Luke Littler has no regrets over his reaction to the Alexandra Palace crowd at the World Darts Championship, after he was booed on stage.
The defending champion beat Rob Cross 4-2 in the last 16 at Ally Pally, once again turning in a stunning performance on the oche.
There was a different feel to the game, though, as the north London crowd turned on the Nuke somewhat, booing him at stages over the contest.
The 18-year-old tried to keep his emotions in check while he was throwing, but responded to the fans on stage after picking up the big win.
‘Can I just say one thing? You guys pay for the tickets and you pay for my prize money so thank you, thank you for my money! Thank you for booing me. Thank you. Come on!’
It was a move which split opinion, with some believing he was well within his rights to respond to the crowd being against him, while others warned Littler against antagonising the fans.
The world number one, who recognised that the fans probably just wanted to see an upset or at least a close match, has no regrets and actually planned on saying something similar in the past.
‘It was just pure emotion, I said what I said, the fans, I was going to say it last year at some point, but the fans, they paid for the tickets and pretty much they’re paying for our prize money, so yeah, I’m not regretting anything,’ said Littler.
‘I think nine times out of 10, I’m always going to be favourite and I didn’t expect that, I wasn’t expecting the fans wanting Rob to win but I can learn from it.’
Despite not regretting the move, Littler does feel that the boos will return when he takes on Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals on New Year’s Day.
‘I expect the worst on New Year’s Day, whoever I do play, and whatever happens happens, I’m ready,’ he said.
‘All us dart players, we’re always going to show emotion and we have every right to do so. When you’re in a game like that, with a hostile crowd, you’ve just got to let it out and that’s what I did at the end.’
He added: ‘The fans are behind you, they’re not in front of you, and what’s in front of you is a dartboard and that’s what you’ve got to do.’
2026 World Darts Championship quarter-finals
Thursday January 1
12.30pm
Ryan Searle vs Jonny Clayton
Gary Anderson vs Justin Hood
7pm
Luke Littler vs Krzysztof Ratajski
Luke Humphries v Gian van Veen
Former world youth champion James Hubbard was not a fan of how Littler reacted on stage, posting on X: ‘Luke Littler…. No… I don’t like that at all. He’s only young but na… don’t like that.’
He added: ‘Christ a lot of Luke Littler fans on here losing their minds. I’ll reiterate…. You can’t go on stage and tell the crowd “you guys pay for tickets to pay for my prize money.”
‘He’s world number one, behave like one, and represent the sport properly, end of.
‘If a footballer came out and said that there would be uproar.
He’s young, it’s a learning curve and I can guarantee you he’ll be advised not to do it again.’
Sky Sports pundit and former World Championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle warned Littler that becoming a villain can be a hard path to follow, as Gerwyn Price has discovered.
‘That [interview] was just odd. It was like he was looking for something and I just think he was getting antagonised,’ said Mardle.
‘Rob was giving it to him [Littler], Rob was serving it up and we thought it could get spicy. You want that and you could see how he was acting at the end – he [Littler] was being annoyed and angered through that game.
‘We haven’t really seen that [emotion] from him. We know he has got something in him that he wants to shut the crowd [up], but you never ever want them against you because it can be a long and lonely road – just ask Gerwyn Price about that.’