Friday, September 25, 2026
Column 725
The PDC Needs to Take Control of the Crowds
Imagine Rory McIlroy at the top of his backswing. Just as his driver begins its downswing a section of the crowd loudly boos and whistles. Would PGA officials shrug and say, “That’s just the atmosphere”? Would they tell McIlroy to shrug it off because he’s rich and famous? Of course not. They would deal with the spectators.
Imagine an Olympic diver standing at the edge of a ten-meter platform, preparing to launch himself into the air, while people in the stands boo and whistle to break his concentration. Nobody would call that passion for diving. They’d call it interference.
Yet in professional darts, we seem perilously close to accepting similar crowd actions as just part of the entertainment.
There is a difference between a darts crowd and a group of unruly spectators that happens to have bought darts tickets.
A darts crowd sings. They boo the favorite, cheer for the underdog. Some dress as bananas and seem to think this persuades television producers to point a camera at them. Fine. That’s part of the show.
But when spectators boo and whistle as a player is about to release a dart, they are no longer adding to the atmosphere. They are trying to affect the result. They need to be thrown out.
At the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, Luke Littler was booed and whistled at during his matches. During his match against Nathan Aspinall, the referee had to stop play and instruct the crowd to be respectful while the players threw. Think about that: A professional sporting contest had to be paused so an official could ask the spectators to let the athletes compete.
The PDC should be embarrassed. They need to take action, immediate action. They have steered professional darts to a level only a few might have even imagined years ago. Unless they act now to enforce crowd control, they risk diminishing what they have created.
I enjoy a lively darts crowd. I enjoy the singing, the costumes, the chants and the occasional fellow dressed as a giant beer bottle who appears to have consumed his entire extended family. I understand that darts is not golf or diving.
But there is a crystal-clear line between creating an atmosphere and trying to alter the outcome of a match. Booing, shouting and whistling as a player throws crosses it. Repeatedly doing so after being warned makes the problem the PDC’s.
The PDC controls its events. They sell the tickets, set the conditions of entry. They have cameras pointed all over the arenas. If someone is deliberately disrupting play, identify him, remove him and make it clear that he won’t be welcomed back. Do it early. Do it consistently. Do it whether the target is Littler, van Gerwen or a player who is largely unknown.
Instead, we have recently seen a referee appealing for respect while players waited at the oche. How many times does that have to happen before someone in authority determines that this falls far short of what is acceptable in professional sport?
Littler has responded to crowds himself, and he hasn’t always done it gracefully. He’s 19. He’s the world number one. He has more money than most of us could earn if we spent the next thirty years throwing darts at a bank vault. Surely, he can withstand a few boos?
Of course, he can withstand boos. He has done it repeatedly, as have others. He has even given a bit back, cupping his ear to the crowd. I wouldn’t have done that, mainly because my principal experience with pressure has been trying to hit double one while three friends waited to close the pub.
Littler’s reactions are fair game for criticism but they do not excuse interference with his throw.
The PDC needs to decide what it is selling. Is it a sporting contest with a tremendous atmosphere, or a party where the competitors are expected to tolerate whatever the paying guests do?
If it’s a sporting contest, the answer is straightforward: make the rule clear before play, identify people who act out during throws, and remove them. A referee should not have to appeal for crowd decorum while players stand at the oche waiting to resume a match. But let there be no mistake: a warning is useful only if the next step actually happens.
Whatever changes, and hopefully something will, the changes cannot just be some sort of special arrangement for Luke Littler. The same protection belongs to the player ranked number 100 or 500 and to the local favorite’s opponent when some of the home crowd gets carried away. Cheering against someone is part of sport. Trying to put him off as the dart leaves his hand is something else entirely.
So, criticize Littler if you like. But nothing gives a spectator license to try to disrupt any player’s throw. Nor should a player have to earn the right to compete without interference by being sufficiently polite to the people interfering with him.
After Amsterdam, Littler said he might skip future European Tour events in the Netherlands if the treatment continues. I wouldn’t blame him. For that matter, I wouldn’t blame him if one day he turned his back on the whole circus.
That would be a terrible loss for darts. He is one of the most gifted players the game has seen, and he has brought countless new eyes to the sport. But how many weekends should anyone be expected to spend traveling to an arena where a few people have decided that disrupting his work is part of the price of admission?
For years, there has been talk of darts belonging in the Olympics. I’m all for it. I think it’s way overdue. But seriously, if it happens picture this: elite athletes of extraordinary ability, a global television audience of tens of millions millions – and when one of the best players in the world prepares to perform, a group of spectators dressed as bananas jumps up and does all they can to disrupt the state of play.
This ain’t Olympics material!
At times, segments of the crowd at PDC tournaments act more like hooligans from a bygone day at a football match than spectators at a precision sporting event (well, maybe not quite that bad – at least there’s no violence). Football can accommodate noise while the ball is in play. But how a dart lands depends on a player’s ability to concentrate during a single movement of the arm. The PDC knows the difference. It simply needs to act like it.
We all know the difference!
Nobody is asking for silence throughout a darts match. Cheer. Sing. Boo a missed double if you must. Be a banana.
But when a player steps up to throw, let him throw.
The PDC built the spectacle. Now it needs to take control of it. If it cannot protect the integrity of a match because it fears upsetting a handful of paying customers, then professional darts has a real problem.
I hope Littler sticks with the sport. I want to see how good he can become. I want to see players figure out how to beat him. I want children watching at home to see a brilliant young darter stick a shot that sends them scrambling for a board of their own. I want to see the PDC continue to massively grow the sport.
But Littler doesn’t owe the PDC or any of us a lifetime at the oche.
The PDC cannot control whether a crowd likes a player. It can control whether a player is allowed to perform their best. And it should start doing so yesterday.
Stay thirsty, my friends.
Dartoid
