Luke Littler has claimed that he gets booed in Germany because the crowd do not like that he is English. The world champion was heckled during the Premier League’s visit to Berlin last week and recalls receiving a negative reception in Hildesheim on the European Tour.
Littler suffered a rare quarter-final defeat on night nine of the Premier League. He was comfortably beaten 6-2 by Chris Dobey and seemed affected by boos from the Berlin crowd. The 18-year-old, who leads the Premier League leaderboard by six points, navigated his walk-on without any negativity but says the boos started when he climbed on stage. Littler believes he was targeted because he is English.
Speaking to Oche180, Littler said: “I had a little headloss moment, as some of us players do. I just don’t get it and I can’t explain it. Obviously you do your walk-on but then as soon as I got on stage I started getting booed.
“I got booed in Hildesheim last year against Peter Wright on the European Tour. I was flying and then they started booing me and I lost. Even when I went one-nil up, they still didn’t like it. He then went 5-1 up and, yeah, one of them moments.
“It’s something we’ve all got to deal with. For myself, obviously, there are certain people in the crowd who aim it at certain players. Me and Luke Humphries, we get it quite a lot. Obviously, the Germans musn’t like us English!”
MORE TO FOLLOW
We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.
For the latest news and breaking news visit: express.co.uk/sport/football. Stay up to date with all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter @dexpress_sport – the official Daily Express & Express.co.uk Twitter account – providing real news in real time.
We’re also on Facebook @dailyexpresssport – offering your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day to like, comment and share from the Daily Express, Sunday Express and Express.co.uk.