Night 2 of the Premier League Darts was looking like it had the makings of a classic, but is now being labelled one of the worst following excessive booing and whistling from the crowd. Many are now calling for darts to never go back to Glasgow…
Reigning Premier League winner Luke Littler would win his first title of the 2025 season, with a 6-5 win over close rival Luke Humphries.
Littler had a tough draw on paper as he would face Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humprhies on route to his win, all the players rounding out the PDC top 4 besides himself.
Humphries, who battled back from 4-2 down on two separate occasions would go on to his second finals appearance in consecutive weeks and despite the loss, sits top of the Premier League table.
The night had exceptional comebacks, with Littler also coming from behind from 5-1 in his first match against Rob Cross to win 6-5. It was this game however that would start the main controversy of the night.
With Cross leading and looking likely to send The Nuke home early, the crowd would start booing and jeering at crucial moments for Cross.
This has become a repeat occurrence over the last few months for opponents facing Luke Littler.
At first, it seemed the crowd just wanted the game to go on longer which is why they were trying to turn the tide but it became clear quite quickly that Rob Cross was not happy about it.
Many fans on social media were saying Cross is a great character and that it made no sense to be booing him.
Sky Sports have provided a video on YouTube because it was genuinely a great comeback and game overall but you can see from 5-2 how hostile the atmosphere was on the Cross throw:
This, however, wasn’t even the worst of the night…
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Crowd Disrupted Play with Excessive Booing and Whistling Throughout Night 2
As we said, fans were quick to support Rob Cross and while Gerwyn Price was subject to some booing in his match, it was not to the level that Cross was faced with.
This is surprising because Price is usually the most heavily ‘jeered’ player, especially in Scotland.
His previous (and infamous) bust-up with Gary Anderson has meant he has not been a popular figure in Scotland over the years.
Related – Gerwyn Price biggest bust-ups in darts
By far the worst of the night came in the final match between Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.
Both players were holding throws and at 4-4 it was hard to ignore the noise coming from the crowd, the majority of which seemed to be during the world number 1’s throw.
Humphries (like Cross) was noticeably annoyed by this which led to referee Kirk Bevans shouting to the crowd to “stop whistling”.
HUMPHRIES AHEAD!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) February 13, 2025
It could be perfect timing from the world number one as he moves 5-4 ahead, and needs to hold throw for back-to-back nightly wins!
📺 https://t.co/CxOorrFXK9#PLDarts25 pic.twitter.com/pEYSDxLPV1
From that point, it only intensified and both players would have to play through the hostile atmosphere.
The crowd became by far the biggest talking point of the night as fans and influential figures took to social media to call out the PDC and vent their frustration.
Darts presenter and commentator Abigail Davies took to X to call out the ‘fans’ in attendance:
Yet again, well done to those who paid good money to go and watch the best darts players in the world put on a show and actively contributed to them not delivering their absolute best by whistling. Really clever, that. There is no way you can be a fan of the sport if you do that.
— Abigail Davies (@swanabi) February 13, 2025
Fans would also take to PDC and Sky Sports posts in their masses. At points the entire comment section would be dominated by comments aimed at the crowd in Glasgow.
The atmosphere has been so controversial that fans are saying Glasgow should not be a Premier League destination any more…
Fans Call for Glasgow to be REMOVED From Premier League Calendar
The frustration from players and fans alike has been evident.
When Luke Littler was asked about it, he said that the referee may have made the situation worse with his outburst but had he said nothing, people would then accuse him of not trying to control the crowd.
🗣️ "Kirk, you've made it worse for me there. Obviously, they got a step in at some point and say something, that was pretty bad, but I got the win"
— Online Darts (@OfficialOLDarts) February 13, 2025
🎤 Luke Littler speaks out against the whistling both he and Luke Humphries received
Full interview 🎥 👉🏻 https://t.co/BjEX4IZ8sH
People are divided over a solution with opinions saying it should be the referee, PDC, or venue security. One thing was clear though and that was Scotland/Glasgow are facing the backlash as a result.
Fans are now saying the PDC should not host darts in Glasgow again. Comments included:
@MikeeGavin – “hope the premier league doesn’t go back to Glasgow next year! This and the final were a hard watch!”
@TheSunofGod-j1g – “PDC don’t have Glasgow another venue for darts ever again !!!”
@Sidney1WG – “How many of you fans would vote to ban the Glasgow venue? Just a thumbs up will do.” (88 thumbs up at the time of writing)
These comments are showing up across all platforms including our post about the night over on Facebook.
It’s unlikely the PDC will comment on the issue and it’s hard to imagine they would actually remove such a prominent destination from the darts calendar.
The Premier League is a business model for the PDC to promote the game and Glasgow is one of the major cities in the UK.
This will definitely be something to watch going forward though, if it happens again in other major venues then darts will have a serious problem on its hands at a time when it’s going through explosive growth and wants to improve its reputation as a sport…
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