Luke Littler forced to stop mid-throw as crowd ‘get to him’ in latest Premier League Darts defeat

Luke Littler’s miserable start to the 2026 Premier League Darts campaign deepened on Thursday night in Belfast, as the back-to-back world champion was not only beaten 6-3 by Jonny Clayton but was visibly affected by a hostile crowd that forced him to halt mid-throw in a remarkable moment at the SSE Arena.

The 19-year-old, widely regarded as the most dominant player in the sport right now, has found the Premier League a completely different challenge to his imperious displays elsewhere — and the Belfast faithful were in no mood to make things easy for him.

The flashpoint came with Littler already trailing 5-2, a position that summed up his entire evening. At 5-2 down, the World No.1 was in mid-sequence when a loud whistle from the crowd forced him to stop completely. Rather than letting the moment rattle him, Littler showed the composure and character that has defined his rise to the top of the sport — he stepped away from his throw, smiled, and waved a hand in the air almost as if encouraging more grief from the stands before pinning a brilliant 112 finish and giving a “calm down” gesture to the crowd.

It was a defiant response from the teenager, but one that could not mask an evening that had long since slipped away from him. He appeared to be unsettled by whistling ahead of his throws throughout the match, and at 5-2 down delayed his attempts at the 112 finish — laughing with his back to the audience and waving his hand in the air as if to say “go on then, whistle away.”

Earlier in the match, Littler had even played up to the crowd in moments of relative confidence — but the Belfast fans were clearly in a combative mood, and by the time the match was beyond him, the jeering had become a constant backdrop to every visit he made to the oche. Littler found himself on the receiving end of boos and jeers throughout the contest, and after struggling to find his finishing touch and missing several attempts at double 10, he finally hit the shot — responding with a “calm down” gesture directed at the particularly vocal sections of the audience.

The match result itself told its own story. Clayton won his fourth straight round-one clash with an emphatic 6-3 success against the world No.1, punishing Littler who hit just 3 of his 13 doubles in what was another deeply frustrating night for the Warrington teenager. The Welshman was in outstanding form, with a stunning 156 checkout standing out as the highlight of a controlled, composed performance from the league leader.

The pair exchanged brief words after Clayton’s victory, before Littler departed the stage quickly. The 2021 world champion appeared to acknowledge to Littler that the crowd’s behaviour was not something he had encouraged, with the world champion responding in kind — making clear he understood the antics were not his opponent’s doing.

For Littler, the numbers make for stark reading at the Premier League’s one-quarter stage. He has still only won just one match in this year’s Premier League and is down in seventh place in the standings. Even more telling is the context around that solitary win: he has yet to reach a Final in any of the four nights so far, and two of his four points were gifted when Michael van Gerwen missed the Glasgow event through illness and handed Littler a bye into the semi-finals. It means, in competitive terms, Littler has effectively won one meaningful game in four weeks.

Speaking on Sky Sports, analyst Laura Turner offered perspective on what is turning into a surprising stumble for the favourite. “It is a surprise that Littler has only won one match in the Premier League. It is just not clicking here and there is not always a reason for it,” she said. “He is now going to be thinking about it but it is not panic stations. There is plenty of time.”

The crowd factor has been a growing subplot to Littler’s season. His heat-of-the-moment decision earlier in the season to thank a crowd for buying the tickets that “pay for his prize money” created an uneasy tension between the champion and his public, one that threatens to boil over. The concern from pundits is that if it does, he will find it increasingly hard to block out the noise.

Away from the Premier League, however, Littler remains in a different league entirely. He claimed the Poland Darts Open title at the weekend, pocketing £35,000 in the process — and did so despite his opponent Gian van Veen hitting a remarkable nine-darter during the final. The contrast between his European Tour brilliance and his Premier League struggles is one of the tournament’s most fascinating storylines.

On a night that belonged to others, it was Stephen Bunting who stole the headlines. Having gone into Week Four without a single point to his name, “The Bullet” delivered one of the performances of the season — averaging over 106 to beat Humphries 6-4, whitewashing Clayton 6-0, and then defeating Gian van Veen 6-2 in the final to claim a memorable night win in Belfast. Josh Rock also provided one of the evening’s most electric moments, pinning a nine-darter to the delight of the raucous home crowd — albeit in a defeat to Van Veen.

For Littler, the mission is clear: find his doubling touch and, perhaps more pressingly, find a way to tune out the noise. With 13 nights of Premier League action still remaining and his reputation as an unstoppable force very much intact on the European circuit, there is every reason to believe the reigning world champion will come roaring back. But if Thursday night in Belfast proved anything, it is that even the most talented player on the planet is not immune to the theatre — and the pressure — of the Premier League crowd.