“Shit DFB” and praise for DB
Curious darts evening in Berlin ends with an annoyed star
By Kevin Schulte
February 9, 2024, 9:53 a.m
Michael van Gerwen won the Premier League matchday in Berlin. In the final, the Dutchman prevailed against the 17-year-old new star in darts heaven, Luke Littler. The evening was strange for several reasons.
Michael van Gerwen was annoyed. The three-time darts world champion won the final of the second Premier League matchday in Berlin against Luke Littler shortly before midnight. At the short press conference after the 6:5 win against the 17-year-old prodigy, “MvG” wanted to give his young opponent a little verbal slap, at least to calm him down a little. At least that’s how it seemed when van Gerwen was asked whether the victory over Littler was a special victory and replied: “No, nothing special, it wasn’t a special final, we’ll have a final like that ten more times this year.”
“MvG” doesn’t like the fact that another player gets more attention than himself. Don’t make Littler’s successes too high and don’t fuel the enthusiasm for the darts prodigy. That seems to be the Dutch superstar’s strategy.
The just over 10,000 spectators in the Mercedes-Benz Arena were able to see what Michael van Gerwen really looked like a few minutes before, when the Dutchman puffed himself up a little more than usual on stage after the transformed match dart, puffed up his cheeks and his gave new adversary Luke Littler a few seconds to think about his missed opportunities. The 17-year-old Englishman had every right to be quite annoyed, as he missed two chances to win the match on his favorite double 10 in the decisive leg.
Van Gerwen really liked that. The 34-year-old grabbed an important five points for the Premier League table after the first round exit on the first matchday in Cardiff a week ago. After taking part in the semi-finals in the Welsh capital, Littler still has to wait for his first win of the day after the darts appearance in the federal capital, but is doing very well with five points, level on points with van Gerwen.
World champion has lost lightness
Michael Smith remains leader of the table after match day two. The 2023 world champion was able to match the level of play in Cardiff, but the “Bully Boy” was not able to win the day. In the semifinals, Smith lost 5:6 to Michael van Gerwen. Overall, the Englishman currently seems much more relaxed and carefree than last year, when he was never really able to build on his World Cup triumph.
The new world champion Luke Humphries, on the other hand, seems to have lost some of the lightness of the past few months. In his debut season in the Premier League, the world number one has just one win after two match days. Against problem child Peter Wright – more on that later – Humphries won 6:4. However, the semi-final was the end of the game, with “Cool Hand Luke” narrowly losing 5:6 to World Cup final opponent Littler.
For Humphries it was already the third defeat in a row in a duel with the 17-year-old huge talent, who still gets significantly more attention than the world champion. “That doesn’t bother me personally. Luke Littler is great, he’s making more and more noise for our sport. That’s good for darts. I hope he can enjoy the successes a bit too,” said Humphries in the ntv.de interview.
The new world champion himself, who won 7:4 against Littler in the final on January 3rd, has not yet been able to properly come to terms with his triumph. “It was a very intense January for me. I can still believe that the World Cup final was five weeks ago,” commented Humphries. “I really wanted to watch the final, but I still haven’t made it. And I wanted to spend the few days off with my family.”
Since winning the World Cup, Humphries has lost more games than he has won, which was only partially due to Jürgen Milski. At the side of the 9Live legend, Humphries was eliminated early from the Celebrity Darts World Cup three days after the final in London. But even after that there was a quick exit in all tournaments, most recently at the Masters in round one against eventual champion Stephen Bunting.
Peter Wright just loses
But there are others who are bigger problem children. Rather less Rob Cross, who isn’t particularly noticeable this Premier League season, but hardly does otherwise. Rather Nathan Aspinall. The Englishman lost his opening game both in Cardiff and now in Berlin. He even led 4-1 against Michael van Gerwen in the first game that Thursday evening. And even more, Peter Wright is one big question mark. The 2020 and 2022 world champion makes big noises every week, but doesn’t deliver anymore. After his embarrassing performance on the first day of the match, “Snakebite” at least showed a lot of improvement, but it was still not enough to win the game against Luke Humphries in Berlin.
Vice world champion Luke Littler, on the other hand, exudes the same lightness of the World Cup and previous weeks. The darts “atomic bomb” (“The Nuke”), as Littler is known, seems to be enjoying his first few weeks and months as a professional on the PDC tour. The 17-year-old also received the most support from the fans on the Berlin evening; at most, Michael van Gerwen’s darts spectators are similarly enthusiastic on these days.
The fans in Berlin were only dissuaded from their enthusiasm for Littler and the seven other Premier League players for a brief moment. “Shit DFB, shit DFL,” a significant portion of the audience chanted several times. The fan protests from football were also omnipresent in darts. Not the only strange moment of the Premier League guest game in Berlin.
Littler, himself a fan of investor-run Manchester United, unsurprisingly didn’t mind. Especially since the fans quickly slipped into “Littler Wonderland” with their singing. And even Littler’s actually rather interchangeable walk-on song – “Greenlight” by Pitbull – has become a popular shout-along hit for fans in just a few weeks.
Gerwyn Price praises Deutsche Bahn
However, it is trials and tribulations that best describe Gerwyn Price’s music selection at the moment. For years, the “Iceman” took to the darts stages of the world to the sounds of “Ice Ice Baby”, only interrupted by a unique “Roar” interlude (Katy Perry). Last week at the home game in Cardiff, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” suddenly came out of the speakers. “I wanted to involve the crowd a little more. I’ll keep the song for a few weeks. If I feel like it’s not working anymore, I’ll just switch back to something else,” Price told ntv the day before his Berlin appearance .
A good 24 hours later, the Welshman had changed his mind again. Price takes the stage to a completely unknown song from Scotland (“Belter” by Gerry Cinnamon), which is completely unknown, at least in this country. Maybe Price just made a mistake during the week. Next week the Premier League visits Glasgow.
Even apart from the walk-on topic, the “Iceman” was a surprise in Berlin; the day before, Price caused open mouths in the arena’s press room. “Berlin is a special place. The spectators show me the greatest respect.” Price really enjoys coming to Germany, emphasized the 2021 world champion. “I like the food, I like the culture, the buildings, I like everything. I like that the trains are on time. That’s not the case in Great Britain,” said the “Iceman” when asked by ntv.de. It is a good time to end this text. It doesn’t get more curious than the line “Darts star praises Deutsche Bahn for its punctuality.”