Darts star Luke Humphries has claimed his friend and competitor, Luke Littler, lost his head with his outburst at the Ally Pally crowd.
Defending world champion Littler was booed during his win over Rob Cross and took a swipe back on the mic afterwards, saying: ‘I’m not bothered. Really not bothered.
‘Can I say one thing? You guys pay for tickets and you pay for my prize money. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Come on!’
And there were also plenty of fans online branding the teenage sensation ‘arrogant’, leading to his mum calling the crowd ‘vile t**ts’.
Littler’s friend and competitor, Humphries, says his young peer lost his head.
He said: ‘Luke can say what he wants. The crowd sometimes are not on your side. I’ve experienced it most of the time, to be fair. I mean you can’t fight against them.
Luke Littler was booed by the crowd and then bit back when interviewed after his match
‘It never plays in your favour. You can’t blame him. He’s a young lad. He’s 18 years old. Sometimes it happens. You lose your head a little bit. I don’t think people should hold it against him. It’s just one of those things.
‘He’s going to have the crowd against him, maybe. But he doesn’t deserve it, to be fair.’
Humphries beat Littler in the World Darts Championship final two years ago before ‘The Nuke’ lifted the trophy in 2025 by beating Michael van Gerwen.
Humphries and Littler could meet again later in the tournament but ‘Cool Hand’ must beat Gian van Veen in his next game before that can happen.
The hostile reaction to Littler came as he saw off Cross 4-2 in a tricky last-16 clash to set up a quarter-final showdown with Krzysztof Ratajski on New Years Day.
Littler will be expecting another strong crowd response to his words last time out having dubbed the atmosphere at the historic venue ‘hostile’, while his mother had far stronger things to say on social media as she rushed to the defence of her son.
One commenter had wondered aloud why he wasn’t allowed to ‘call (Littler) a little pudding because he’s 18’ since he was able to ‘financially ridicule a whole audience who’ve paid their hard earned money’.
Lisa responded: ‘So they buy tickets with there (sic) hard earned money to sit there like t**ts and boo (thumbs up emoji)’.
Luke Humphries suggested that his friend and competitor had ‘lost his head’
The teen’s mother hit back on social media site X at those who believed her son was wrong
Another social media user had noted that ‘the more I watch Luke Littler, the more I hate him’ – prompting his mother to respond teasingly: ‘Aww gutted for ya nottt (sic) (two laugh-crying emojis)’.
When when darts fan told the world number one to ‘behave like one’, Lisa pulled no punches with her reply, writing: ‘Behave like one (two laugh-crying emojis)
‘Best comment so far am sure Luke will carry on behaving like one as he as (sic) done crowds were vile let’s all boo the world number one idiots man’.
In response to one line of insults, Lisa continued her defiant streak, mocking one use who called Littler ‘the most unbearable arrogant w****r in any sport’ and a ‘fat ****’ by saying: ‘Aww Luke Won’t sleep now (two laugh-crying emojis) (middle finger emoji)’.
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Was Luke right to lash out at the crowd?
Littler is guaranteed at least £100,000 for reaching the quarter-finals again – with a £1million payday if he can successfully defend his title.
And the youngster is trying to play down the crowd effect ahead of his next match, saying: ‘I think nine times out of ten, I’m always going to be favourite.
‘I wasn’t expecting obviously the fans wanting Rob to win. But yeah, I can learn from it.
‘Obviously the fans are behind you, they’re not in front of you. What’s in front of you? It’s a dartboard and that’s what you’ve got to do.’
