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Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Darts fans demand major change to Premier League after Luke Littler's shock final loss
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DARTS fans have demanded a drastic change be made to the Premier League following Luke Littler's final defeat to Luke Humphries. Teen sensation Littler, who was the best player throughout the tournament, suffered an 11-8 defeat in a replay of the 2024 final at the O2 Arena on Thursday night. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Luke Littler suffered an 11-8 defeat to Luke Humphries in the final of the Premier League Darts Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK 3 Darts fans have demanded a change to the structure of the tournament after Littler's loss Credit: REUTERS Humphries took his head-to-head with Littler to 13 defeats and ten victories with his maiden Premier League title win. The match enthralled darts fans, although many of them couldn't help but vent their frustrations at the four-month-long competition coming down to one final match. One wrote on X: "Fair play to Humphries and I'm glad he won, but I really don't see the point in playing a 16-week league phase for it to come down to one game." Another said: "Format isn't great. What's the point of dominating for 16 weeks, for it to come down to one night? [It] seems a bit forced, IMO. READ MORE DARTS NEWS SHOWING FAITH Luke Littler's rumoured girlfriend Faith Millar cheers star on at darts final "I get why they do it, you don't want the league winner to run away with it as viewings will go down. But [it] needs looking at." And another said: "Bit weird how Luke was miles away the best player over 17 weeks and well clear at the top of the table. "But Humphries is the champion because of a one-off game? Leagues are meant to be won on consistency, surely." One remarked: "I think the person who is top after all the weeks should receive a trophy for that achievement. JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS Luke Littler prize money breakdown Here is all the prize money Luke Littler has won so far after being crowned 2025 PDC World Darts Championship winner: World Championship 2025 - £500,000 World Championship 2024 - £200,000 Grand Slam of Darts 2024 - £150,000 European Tour - £91,000 Player Championships events - £71,500 Players Championship final runner-up - £60,000 UK Open 2023 + 2024 - £17,500 World Matchplay - £10,000 World Grand Prix - £7,500 European Championship - £7,500 (Unranked) Premier League Darts - £315,000 TOTAL: £1.43 million "Like rugby with the playoffs [and] a separate one-off event for the top players. "Ultimately, it will always be Luke vs Luke in the final as no one [is] anywhere near them. Fans sing along to Luke Littler's walk-on song as darts star shares footage from stage Humphries, 30, was over the moon with his first-ever Premier League Darts title win. He told Sky Sports: "This one means the world to me, that was the one I was missing. "It was the one I wanted, I have done it now. "If I don't win another title, I am happy as I have done the three hardest ones to do. "Phil Taylor has given me a lot of support over the last couple of weeks, so Phil, if you are watching, thank you. "He gave me a lot of advice and that extra support."
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Darts fans demand major change to Premier League after Luke Littler's shock final loss
DARTS fans have demanded a drastic change be made to the Premier League following Luke Littler's final defeat to Luke Humphries. Teen sensation 3 Luke Littler suffered an 11-8 defeat to Luke Humphries in the final of the Premier League Darts Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK 3 Darts fans have demanded a change to the structure of the tournament after Littler's loss Credit: REUTERS Humphries took his head-to-head with Littler to 13 defeats and ten victories with his maiden Premier League title win. The match enthralled darts fans, although many of them couldn't help but vent their frustrations at the four-month-long competition coming down to one final match. One wrote on X: "Fair play to Humphries and I'm glad he won, but I really don't see the point in playing a 16-week league phase for it to come down to one game." Another said: "Format isn't great. What's the point of dominating for 16 weeks, for it to come down to one night? [It] seems a bit forced, IMO. READ MORE DARTS NEWS "I get why they do it, you don't want the league winner to run away with it as viewings will go down. But [it] needs looking at." And another said: "Bit weird how Luke was miles away the best player over 17 weeks and well clear at the top of the table. "But Humphries is the champion because of a one-off game? Leagues are meant to be won on consistency, surely." One remarked: "I think the person who is top after all the weeks should receive a trophy for that achievement. Most read in Darts JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS Luke Littler prize money breakdown Here is all the prize money Luke Littler has won so far after being crowned 2025 PDC World Darts Championship winner: World Championship 2025 - £500,000 World Championship 2024 - £200,000 Grand Slam of Darts 2024 - £150,000 European Tour - £91,000 Player Championships events - £71,500 Players Championship final runner-up - £60,000 UK Open 2023 + 2024 - £17,500 World Matchplay - £10,000 World Grand Prix - £7,500 European Championship - £7,500 (Unranked) Premier League Darts - £315,000 TOTAL: £1.43 million "Like rugby with the playoffs [and] a separate one-off event for the top players. "Ultimately, it will always be Luke vs Luke in the final as no one [is] anywhere near them. Fans sing along to Luke Littler's walk-on song as darts star shares footage from stage Humphries, 30, was over the moon with his first-ever Premier League Darts title win. He told Sky Sports: "This one means the world to me, that was the one I was missing. "It was the one I wanted, I have done it now. "If I don't win another title, I am happy as I have done the three hardest ones to do. "Phil Taylor has given me a lot of support over the last couple of weeks, so Phil, if you are watching, thank you. "He gave me a lot of advice and that extra support." 3 Luke Humphries was over the moon to claim his maiden Premier League Darts title Credit: PA
