Russ Bray has slammed darts crowds for whistling at players in a bid to try and put them off and demand more be done to stop it.
Luke Littler vs Mike De Decker was marred by whistling in Wolverhampton as The Nuke toppled Real Deal in a last-leg decider.
Bray has called for more to be done to prevent crowds from putting players off, but he’s defended referee Kirk Bevins.
Russ Bray calls for whistlers to be chucked out
Bray has demanded any whistler be chucked out of PDC events after De Decker left the Grand Slam fuming at the disrespect.
Speaking to Online Darts, the PDC legend said: “That’s the last thing you want is a player walking off or taken off the stage.
“It needs inside policing. Our security boys are only allowed onto the perimeter, they’re not allowed into the arena. You can’t blame our boys for that.
“They’re there to protect the players if anyone tries climbing over the barrier or does anything daft.
“The in-house security should be the ones dealing with the guy or the person alongside the idiot whistling.
“I kid you not if someone did that alongside me, I’d be saying turn it in. That’s what it needs. It needs the people in the crowd and in-house security.”
“As soon as the geezer whistles, throw them out. Put a big sign when they walk in. Anyone found whistling while the games [are] on will be ejected.
“It’s the worst thing in the game, it goes through you anyway. The worst thing you can say is please don’t whistle as you’d have 3,000 idiots whistling. That’s human mentality.”
Fans were unhappy with referee Bevins for not warning the crowd, but Bray believes that would have made the situation worse.
Bray said: “There’s nothing he can do, he’s got 5,000 people. What’s he going to do? Pulling him off the stage won’t work as you’ve got betting involved.
“It’s like a disruption at a football game and causing the game to get abandoned.”
Bray left his role as referee after the 2024 World Championship final involving Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.
Darts crowds are getting out of hand – but it’s the PDC’s fault
For years PDC darts crowds have lacked respect for the players stepping up to the oche but you can’t lay the blame on fans.
The PDC has created the atmosphere and sold the event as a pub-like setting. Alcohol and darts go hand-in-hand and it’s bound to cause problems for players.
Booing players on doubles and whistling at players they’re not fond of will continue and it’s just something players going to have to deal with.