who averaged 111.19 to send the Exeter champion home early.
‘Cool Hand’ knows all about being on the wrong end of toxic crowds during his time at the top echelons of the sport, with Night 2 in Glasgow showing the worst of the Premier League fan base.
But despite being up against the home favourite, Humphries had nothing but support for the Brighton crowd, lauding it as one of the best. “Yeah, I thought the crowd were absolutely amazing tonight to be honest. I think they were very calm for us both,” Humphries told Daily Star Sport .
“Sometimes the crowds can be quite hostile to you, but no, the crowd tonight were absolutely amazing and even before that nine darter, I felt the buzz for that moment.
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“It’s not the biggest arena we play on, so I can’t imagine if that arena was double the size, it would be absolutely the best crowd on the Premier League venue.
“I was really, really proud and they showed some great gratitude and obviously Rob’s the local guy and they showed me a massive amount of respect.”
Humphries’ praise made a pleasant change in the way that Premier League crowds have been perceived over the last couple of years, with the exhibition tournament battling against crowd disturbances and trouble that has enraged players down the years.
But that sentiment wasn’t shared by world champion Luke Littler, who slammed the fans in Brighton after winning the night and closing the gap to Humphries at the top of the table to just two points.
(Image: PA)
Littler revealed that a pint had been thrown at fellow star Nathan Aspinall as he made his way to the stage for the final. TV cameras, and admittedly, many in attendance, including myself, didn’t see the incident but ‘The Asp’ was spotted having a disgruntled conversation with referee Huw Ware as Littler made his way to the stage.
Speaking to the press after his nightly win, Littler made the revelation which stunned those of us in the media room. “I think there was a pint thrown at Nathan as soon as he came up on the stage,” sarcastically adding: “Crazy.”
“I think we all know some have been good, some have been a bit bad, but that’s the darts fans for you, they’re either they’re either good or they’re either bad.”
Bizarrely, the two dominant forces in darts both had extremely contrasting views on the Brighton crowd, despite their differing results on a night where the league table took a momentous shift towards the 18-year-old.
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But actually, both players are spot on in their verdict on the crowd.
While the first nine darter was met by jubilation, the second was received in astonishment at seeing perfection hit twice just hours apart.
And in doing so, the mood weirdly changed among some in attendance to a sense of entitlement that the players on stage were there purely to entertain them, rather than the stars vying for their own £10,000 nightly winners’ prize money and to strengthen their own chances of reach finals night at the O2 in London in May to keep dreams alive of lifting the trophy and pocketing the £275,000 winners jackpot that comes with it.
In Brighton, we saw the very best from the players, but a minority in attendance were not able to give theirs back.