PHIL TAYLOR has been blamed for the whistling plague blighting darts.
Night Six of the Premier League in Nottingham was marred by disruptive whistles from spectators that appeared to put players off during key moments.
World No.2 Luke Humphries even signalled towards his ears after dumping out Luke Littler in the semi-final, clearly frustrated by the noise inside the arena.
Earlier in the night, Littler gestured to the crowd by throwing his arms up and down after nailing a huge checkout while edging past Gerwyn Price in their quarter-final.
Former pro Matt Edgar believes fans began using the tactic after 16-time World Champion Taylor admitted the sound was the one crowd noise he could not stand.
He told OLBG: “Phil Taylor is to blame for this. If you think back to the days when you had wrestling and Stone Cold Steve Austin giving the ‘what’ chants.
“Now you still have that these days. It is like an annoying way to interact with the wrestler doing the promo.
“I remember an interview Phil Taylor did when he was asked about the noise.
“He goes, I don’t mind the noise, the one thing I can’t stand is the whistling.
“Then from there it was like, right, we need to get on his back now and annoy Phil Taylor by whistling.
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“Somehow it has annoyingly stuck within it. I think it stems from that moment of Taylor saying it puts people off.
“I think people almost try and play centre stage and take over. That is what they are doing.”
Pundit Charlie Murphy was inside the Nottingham Arena and experienced the disruptive atmosphere first-hand, calling for it to stop.
He added: “Last night you could really hear the whistling and we were quite close to the stage.
“So I was getting the same type of feel the players would have got. It was annoying and really loud and prominent.
“On doubles as well. It got Luke Littler fired up and Luke Humphries.
“But as well it frustrated Luke Humphries in that match against Littler.
“Please stop it. Just stop it, you are ruining it for everybody. Glenn Durrant was calling them morons. I fully agree with him.
“Just give it a rest. If you are going to whistle, don’t bother going.”
