Luke Littler doesn’t think players will walk off stage as a result of booing
Littler’s Premier League win in Glasgow last week was marred by the crowd whistling.
World champion Luke Littler says there is no place for whistling in darts, but does not think a player will ever walk off stage because of it.
Littler’s Premier League win in Glasgow last week was marred by the crowd whistling when Littler’s opponents were at the oche throwing crucial darts, with Rob Cross and Luke Humphries affected.
The 18-year-old went on to claim his first victory of the season and goes for more glory in Dublin on Thursday, starting with a quarter-final against Gerwyn Price.
The Welshman has famously taken matters into his own hands when dealing with an unsporting crowd, donning ear defenders in the 2023 World Championship to drown out boos, while also whistling back at the crowd last week in Scotland.
But asked whether a player could walk off, Littler said: “Well for us players, probably not. Obviously, I wouldn’t want it to happen to anyone.
“If that was the worst case then I’m sure a player, I don’t know, has he got the right to walk off stage? Maybe, or maybe not.
“If a player does walk off stage, then I’m sure the security, they’ve got to do their job and obviously kick whoever’s doing the whistling out. Just kick them out. And then I’m sure as players, we can get on with it.
“Obviously it’s not a good thing for any fans to be whistling, whether it’s me or my opponent.
“For example, last week Rob Cross when he missed two at double 18, they whistled, he missed. You can say it was the crowd’s fault that he missed those doubles because you never see Rob Cross miss double 18.
“We’ve just got to get on with our job. And if the fans are whistling against our opponents then it’ll certainly help us.”
Price is one of the few players with a winning record over Littler, having won the last four meetings.
But Littler says there is no hoodoo.
“I wouldn’t say he is the bogeyman. Obviously he played out of his skin in Bahrain. I couldn’t do much against him really,” Littler said.
“Obviously he’s played brilliant against me, near enough every time. For myself, I’ve just got to make sure tomorrow night I win that first game and go and get myself some more points on the board.”
