Darts referee for Luke Littler and Gian van Veen spat breaks silence | Other | Sport

Despite the fireworks, Ware was focused on his job and he does not believe the clash is anything to be concerned about moving forward.

“From my perspective, I didn’t really know what had happened until I got off the stage,” he told The Sun. “I was looking at the dart board. The first thing I saw was after Gian took his darts out and Luke was geeing up the crowd and I thought, ‘Oh, he’s geeing up the crowd, there we are.’

“I hadn’t realised what had gone on between them. I couldn’t see that anyway. It wasn’t anything for me to get involved with, no. Not really.

“Everything was fine. They were both very professional in the sense that they both shook hands.”

Ware isn’t expecting a repeat of the incident the next time the world championship finalists face off, with Premier League action arriving in Brighton. He said: “In my experience, whenever two players have a bit of needle between them, no matter how bad it is, the next game that they play with each other, the next game is absolutely fine.

“They didn’t stop to have a row with one another or things like this, in which case I might have had to get involved between them if it came to that. It’s a clean slate. As a referee, you’re impartial. I can’t take sides as far as who is the right and who is in the wrong.

“If I refereed for them this week and something happened then I personally would be treating it as a clean slate. I don’t have any kind of preconceived notions or agendas against anybody when I’m up there.”

Van Veen wasn’t left particularly impressed by Littler’s actions, however. The Dutch star accused his rival of being a poor loser.

Explaining what transpired to Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, Van Veen said: “I’m on 90 and miss double 15 on the inside, and then I see him cheering towards the crowd. I don’t think that’s normal.

“And then he makes that crying gesture too…He is a great darts player, but today he shows that he is not a good loser. Cheering over an opponent’s miss really annoys me.

“So that’s why I gave him an angry look. That he then misses three darts at a double, that’s his problem.”