Luke Littler remained unfazed by the hostile crowd in Rotterdam during Night 11 of the Premier League Darts, describing the booing as 'exactly what I expected'. Littler faced a tough reception from the crowd for each of his three matches, a continuation of the backlash from his spat with Dutch No 1 Gian van Veen from Night Nine in Manchester. The controversy began when Van Veen won a contentious match, with Littler reacting angrily to his opponent's behavior when throwing match darts. Van Veen accused Littler of being 'out of order' for 'celebrating towards the crowd'.
Littler went on to reach the final in Rotterdam before losing to Premier League leader Jonny Clayton. 'I knew as soon as I got on stage I could do my job,' Littler told Sky Sports, despite the crowd's taunts.
Before his opening match against Gerwyn Price, Littler had vowed not to react to the crowd's jeers, but he couldn't resist responding in his semi-final clash with Luke Humphries. When he leveled the match at 2-2, Littler gave a 'calm down' gesture to a section of fans and added some flamboyant flourishes with his darts in the next leg. Sky Sports' Wayne Mardle commented, 'Littler said he won't react, but he has just reacted - and they don't like it!
He's had enough of not reacting, he's strutting and giving it now. When he has this swagger, he's hard to deal with.' Littler defeated Price 6-3 and edged out Humphries 6-5 before ultimately losing 6-4 to Clayton in the final, despite claiming the opening two legs in impressive fashion. Clayton's fourth nightly win of the 2026 campaign stretches his lead over Littler to five points at the top of the table. He praised Littler after the final, saying, 'I've got total respect for Luke.
He's absolutely amazing, an amazing darts player, and he's shown us the level we need to be to beat him.' Sky Sports' Glen Durrant also commended Littler for his response to the Dutch crowd's taunts, saying, 'It's brutal in here tonight. I'm not sure I would have had the mental capacity to deal with it, but Littler is different.'