Luke Littler’s mum came to his defence against booing fans. Getty
Luke Littler’s mother has erupted on social media with a tirade against fans who booed her son at the World Darts Championship.
The world No. 1 and defending champion beat Rob Cross on Monday night to progress into the quarterfinals but the Alexandra Palace crowd weren’t always in his corner.
Littler reacted furiously at times throughout the match, then teased fans by saying they “pay for my prize money, so thank you for my money, thank you for booing me.”
He was later defended by his mum, Lisa Littler, who argued back-and-forth with fans on X.
She initially responded to somebody claiming her son was unbearable with a sarcastic reply: “Aww Luke won’t sleep now.”
Another social media user posted: “So Littler’s allowed to financially ridicule a whole audience who’ve paid their hard earned money to go and watch him, but I’m not allowed to call him a little pudding because he’s 18? Do me a favour.”
But his mum replied: “So they buy tickets with [their] hard earned money to sit there like t—- and boo.”
She claimed somebody else led “a sad little life” and blasted another as “a silly sausage.”
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Littler had been a crowd favourite wherever he has placed since his emergence onto the scene two years ago, when he reached the World Darts Championship final as a 16-year-old.
So his experience against Cross on Monday night at Ally Pally was a rarity which caused an unexpected reaction when Littler took to winding up his naysayers.
He later admitted: “I think I lost [my head], it’s still on there. Two years ago I think I would have started throwing my darts left-handed, but that is how much I have grown, how much I have matured.
“People might say I have not matured, but try and be in my position.
“I can still learn a lot. I can learn how to deal with the crowd, not let as much emotion out, just keep it all in me until that final dart.
“That’s the first time I’ve been at the World Championships and the crowd have not wanted me to win. I will expect the worst on New Year’s Day and whatever happens will happen.
“The fans did what they did, I reacted like any other player would, I think I might have reacted a bit too early on after the first set and when I came on for the second set I said to myself, ‘Yeah, you’ve reacted too early here.’
“I just had to get on with the job. It wasn’t really at the front of the mind because they want the underdog to win or they want the game to go on even longer.”