Luke Littler had to overcome a hostile crowd at Alexandra Palace to beat Rob Cross and move into the quarter-finals of the PDC World Darts Championships, but he later came under fire
Luke Littler’s mum has lashed out at Ally Pally fans, labelling them as ‘vile’ and ‘t***s’ in a furious defence her son was booed during his World Darts Championship defence. The reigning champion continued his march toward retaining his title, overcoming a hostile Alexandra Palace crowd to defeat Rob Cross and advance to the quarter-finals.
The competition boasts record-breaking prize money, with the winner set to pocket a staggering £1million. This is the first tournament since Littler claimed the world number one spot, dethroning Luke Humphries.
Littler has become a force to be reckoned with in the Professional Darts Corporation ranks, having shot to global fame following his journey to the final as a 16-year-old.
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However, his reaction after beating Cross has ruffled feathers among the Ally Pally supporters.
Littler is guaranteed at least £100,000 for reaching the last-16, but he’ll undoubtedly have his eyes on kicking off 2026 by lifting the biggest trophy the PDC has to offer.
He faced a tough challenge on Monday night, not only fending off a determined Cross to progress, but also dealing with a rowdy London crowd, leading to passionate celebrations from the Nuke during pivotal moments of the match.
The 18-year-old sportsman taunted the booing crowd, thanking them for their negative response and cheekily pointing out that their ticket purchases contribute to his ‘prize money’.
The controversy carried on into Tuesday when his mum, Lisa, took to social media to defend her son, labelling the Monday night crowd as “vile” and “t***s”.
One social media user wrote: “The more I watch Luke Littler, the more I hate him,” which led to a sarcastic retort from his mother: “Aww gutted for ya nottt (two laugh-crying emojis)”.
In response to another comment, she fired back: “So they buy tickets with there hard earned money to sit there like t**ts and boo (thumbs up emoji)’.”
When one person suggested Littler should behave like the world number one, his mum was quick to defend him: “Best comment so far am sure Luke will carry on behaving like one as he as done crowds were vile let’s all boo the world number one idiots man’.”
Following his victory, the young star went on a tirade mocking the Ally Pally crowd but later issued an apology. He said: “Am I bothered? Really, am I bothered? Really not bothered.
“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! I’ve just seen the stats then but I wasn’t really thinking of anything – I just wanted to win the game. It was hostile, nobody wanted me to win, but yet again I proved them wrong.”
The Nuke said later in a press conference: “I think I lost it, I think it’s still on there. The fans have done what they done and I’ve reacted as any other player would really.
“Think I might have reacted a bit early on after that first set and when I came on for the second set and they were still at it I said to myself, ‘you’ve done it a bit too early here’.
“But I just had to get on with the job and when I went 3-1 up I felt like I was really in it. Rob found his feet but I just had to get rid of him.”
His 4-2 victory over a former world champion paved the way for a quarter-final showdown with Krzysztof Ratajski on New Year’s Day, following Ratajski’s fourth-round triumph over Luke Woodhouse.
