BUNTING: WHISTLING COSTS PLAYERS THOUSANDS
23/04/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
STEPHEN BUNTING admits whistling costs players ‘thousands of pounds’ and urges fans to STOP.
The Bullet was caught up in a hostile atmosphere last month during his clash with Niko Springer at the European Darts Trophy in Germany.
The crowd noise became so intense in Gottingen that referee Huw Ware was forced to step in during the deciding leg and tell fans off as they jeered the St Helens thrower.
Home favourite Springer went on to edge the contest 6-5, dumping Bunting out in the second round of the Euro Tour event.
Bunting has now opened up on just how much the whistling impacts him at crucial moments.
He told talkSPORT: “It’s when it happens, and it always happens at an important time of a match.
“I don’t think these people realise at that important moment that the whistles could cost you thousands of pounds. People have got lots of bets going on as well.
“It’s so difficult. I can take people booing me or shouting abuse, but the whistling for some reason it just affects you as a player, especially at an important time in a match. You try to regroup then and sometimes you can’t.
“I advise everyone who turns up to the darts, whether it be Premier League, Worlds or whatever, go there, enjoy yourself, shout as loud as you want, shout as loud as you want, just please don’t whistle.”
World No.9 Bunting’s painful defeat to Springer in March saw him miss out on £1,500 in prize money after exiting in the last 32.
But the former Masters champ will be hoping for a very different atmosphere when he returns to the oche this evening, in front of a home crowd at the Liverpool Arena.
Bunting faces Premier League leader Jonny Clayton in the quarter-finals on Night 12, knowing time is running out to climb the table.
The 41-year-old sits seventh in the table despite recording a nightly victory and having the fourth highest rolling average (99.54) in the tournament.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