NBC Sports
3 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
NBC SPORTS AND PROFESSIONAL DARTS CORPORATION PARTNER TO STREAM SELECT EVENTS LIVE ON PEACOCK, BEGINNING WITH PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS FINAL TODAY AT 2 P.M. ET
Peacock to Stream Sky Sports' Live Coverage of Premier League Darts Final, US Darts Masters, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, and Select Portions of the World Darts Championship Premier League Darts Final From The O2 in London, Featuring 18-Year-Old Current World Champion Luke Littler, Streams Live on Peacock Today at 2 p.m. ET STAMFORD, Conn. – May 29, 2025 – NBC Sports and the Professional Darts Corporation have partnered to stream Sky Sports' coverage of select PDC events live on Peacock, it was announced today. The first PDC event streaming live on Peacock begins this afternoon at 2 p.m. ET with the Premier League Darts Final from The O2 in London. Today's Premier League Darts Final features 18-year-old current world champion Luke Littler aiming to win his second consecutive Premier League title. In the semifinals, No. 1 Littler will face No. 4 Gerwyn Price, while No. 2 Luke Humphries takes on No. 3 Nathan Aspinall. Upcoming events live on Peacock include the US Darts Masters from New York's Madison Square Garden (June 27-28), World Matchplay from Blackpool, England (July 19-27), the World Grand Prix from Leicester, England (Oct. 6-12), the Grand Slam of Darts from Wolverhampton, England (Nov. 8-16), and select portions of the World Darts Championship from London (Dec.11-Jan. 3). Peacock's expansive sports programming features live coverage including Sunday Night Football, Olympic and Paralympic Games, Big Ten Football and Basketball, Notre Dame Football, Premier League, NASCAR, golf, the NBA beginning in 2025-26, the WNBA beginning in 2026, La Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026, BIG EAST basketball, and much more. Peacock also offers daily sports programming on the NBC Sports channel. - NBC SPORTS -
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Nathan Aspinall's retirement admission after Luke Littler pushed back on claim
Nathan Aspinall has explained the exact age that he believes he will walk away from darts after giving his thoughts on teenage sensation Luke Littler and his future in the sport Nathan Aspinall has revealed his retirement plans after suggesting that he plans to walk away from the oche at 45. The Stockport star, who is currently 33 and sits ninth in the PDC's Order of Merit with a cool £496,000 in earnings over the last two years, still has ample time to add to his trophy cabinet and boost his bank balance before hanging up his darts. Speaking to SportsBoom, Aspinall shared his future plans, saying: "45, and I'm off. I've said to my partner if that's me, it is 45. "If it's earlier than that, and we start making golfers' money and I've got 30 million in the bank - happy days, I'll be off sooner. But I don't think it's going to happen that quick. But yes, 45 is when I'd like to bugger off." With his 34th birthday just around the corner in July, Aspinall has over a decade left to chase his dream of winning the PDC World Championship, having narrowly missed out on the title twice already. Aspinall's track record includes reaching the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament in both 2019 and 2020, where he faced defeat to Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen respectively. Additionally, he has secured runner-up finishes at the Grand Slam of Darts, World Grand Prix, Premier League and World Series of Darts, proving his mettle as one of darts' top competitors. That's not to mention clinching the 2019 UK Open with a solid 11-5 victory over Rob Cross and bagging the 2023 World Matchplay title with an impressive 18-6 win against Jonny Clayton. He's now gunning for his first Premier League triumph on Thursday night, as he prepares to take on the world's top-ranked player, Luke Humphries, in the semi-finals at the O2 in London, reports the Express. Should he emerge victorious, Aspinall will then go head-to-head with either Luke Littler or Gerwyn Price in the final. It comes after Aspinall suggested that Littler might retire in about five years due to his early success, but the teenage darts sensation has dismissed any talk of hanging up his arrows soon. Littler said: "I don't know where he's got that from - don't worry, I'll be here in 10 years. The Nuke, who etched his name into the history books by becoming the youngest-ever PDC World Championship winner at just 17 earlier this year, added: "It's crazy to even think about retiring. If I win 16 world titles like Phil [Taylor], I'll retire, but I'm not even thinking about retirement at the minute - the money is there to be won, especially the World Championship, but not only that. "Everything has gone up. It is all about what you're feeling, and I'm sure I'll be here for a long time." Littler, the reigning Premier League champion, is set to defend his title when he returns to the O2 on Thursday evening. The 18-year-old has secured his place in the play-offs after topping the league table with a total of 27 victories and 10 defeats this season, and will be aiming to capitalise on his form to secure the grand prize of £275,000.
