Luke Littler brushed off the hostile reception from the Rotterdam crowd during Night 11 of the Premier League Darts, saying it was 'exactly what I expected'. Littler faced booing from the crowd in each of his three matches, a continuation of the backlash following his spat with Dutch No 1 Gian van Veen from Night Nine in Manchester. Van Veen won a contentious match in which Littler reacted angrily to his opponent's actions while throwing match darts. Littler went on to reach the final again in Rotterdam before losing to Premier League leader Jonny Clayton.
'It was exactly what I expected, the boos and whistles,' Littler told Sky Sports. 'But I knew as soon as I got on stage I could do my job.' Ahead of his opening match against Gerwyn Price, Littler had vowed not to react to the crowd's taunts, but he couldn't resist responding in his semi-final clash with Luke Humphries.
When taking out tops to level the match at 2-2, Littler gave a 'calm down' gesture to a section of fans before adding some flamboyant flourishes with his darts in the next leg. Sky Sports' Wayne Mardle noted, 'Littler said he will not react, but he has just reacted there - and they don't like it! I think he's had enough of not reacting. He is strutting and really giving it now.
When he has this swagger, he's hard to deal with.' Littler came through 6-3 against Price and edged out Humphries 6-5 before ultimately losing 6-4 to Clayton in the final. Clayton's fourth nightly win of the 2026 campaign stretches his lead over Littler to five points at the top of the table.
Clayton praised Littler after the final, saying, 'I've got total respect for Luke. He's absolutely amazing.
This guy has got years ahead of him, an amazing darts player - and he's shown us all the level we need to be to beat him.' Sky Sports' Glen Durrant also praised Littler for his response to the 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.'