Darts referee slams crowd during Luke Littler match with furious demand

Luke Littler faced a hostile crowd during his win over Andy Baetens in the first round of the World Masters, with referee Kirk Bevins forced to intervene to stop the whistling

A darts referee was forced to intervene after Luke Littler was faced with a wave of nuisance whistlers at the World Masters.

Littler took on Belgian qualifier Andy Baetens in the first round of the tournament in Milton Keynes on Friday. The 18-year-old is now the reigning world champion, having beaten Michael van Gerwen in the Ally Pally final at the start of January.

He hammered Baetens 3-0 in just 10 minutes and 45 seconds to set up a second round tie against James Wade. Littler averaged 104.33 and took out six of his nine checkouts in the three-set whitewash.

But The Nuke was forced to contend with a hostile crowd throughout his match. The whistling grew so bad that the game’s referee Kirk Bevins had to intervene and issue a warning to the crowd.

Ahead of the final leg as some punters in the crowd began to whistle again, Bevins shouted: “Stop whistling, thank you.” Commentator John Rawling was also left furious with the crowd’s whistles.

During his coverage on ITV, Rawling fumed: “What sort of a moron comes along to a big darts event and starts whistling?”

Littler though was left unfazed and easily progressed, with Wade now ahead of him on Saturday. He said: “This is my first time and debut here, it’s a different format, it’s set-play. It has not sunk in yet being the world champion. I know it should.

“This is darts, we have to carry on for the next event, given all the travelling that we do. But give it a few months and it will settle in. I’m looking forward to the Premier League again. A long 16 weeks ahead. If I can guarantee the top I will go back to the O2 Arena and try to defend the Prem again.”

Wade is relishing the chance to take on Littler, having suffered an embarrassing exit from the World Championship. He dismissed his his doubters as “laughable” despite the fact he is now ranked outside the world’s top 10.

“I still think it’s laughable that people don’t think I can win things, what will be will be,” said Wade. I still think I’ll win TV majors and I don’t see any reason why not. After tonight’s performance, not great.

“I don’t believe anyone’s amazing apart from probably the Luke and the Luke [Littler and Humphries] and after that they can be quite lazy. They are not Phil Taylors. They are not Michael van Gerwens at their best, but they are phenomenal players.

“But there are gaps in the market and it is what it is. I genuinely put my hand on my heart and don’t really care who I play. If I play well, I put up a fight and I do well. Obviously Luke is doing amazingly well, but it’ll be what it’ll be.”