Category: Darts

Booing and flashpoints are commonplace in a sport further along on a journey that others are taking to varying degrees

Let me tell you the moment I realised Boris Johnson was fucked. It was late 2021 and there had been some talk about parties in Downing Street during Covid, but in these febrile siloed times, when the entirety of human existence has blurred into a single personalised scrolling feed, who even knows what constitutes “the news” any more? Who knows what fragments of reality ever emerge from Westminster’s furiously spinning vortex of unintelligible jargon: prorogue, backstop, Aukus, Slapps? What is a Morgan McSweeney and what time does it start?

But then came the magical night, a few days before Christmas, when the darts crowd turned. As Florian Hempel swept to a routine first-round win against Martin Schindler (bit of an upset, to be honest, but you never write off Flo at the Palace), Alexandra Palace rocked to strains of “Boris is a cunt”. Fans held up signs reading “Work Event”, drew pictures of cheese and wine and gleefully held them up to the cameras. And you realise, with a piercing we’ve-lost-Cronkite clarity: oh wow, he’s fucked.

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• Teenager triumphs 6-4 in Birmingham final
• ‘I am very confident I will finish top of the table’

Luke Littler fought back to see off Michael van Gerwen 6-4 to win night 13 of the Premier League in Birmingham, setting a new record with a fifth overall evening victory of the season.

Littler, the world champion, had beaten Stephen Bunting 6-5 in the opening quarter-final at the Utilita Arena, leaving Bunting still bottom of the table, before also edging past Nathan Aspinall in a last-leg decider.

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• Player suspended for betting on 88 matches
• ‘If you fix matches you face serious consequences’

Former World Championship semi-finalist Andy Jenkins has been handed an 11-year ban and £17,580 fine for match-fixing in darts.

Jenkins was found guilty of fixing 12 Modus Super Series matches between 22 February 2002 and 5 July 2023 and also passing information on to bettors.

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• Van Gerwen comes back from 4-0 down to beat Littler 6-5
• Price defeats world No 1 Humphries 6-4 in final

Luke Littler threw away the chance to silence the baying Liverpool crowd as Gerwyn Price claimed victory on night 12 of the Premier League.

Littler, booed on to stage on the banks of the Mersey owing to his allegiance to Manchester United, capitulated against Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-finals of the weekly competition.

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• Dobey gets first nightly win in two years
• ‘I’m a fighter and I’ll be here until the end’

Luke Littler’s wait for a record-breaking fifth nightly win of a single Premier League season goes on as Chris Dobey reigned on night 11 in Rotterdam.

Dobey took his first nightly win in two years with a 6-2 victory over Stephen Bunting, who saw off Littler in the semi-finals. After avoiding a scare to edge out Rob Cross 6-5, Littler fell 3-2 behind to Bunting and then drew the ire of the Dutch crowd when he spent time changing his barrels – to no avail, as Bunting charged into a 5-2 lead.

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• Aspinall stuns world No 1 in Manchester night 10 final
• Gerwyn Price hits nine-darter in defeat to Luke Littler

Nathan Aspinall earned his first nightly win of this year’s Premier League, fighting back to beat Luke Humphries 6-4 in the final on home turf in Manchester.

Stockport native Aspinall moved up to fourth in the standings after a dramatic night of action at the AO Arena. Humphries defeated Luke Littler in his semi-final, after the world champion overcame a stunning nine-darter from Gerwyn Price in his opener.

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• Bunting beats Price 6-5 in final to break his duck
• Littler beaten by Dobey in opening match

Stephen Bunting turned his Premier League form around in stunning fashion to claim victory in Berlin after Luke Littler crashed out early.

Bunting had failed to win a match in the first eight rounds of the series but he saw off Nathan Aspinall to break his duck then eased to victory over Luke Humphries before defeating Gerwyn Price 6-5 in the final.

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• Tournament winner in 2026 will receive £1m cheque
• Increased field of 128 players compete for £5m in total

The Professional Darts Corporation will award the 2026 world champion a record £1m prize – double the amount Luke Littler received in January for claiming the 2025 title.

The biggest prize-money increase in the history of the PDC has been confirmed, with an expanded 128-player field at the 2026 World Darts Championship competing for a £5m prize fund at Alexandra Palace in London.

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• Teenager storms to 6-1 victory over Humphries
• Littler now eight points clear at top of the table

Luke Littler earned back-to-back Premier League victories with a 6-1 win over Luke Humphries in the final at Newcastle. Littler also beat Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross on his way to a fourth win of the competition.

Both Littler and Humphries had previously met in two finals during this season’s Premier League, with one win each. Humphries cut a frustrated figure as “the Nuke” stormed into a 4-0 lead with three successive double 20 checkouts.

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• Teenager throws perfect darts in fourth leg of 6-4 win
• World champion goes 180-crazy in Cardiff thriller

Luke Littler crowned a third Premier League win of the season with a nine-dart leg in his 6-4 final win over Michael van Gerwen. Littler sent the Cardiff crowd wild with perfect darts in the fourth leg, and the 18-year-old had to be at his brilliant best to ward off a revitalised Van Gerwen.

The world champion hit a remarkable 10 180s and returned a match average of 112.50 to extend his Premier League lead to six points. “I didn’t even realise the double 15 was in until Huw [Ware, the referee] shouted it,” said reigning Premier League champion Littler of his final shot.

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• Teenager savours 6-3 victory in Brighton final
• Humphries and Cross produce nine-darters in defeats

The world champion, Luke Littler, beat Nathan Aspinall 6-3 to win night five of the Premier League in Brighton, where there were two nine-dart finishes.

Littler, who added the UK Open title to his growing collection last weekend, had too much for Aspinall, closing out his second nightly win to keep the pressure on Luke Humphries at the top of the table. Earlier Humphries, the world No 1, had hit a nine-darter in his quarter-final defeat by Rob Cross, who then also produced a perfect leg as he was later edged out 6-5 by Aspinall.

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• Humphries extends lead at top of table after 6-4 victory
• World No 1 collects first league win over Littler

World No 1 Luke Humphries got his first Premier League win over Luke Littler with a 6-4 victory in the final on night four in Exeter to take control at the top of the table.

Littler – who won in Glasgow but then suffered an early exit in Dublin – had broken to open up a 3-1 lead before Humphries responded and then levelled the match at 3-3.

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• Welshman wins final 6-3 having beaten Luke Littler
• Price now second in table behind Luke Humphries

Gerwyn Price beat Nathan Aspinall 6-3 to win night three of the Premier League in Dublin, after earlier seeing off the world champion, Luke Littler.

Welshman Price – sporting an Ireland green shirt to help get the fans onside – had backed up his quarter-final win over Littler with another pristine display against Luke Humphries, the world No 1, coming from behind to win 6-3 and book his place in the final.

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