Luke Littler sends message to darts crowd after Van Veen spat | Other | Sport
Luke Littler told the Premier League Darts crowd in Rotterdam to ‘calm down’ with a gesture during his semi-final win against Luke Humphries. The teenager had been jeered heavily during Night 11 in the Netherlands following his bust-up with Gian van Veen earlier this month and lost 6-4 to Jonny Clayton in the final.
However, when Littler faced Humphries in the next round, he finally addressed the jeering. In the fifth leg, Littler missed a dart at double 20, and the boos grew loud, but as he checked it out with his next dart, he opted to respond.
Littler could be seen waving his hand up and down to the fans in attendance, suggesting they ‘calm down’. Wayne Mardle on commentary said: “‘Calm down pals, calm down.’ Before the Gerwyn Price game he said, ‘I will not react.’ Well he has just reacted to somewhere there and they don’t like it.”
One fan speaking to Sky Sports before Littler’s final clash with Clayton, which he lost 6-4 despite hitting seven 180s, said: “The Netherlands don’t like Luke Littler, so I hope the Ferret [Clayton] is going to win.”
Littler explained his side of the story regarding what happened with Van Veen earlier this week. he told Online Darts: “What other people didn’t see was, as I’ve walked back around, I’m still looking that way [to the crowd] and he’s put his darts down but no one sees that.
“I think he’s the one who’s not doing his job, obviously being respectful. I think that’s the first-ever time I’ve seen someone put their darts down in front of my face.
“I was like, ‘why?’ And obviously I come inside [the double to win the match]. I called him a cry baby because there was no need for it. There was no need for him to put his darts down. When he won, I picked my darts up and I said, ‘well done, you got the win’.
“From my point of view, I’m looking up at the TV, I’m just thinking in my head, ‘he’s not going to miss. Even if he gets a shot at the bullseye, Gian’s one of the best bull hitters in the game’.”
