Phil Taylor grew up in a house his parents bought for £100. The upstairs was condemned. His dad knocked a brick out of the wall so they could run an extension lead to the neighbour’s electricity. At 17 he was a sheet metal worker. Luke Littler, at the same age, was already a millionaire and … Read more
Luke Littler is 19, world number one, and already a two-time world champion. After a weekend in Amsterdam that turned sour, he is now sitting out the next run of events in the Netherlands. That is not a small decision. It is the world number one telling a packed darts nation that the atmosphere has … Read more
Amsterdam Stops the Run: Clayton Ends Littler’s World Series Challenge Luke Littler’s bid for an unprecedented clean sweep of the 2026 majors came to a halt in Amsterdam. In the quarter-finals of the World Series of Darts Finals, Jonny Clayton beat the world number one 10-4 and sent the teenager out of the tournament. It … Read more
Luke Littler walked into AFAS Live this weekend as the best darts player on the planet. He walked off it talking about never coming back. That is the strange, messy reality of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam. The 19-year-old world number one and back-to-back world champion beat home favourite Danny Noppert, then … Read more
Amsterdam turned on Luke Littler this weekend, and the world champion has finally drawn a line. Two nights of boos and whistles at the World Series of Darts Finals ended with the referee stopping play, fans online calling for both players to walk off, and Littler saying he is ready to treat the Netherlands the … Read more
Darts is supposed to be loud. Songs, pints, a bit of needle. What happened in Amsterdam on Saturday was something else. Luke Littler and Nathan Aspinall were in the middle of a last-16 scrap at the World Series of Darts Finals when referee Charlie Corstophine stopped the match, pointed at a section of the crowd, … Read more
There are players who talk a good fight and players who actually have one when the room starts spinning. Nathan Aspinall sat in Amsterdam on Friday night and admitted he wanted out. Not later. Not after the tournament. Mid-match. Four-one down to Raymond Smith, feeling rough, and already halfway to the airport in his head. … Read more
Wikipedia now lists it as a 10–9 last-16, so the piece will use that score, the averages, and the two portraits. **Littler survives Aspinall fightback to book last-eight spot in Amsterdam** There are nights in darts when the result looks simple on a graphic and feels anything but simple in the building. Saturday at AFAS … Read more
Six match darts. One home crowd. A defending champion who had already dragged himself off the floor. And still Michael van Gerwen walked off the AFAS Live stage on Thursday night with that look fans know too well. He had just blown a 5-3 lead against Daryl Gurney and lost 6-5 in the first round … Read more
Danny Noppert hit a good score, turned, and celebrated right in Luke Littler’s face. That is the flashpoint that turned a first-round match in Amsterdam into something sharper than a 6-4 scoreline. The AFAS Live was already on Littler. Boos. Whistles. A home crowd treating the world number one like the villain of the night. … Read more