2026 World Darts Championship finalists Luke Littler and Gian van Veen were involved in an on-stage altercation at Manchester's AO Arena on Night 9 of the Premier League campaign.
The two players entered the decisive leg and with the scores tied at five legs apiece, the Nuke had a missed opportunity at double seven to win the match.
The Dutchman returned to the board and failed to check out double 15, much to the delight of the Manchester Crowd and, seemingly, Littler. Van Veen turned to Littler with a look of disappointment, later suggesting that the world number one had celebrated his missed chance to win the match.
The Nuke was evidently frustrated by Van Veen's reaction, throwing his arms into the air and later mocking his opponent with a crying motion.
Van Veen's missed chance at double gave Littler three darts at double seven to win the match, but he failed to capitalise and the 'The Giant' subsequently took out double six to enter the Premier League semi-finals.
What was said in the Luke Littler and Gian van Veen altercation?
What Gian van Veen said
The Littler-Van Veen altercation wasn't left on the oche however, with the Dutchman launching a scathing analysis of the situation when speaking to the media afterwards.
He said:
"I hit that treble 20 and missed the double 15 on the inside and I kind of turned around because I was disappointed I missed the double. And then I look up and I see Luke celebrating because I missed and I feel like that's not normal.
"Yes, you're there for yourself, but you don't cheer when your opponent misses.
"Then I see him making crybaby signs towards me, which is just not done. He's a fantastic darts player, but I feel like tonight his behaviour was out of order."
What Luke Littler said
While Littler didn't speak to the media after his quarter-final exit in Manchester, he did add fuel to the fire via social media.
In the hours after the match, he uploaded a screenshot of his darts honours to Instagram. This included his 2026 World Darts Championship triumph, in which he defeated Van Veen in convincing 7-1 fashion to win back-to-back tournaments.
Shortly after, the Nuke responded to "officialoldarts'" Instagram post, which provided Van Veen's post-match quotes, with three laughing emojis.
What other players said
Gerwyn Price, who famously wore noise-cancelling ear defenders to block out the boos from the crowd in the 2023 World Darts Championship quarter-final against Gabriel Clemens, jumped to Littler's defence in an interview after beating Van Veen to win Night 9.
He said:
"Things like this happen in darts. I'm sure in a couple of weeks, it'll be done and dusted, gone, and we move on.
"Sometimes you need to be a bit peed off and get those reactions. Otherwise, what's the point? Do you not want to win that much? Yeah, you'll probably regret some of the things you do or the reactions you have, but sometimes that happens.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I've been there. The backlash off it, probably Luke will have a bit of it. (In a) couple of weeks it'll be gone."
