Luke Littler’s teary on-stage interview after Premier League Darts glory provided a public reminder of the untold struggles sports’ biggest stars often face away from their arenas. Littler won the Premier League title for the second time in three years after a remarkable Finals Night at The O2, where the pipped Gerwyn Price in a final-leg decider in the semi-finals before beating Luke Humphries 11-10 in a dramatic final.
A final-leg victory over the defending champion avenged last year’s loss to Humphries and ended a roller-coaster Premier League campaign for Littler, who overcame a slow start to claim six nightly wins and end the regular season in top spot.
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Highlights of the Premier League final at The O2 between Littler and Luke Humphries
The past year has seen darts’ dominant force continue a trajectory from overwhelming fans’ favourite to the player regularly on the receiving end of booing, with Littler’s on-stage behaviour and previous comments – at times – fuelling some of the negative receptions he has received.Littler was involved in a heated final-leg loss to Gian van Veen in Manchester on April 2 before posting the worst average of his Premier League career in Brighton the following week, with the world No 1 still feeling the repercussions of those two performances heading into Finals Night.
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Littler and Gian van Veen got heated in the final leg of their quarter-final in Manchester on April 2
“After Brighton and the incident in Manchester [argument with Gian van Veen], I was sat at home saying to Faith [his partner], ‘I don’t want to do it [Premier League] anymore, just the crowd every week’,” Littler told Sky Sports on stage, before crying. “I said to her, ‘I’m down bad’.”
There had previously been little public indication of any direct impact on Littler, who reached the next four nightly finals – winning three of them – and then rounded off the campaign with back-to-back semi-final finishes, although it took outright victory to…
2026-05-29 12:00:00
