Raymond van Barneveld opens up on ‘row’ with Luke Littler after saying he was ‘a bit done’ with the teenager
RAYMOND van Barneveld has set the record straight over the Luke Littler row after saying he was “done” with the teen sensation.
Barney slammed Littler in an interview last month claiming the teen had ignored his texts before allegedly telling him to “f*** off”.
Littler has become one of the best darts players on the planet following his thrilling run to the World Championship final, which included a triumph over Van Barneveld.
Since that, the 17-year-old was named in the eight-man Premier League lineup before featuring in several other tournaments including the UK Open.
The teen also revealed that the five-time world champion Van Barneveld is his darting idol.
The Dutchman won his first Players’ Championships since 2021 last week, after beating Stephen Bunting in the final.
However, Barney has responded to claims that he allegedly told Littler “f*** off” after the youngster had ignored his texts.
Now, the 56-year-old has denied he said the offensive remark and has apologised.
He told Online Darts: “It was really weird. The guy was with me on the phone and he was talking about Luke Littler.
“I said he was a really quiet guy, maybe shy, I don’t know him that good (sic).
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“I played him at the Worlds but I don’t see him that often, I’m not in the Premier League.
“I’ve only met him a couple of times. So he’s really quiet, I sent him a couple of text messages during the Worlds, no reply.
“I can understand because he’s busy and maybe he got thousands of text messages.
“So I spoke to him in Den Bosch at the World Series and said ‘I sent you a couple of text messages to congratulate you but no response’.
“He said ‘Ray, sorry, you need to send me a normal SMS, I don’t do WhatsApp, I do normal SMS’. So ok.
“After Wieze I text him for the win and said congratulations on your win – no response again.
“So I said to the [journalist] ‘I don’t know, I tried to contact him a couple of times, wish him luck, wish him all the best and congratulate him’.
“Every time no response and he’s telling everyone that I’m his biggest idol and Phil Taylor.
“So I don’t understand, so leave it. And ‘leave it’ was transferred differently in England. And I was thinking ‘Oh wow, I never said that, I never said f*** off, never ever.'”
Van Barneveld crashed out of the Players’ Championships in Leicester earlier this week against Arron Monk in the first round on Monday.
The following day he beat Matt Campbell in the first round and lost to Jelle Klaasen in the next.
Meanwhile, Littler is back in action on Thursday in the Premier League in Birmingham, as he aims for a third successive win after being victorious in Belfast and Manchester.