Luke Littler has “thrived” on hostility from darts fans but may need to take a “different approach” in future, PDC chief executive Matt Porter has said.
Porter told Sky Sports he was not entirely surprised by the booing Littler has received this year, saying the 19-year-old has long enjoyed “interacting with the crowd” and often wears a smile when he winds fans up. “If you’re going to wind the crowd up a little bit, as he has done in the past, then you have to expect them to react to that. And often when Luke’s done that, he’s had a smile on his face and it’s been something he’s thrived on,” Porter said.
Littler first burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old at the World Darts Championship in December 2023, losing the final to Luke Humphries on January 3, 2024, before winning world titles in 2025 and 2026. Initially widely popular, his reception changed after a post-match outburst at the most recent World Championship when he reacted to crowd support for Rob Cross, and following an on-stage spat with Dutchman Gian van Veen in Manchester during the Premier League on April 2.
Those incidents have contributed to jeers in multiple arenas: he described the atmosphere in Rotterdam on Night 11 of the Premier League as “the worst I’ve experienced”, and he has also been booed in Liverpool, Dublin, Brighton, Nottingham and Berlin this season.
Porter noted that darts crowds “tend to follow patterns” and “copy what they see the week before,” so once a negative reaction builds it can be hard to reverse. He suggested Littler could change his approach if he wanted to: “If Luke’s that bothered about it — I don’t think he necessarily is hugely — then he’ll look to change it.” Alternatively, Porter said, Littler could shrug it off. “If he can shrug it off and treat it like water off a duck’s back, then he’ll be alright with it. You know, we saw it with Gerwyn Price a few years ago. He’s completely changed around the perception that he has from the crowds now and there’s been others too.”
Porter added that being a target of crowd ire is common across sports when a player is dominant or polarising. “People are there to be shot at and Luke’s obviously got a target on his back, not only from the other players, but from people who watch the sport. That’s not something that’s unique to darts in any way, shape or form,” he said. He expects the issue to evolve: “These things always go in waves, don’t they? Like I say, it’ll be one thing today and then something else will come along and take that over in the future.”
On the Premier League front, Porter previewed Night 13 at P&J Live in Aberdeen, highlighting the crunch clash between defending champion Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen as pivotal in the race for the Play-Offs. “Luke’s perhaps not had the Premier League campaign that he would have wanted. He’s got himself into good positions a lot of the time, but not always been able to convert that into wins,” Porter said. He praised Van Gerwen’s consistency, adding that “the pressure is a little bit more on Luke” Humphries to secure a night win to boost his top-four hopes, though he warned not to write Humphries off given his talent.
Night 13 schedule (P&J Live, Aberdeen):
– Quarter-finals: Josh Rock vs Luke Littler
– Stephen Bunting vs Gerwyn Price
– Jonny Clayton vs Gian van Veen
– Luke Humphries vs Michael van Gerwen
Ranking points are awarded per night (five to the winner, three to the runner-up, two to semi-finalists) to form the league table from which the top four progress to Finals Night at The O2 in London on May 28.