Darts world number one Luke Humphries has expressed his disappointment after two-time world champion Dennis Priestley claimed that neither he nor Luke Littler had "done enough" to earn MBEs.
Earlier this month, Humphries and Littler were awarded MBEs in the King's Birthday Honours in recognition of their contribution to the sport.
After winning a PDC Premier event for the first time in 2023, Humphries went on to win the 2023/24 World Darts Championship, rising to number one in the world rankings following a superb individual campaign.
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"To be recognised by the King for what I have achieved, and also for my contribution to playing in and promoting the sport that I love, is something that I never thought possible, but I'm very grateful that it has become a reality," said the Newbury-born thrower.
The day after receiving their MBEs, both Littler and Humphries teamed together for England at the 2025 World Cup of Darts, but lost in the round of 16 against Germany's Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko.
A short time later, two-time world champion Dennis Priestley claimed that Littler and Humphries had "let their country down'" and had not achieved enough in the game yet to deserve an MBE.
"Luke Littler and Luke Humphries let their country down at the World Cup of Darts, from what we've heard they weren't sitting together or practicing together," he told OLBG.
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"When I was playing in pairs with Phil Taylor we practiced together and sat together, we played all over the world and I only remember us getting beaten once.
"To be brutally honest, I don't think either Luke Littler or Luke Humphries have done enough to earn their MBEs just yet. I think in time they could've done enough to warrant it but it feels very early, they have both won one World Championship each and are still young in their careers.
"Littler has been recognised for raising the popularity of darts which is great, but he can still do so much more."
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Littler soon hit back at Priestley with a now-deleted Instagram story. He wrote: "Don't deserve an MBE but done more in 12 months than he ever did... that's what I would say anyway."
And on Friday morning, Humphries took to social media to have his say on the controversial comments.
"Disappointing to hear a top former pro who I admired say such a damaging thing to me and Luke," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "I didn’t let my country down last year tho did I. One bad game for us and we will back next year to go again. let’s move on now."
Priestley, who won the inaugural PDC title in 1994 with a 6-1 win over Phil Taylor, was even described as "the best player I have ever seen" by 16-time world champion Taylor.
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Thoughts on Priestley's comments? Let us know in the comments.
Topics: Darts, Luke Littler
Jack Kenmare