NZ Herald
28-04-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Dartitis: The psychological condition where you can't throw a dart
The most notable case of happened during a match at the 2017 Grand Slam of Darts when world youth champion Berry van Peer was reduced to tears in his clash with Gary Anderson. The condition is related to similar issues in other sports, such as the yips in golf. Senior lecturer in sport, exercise and performance psychology at Auckland University Dr Arne Nieuwenhuys says it can be down to simply someone putting too much pressure on themselves internally. 'As a consequence of pressure-filled performance moments, there are these things emerging in how we go about the movement execution that cause us to choke and be unable to perform the movement as fluently as we normally can under practice conditions or before the emerging of the condition. 'We start to internalise where, normally over years of experience, we become pretty automatic in how we execute these kinds of movements, suddenly we start to scrutinise and control the movement more in a step-by-step fashion to prevent things from going wrong. 'As soon as we do that, we start paying attention to things that we normally don't pay attention to. We introduce the opportunity for error and the movement becomes more rigid – and the quality of execution goes down and people require longer to complete movements. 'I can imagine that in extreme cases going about a movement like that in a step-by-step fashion and being very much aware and conscious about each and every step of execution, that this can lead to a point where you halt movement and inhibit movement altogether as you transition from one sort of step to the next in your execution.' 'My arm locked up' Matthew Burns and Tracey Keegan are two New Zealand players who have experienced dartitis and have overcome it using different methods. Burns says his problems began when he started putting more emphasis on his technique, in a bid to achieve the perfect throw. While his game initially improved, it didn't take long for problems to present themselves. He would have a minor pause before his throw, which later elongated. The problems came to a head during a trial to represent the Canterbury team. 'My arm locked up, and I couldn't throw it,' he recalls. 'It was like every time I would try throw the dart, I would fall over. 'It got to the point where my brain just said 'no', and it just melted in front of 50 people.' Initially, Burns stopped throwing darts, and reverted to throwing ping-pong balls at his board, without any issues. Two months later, he decided to pick up his darts again, but it didn't take long for the dartitis to return. He then started hypnotherapy, and like before, it worked initially, but the same problems persisted. 'For me it's not caring about it. You have to trick your brain into not caring. 'If you don't care about the result it doesn't matter. You just chuck it, if it goes in, it goes in and if it doesn't it doesn't. It seems to have worked for me.' The story is different for Keegan. She started playing darts in 1998 and then suddenly struggled to release the dart. Her confidence was affected. 'It played a lot on me mentally as well because I started to take the enjoyment away from darts,' she said. 'One night, I got home and just put my darts away and didn't pick them up for three years.' At the time, with no access to sports psychology, Keegan could only seek advice from those closest to her. Eventually, after moving cities, she wanted to get back into darts, so she visited the local club and managed to throw without many issues. But still, years without any darts were challenging. 'I think because I'd moved towns, and I thought 'well, the only way that I'm going to get out to meet people was back into my darts'. 'I love my darts and it was frustrating when it got to the point that, I couldn't play. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. 'It got to the point to where the darts were on TV and friends of mine were talking to me about it and I couldn't watch because I really wanted to play. 'I wouldn't go down to any of the venues where all my friends were, but that was a motivation to get back into it. I had to get out and do something and I was very happy when I was up to throw again.' Both Kiwis say that having experienced dartitis, they can notice the signs if somebody else might develop it. 'I'm owning it' The latest top player to be struggling with it is world No 8 Nathan Aspinall. 'The Asp' is one of the sport's most-loved professionals, thanks to his Mr Brightside walk-on and his passionate, fighting display on the oche. The 33-year-old first noticed something was wrong in 2023 and it got to the point where he considered giving up the sport due to the mental toll. What didn't help was that Aspinall had issues with his elbow on his throwing arm, which involved having multiple injections and shockwave therapy. And while Aspinall still struggles with it on stage, he's managed to contain it for the most part, largely thanks to seeing a sports psychologist and taking part in hypnotherapy. 'Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I'm owning it, and it doesn't look pretty at times, but I found a technique to deal with it, and it's working for me,' he said after winning the Premier League night in Manchester earlier this month. 'I could give up now and say it's defeated me, but dartitis won't defeat me. 'I'm battling, I'm playing my heart out, I'm giving everything to this game and I've found a way to deal with it. 'The amount of messages I get from people about dartitis and the mental side of the game is unreal.' Nieuwenhuys says another technique that can be used is to try to trick the brain by secondary tasks that they need to perform while throwing a dart. 'Initially distracting yourself in what is a forced way, trying not to pay attention to the movement. 'As the secondary task is more demanding, people will be less able to spend a lot of attention on the actual skill performance per se, so prevent that deliberate, processing of movement-related information. 'Then slowly ... you'd need to introduce in the practice more representative distractors that are present during actual competition, which could include others, or other people attending performance if that is a typical thing that people become aware of and which in the first place introduces this sort of self-consciousness.' He says similar issues are quite common in sports like golf, basketball and gymnastics and feels increasing pressures in modern sport could lead to more people suffering from similar side effects. 'With expectations in sports increasing and the demands that we place on our athletes increasing like more generally speaking,' said Nieuwenhuys. 'I think that every major tournament – even if it is the Olympic Games – you see people being more open, speaking out about the pressures that they're under. 'I think it's always been there, and yes, we are doing more research and gaining a better understanding, and that would certainly lead to a different perspective and hearing more about it.'
