Luke Littler booed by crowd as British teenager returns to Premier League Darts following outburst

Ed Griffiths
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:57:39 +0000

Luke Littler was booed in Brighton as he suffered a second successive Premier League quarter-final loss following a 6-4 defeat to Stephen Bunting.

He was subjected to jeers as he entered the arena and then suffered ironic cheers following a poor start from which he could not recover.

Bunting, who turned 41 on Thursday, could easily have wrapped up victory far earlier as he was gifted multiple opportunities on his opponent’s throw and hit just six of his 21 darts at a double.

Littler showed little reaction to the surprise defeat.

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He shook Bunting’s hand and exited the stage after averaging only 84 and failing to hit a single maximum.

It was the 19-year-old’s lowest average in a televised PDC match.

It comes a week after the 19-year-old's outburst following a dramatic 6-5 quarter-final defeat in Manchester to Gian van Veen.

The world champion appeared rattled by a hostile crowd on night 10 of the competition on the south coast.

The 18-year-old's six-match winning streak came to an abrupt end amid heated scenes.

Littler was seen throwing his arms into the air and making a crying gesture towards his Dutch opponent.

Following Van Veen's winning checkout on double six, the pair exchanged a frosty handshake before Littler stormed off stage muttering to himself.

The Manchester crowd was stunned by the teenager's behaviour.

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Pundit Wayne Mardle offered his assessment of the incident.

He explained: "Gian went inside the 15 and Luke was happy about that. So he kind of gave it the Simon Whitlock well done. You shouldn't do that."

He added: "I can lip read but I'm not repeating what Luke Littler said. I don't want to hand in my notice!

"You've got to say Gian handled it better because Luke came back to the board and fluffed his lines. He got a bit aggressive on the double seven. Gian van Veen won the game in the end. He held it together really well there."

Van Veen accused the teenage sensation of celebrating when he narrowly missed double 15 on the inside.

Speaking 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."

He added: "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."