“Luke I don’t believe would ever celebrate another player missing a double” – Scott Mitchell defends Littler after much-discussed incident with Van Veen

The flashpoint between Gian van Veen and Luke Littler during Night Nine of the Premier League Darts in Manchester remains the main talking point across the darts world the day after. Former professional Scott Mitchell has now weighed in on the incident. ‘Scotty Dog’ does not believe Littler deliberately celebrated Van Veen’s miss.

The incident arose in a nerve-racking final leg of their quarterfinal last night. After trailing 5-3, ‘The Nuke’ battled back to 5-5 to force a last-leg decider. The 19-year-old had first look at 134 for the match, but missed double 7.

Van Veen was also on 90 and, after hitting treble 20, earned two darts at double 15. The first landed inside, and as he turned away in frustration, he caught Littler in his peripheral vision making a celebratory gesture.

The Dutchman reacted indignantly, which in turn did not sit well with Littler, who responded with a dismissive wave. Van Veen had the last laugh, as Littler then missed double 7 twice more, allowing ‘The Giant’ to seal it on double 6. After that winning double, tensions lingered when Littler avoided eye contact during the handshake and walked straight off the stage.

Van Veen later stated that Littler did indeed celebrate when he missed double 15 and that he found it disrespectful. Scott Mitchell, however, feels the entire episode was misread by the Dutchman and does not believe there was intent from ‘The Nuke’. “For me I think the Luke Littler and Gian situation has been a little misread by pundits and news channels alike,” he began in a post on Facebook.

“Luke I don’t believe would ever celebrate another player missing a double. Inside maybe but outwardly no. What he would do at 5-5, with himself to throw is get the crowd ramped up before his visit for match winning double. That we have seen from him before.”

He continued: “Gian’s disappointment at missing saw him looking directly to his left, then in his peripheral vision, saw Luke doing was ramping up the crowd for his visit to win the match. When us players on the Oche, our mentality as a player is me, me, me. So we think everything from a dropped dart or darts rattle is all done to put us off. When players could genuinely drop or rattle a dart accidentally.”

Mitchell therefore understands Van Veen’s reaction, but also adds an important caveat. “So understand why in the heat of combat and adrenaline pumping, Gian saw Luke’s crowd ramping as that. I don’t see it as that, I’m sure many won’t agree.”