Gabriel Clemens has weighed in on the booing directed at Luke Littler during Night 11 of the Premier League Darts in Rotterdam, offering a relaxed perspective from an active professional’s viewpoint. Speaking on the Darts auf die 1 podcast alongside Robert Marijanovic and Marcel Althaus, the “German Giant” discussed how whistles and crowd reactions affect players on stage — and argued that such moments are often less dramatic than they appear from the outside.
“Whether booing or cheering — it’s just loud,” Clemens said. He recalled his own experience: “I got booed in Holland once when I played Gian van Veen. It was a bit uncomfortable — but I won, so it was all good.” The German top player downplayed the significance of booing, stating, “It’s not bad at all. In the end it’s just loud — whether it’s booing or cheering.” He noted that other disruptions are far more problematic: “The only things that bother you are the heckles or the whistling — or when they throw money onto the stage. That’s happened too. If only they’d throw notes,” he joked. “It’s really just that whistling in between that’s annoying. Everything else — be it loud booing or loud cheering — is relatively irrelevant.”
Marcel Althaus echoed that assessment, saying of the Rotterdam crowd: “The booing at the start — he’d had beef with Gian van Veen, sure, then I can understand it. Cheering every dart that doesn’t hit treble 20 is a bit unnecessary, I think. But there wasn’t excessive whistling when he was on the doubles — so it didn’t really cross into the blatantly unfair.”
Clemens sees Littler’s situation as a typical pattern in elite sport: “Isn’t it also a bit because he’s dominating or just so strong? Phil Taylor was pretty unpopular in his prime, Michael van Gerwen similar, Gerwyn Price in his best years as well. People always want to see the underdog win.” Althaus added that a player’s reception can change over a career: “Yeah, until he’s no longer an underdog. Then it flips. Just like with van Gerwen: before his breakthrough in 2012, 2013, he was the crowd favorite. Once you’re world number one for four or five years, that fades.”
Marijanovic underlined Littler’s current status: “I think this bashing of Littler is a bit over the top. Let’s be honest: You’ve got a choice between two exhibitions — one with Gian van Veen, the other with Luke Littler. No matter how much you don’t like him, you’d still go to Littler, because he’s simply the absolute top star right now. He’s already lifted this sport a fair bit.”
