Darts pundit and commentator Mark Webster has said he believes Luke Littler won't walk away from the sport over the hostile treatment he sometimes receives from crowds in the UK and abroad.
Littler's hopes of winning every major tournament available in 2026 were ended when he was beaten 10-4 by Jonny Clayton in the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam on Sunday.
The double world champion had threatened to boycott tournaments in the Netherlands after being booed and whistled during his win over Nathan Aspinall the previous day. He also played under similar circumstances when beating home favourite Danny Noppert in the first round on Friday.
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"If the Dutch stay like this, then I'm not going to do any Euro tours over there," Littler said. "There's just no point in me travelling, wasting my time whilst I'm getting booed."
Littler is also unpopular with darts fans in Germany and when asked in December if he has a problem playing in the country, he replied: "Yeah, I mean, whatever. I don't know. The crowds were good in Dortmund. Not really any booing going on. So maybe I might try a Euro Tour, and if they start booing me then, I won't go."
Wesbter, looking back at Littler's World Series tournament, said: "No, I don't think he's going to walk away from the sport over this.
"He was obviously very upset about how he was treated in the Netherlands at the weekend, but some of the opponents he played -- a home favourite in Danny Noppert -- he was going to get some rough treatment there.
"I'm not saying it's right, and the whistling, I know they're trying to take it out of the game.
"The booing, they won't be able to stop, but the whistling is something that's a bugbear to a lot of players at the minute. The PDC are trying to get rid of it. I spoke to a few of the security guys who are experimenting with stuff within the crowd, but obviously it got on top of Luke Littler this weekend.
"He was saying after games he wasn't happy with the treatment he got. I don't like saying it, but a lot of the booing is part of the game now. He kind of has drawn attention to it by speaking about it.
"The whistling is annoying, and I think it's a bit sharper when the players are throwing and it puts them off. A constant boo, I think players can deal with. Luke has dealt with it in the past, and I'm sure he'll be OK.
"If he chooses to miss events in the Netherlands, that's his prerogative. There is a Premier League night there, which I think he'll play, but the European Tour, there's 15 events during the year. He doesn't really need to go to the Netherlands, so he can cherry-pick there.
"So if he does decide to boycott, he can still plan out his year, really. He's got a long time left in the sport. I don't think he'll leave the sport as early as people make out.
"He loves playing darts and he's brilliant at it, so I think he'll just bounce back. He'll get some more rough treatment and he'll try and deal with it the way he has done the majority of the time, and just win games and win tournaments. He was a little bit hurt at the weekend."
Littler has also experienced darts fans turning on him in the UK with incidents at the World Championship in December and a Premier League match against Gian van Veen in Manchester drawing the ire of the crowd.
There has, though, always been an element of pantomime to the boos he receives in his own country and the booing has died away more recently.
"We're still in this boom on the back of what he [Littler] did," Webster said.
"There's other players, but he is the main draw. After that run to the World Championship final on debut, and he's backed up by winning back-to-back World Championships. People buy a ticket to watch him. They may boo him, they may whistle when he throws.
"He's the best player in the world, and we've got this sort of culture in our country where the best players receive a bit of rough treatment. They want them knocked off their perch.
"He gets fired up himself, and I'm sure he'll bounce back in the right way at the Grand Prix in Leicester."
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