Luke Littler tells Rotterdam crowd to 'calm down' and Wayne Mardle immediately points out broken vow

Wayne Mardle reminded viewers of Luke Littler's pre-match vow after the world number one made a 'calm down' gesture towards the Rotterdam crowd.

It was always going to be a noisy affair at the Ahoy Arena as Gian van Veen made a much-anticipated return to his homeland.

Van Veen has been embroiled in a not-so-friendly battle with Littler of late, after he accused the teenager of celebrating a missed double on night nine of their Premier League match in Manchester.

"I’m on 90, I miss double 15 on the inside, and then I see him celebrating towards the crowd. I don’t think that’s normal," Van Veen said. "He also makes that crying gesture. He’s a fantastic darts player, but today he showed he’s not a good loser."

Littler has since claimed he was performing "a little fist bump" towards his girlfriend Faith and her father rather than celebrating Van Veen's miss.

As the conversation continues around their beef, Littler received a frosty welcome from the Rotterdam crowd while warming up in the practice room ahead of his quarter-final match against Gerwyn Price.

Moments later, he conducted an interview with Sky Sports and vowed to keep his head down and not react to the jeering.

However, after overcoming Price with relative ease, the Nuke reacted in his semi-final clash against Luke Humphries, when a section of the crowd booed before he managed to find the double 20 bed.

As seen in the footage below, Littler performed the Calma celebration after securing a break of throw to make it 2-2.

Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle soon reminded viewers of Littler's interview. "Do you remember before the Gerwyn Price game, he said he wouldn’t react," Mardle said. "Well, he’s just reacted to someone there – and they don’t like it."

"It’s a difficult battle to win when you’re outnumbered about 10,000-1, but he's having a crack at it," added Mardle's fellow commentator.

Luke Littler tells the fans to calm down 👀 pic.twitter.com/OKcifb1azG

— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) April 16, 2026

Luke Littler gives his take on Gian van Veen incident

Speaking ahead of this week's Premier League fixtures, Luke Littler wanted to set the record straight about his on-stage fallout with Van Veen.

Giving his version of events, the teenager began: "Well, from my point of view, I’m looking up at the TV and just thinking in my head, he’s not going to miss. Even if he gets a shot at the bull, Gian’s one of the best bull hitters in the game.

"But then, when he came inside for double 15, I looked up, had a drink of my water, and did a little fist bump towards Faith (his girlfriend) and her dad.

"That’s when the fans on that side started – they were all screaming – so I was like, 'Come on' to them, and then the whole arena got involved.

"There was no need for Gian to look back and stare at me. He’s still got a dart in hand, so really, he should just step back, look at the floor, and then throw his last dart. Instead, he’s staring at me.

"Apparently, he said he caught me (celebrating his miss). But that’s a load of… nothing. I didn’t do it to him. I did it to Faith and her dad, and to the whole crowd. There’s no need for him to be staring when he’s still got a dart left to throw to set up."

Littler also admitted to calling Van Veen a "crybaby" following the incident.

"What other people didn’t see was that, as I've walked back around, he put his darts down on the table. No one sees that, so hopefully this gets out to people. He's the one who was not doing his job of being respectful," said Littler.

"I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone put their darts down in front of my face. I come inside and called him a crybaby because there was no need for it. When he won, I picked up my darts and said, 'Well done, you got the win.'"

A week after the incident, Littler produced his worst-ever televised average (83.94) in Brighton as he suffered a 6-4 defeat to Stephen Bunting.

Speaking after the setback against Bunting, Littler admitted he "didn't want to be there".

"I knew it was pretty bad even when I got on stage I didn't want to be there. I just couldn't be bothered," he said.

"I think I only had about 18 hours at home. I didn't get much time to practise. Obviously I practised before the game but it didn't go to plan."