by In the blink of an eye, a teenager from Warrington has become a household name at London’s Alexandra Palace over the past fortnight. Luke Littler has taken the PDC World Darts Championship by storm with his unexpected run to the last 16, overcoming seasonal advantages and showing maturity beyond his years as he plastered himself across headlines and national news bulletins .
The new Darts pin-up has earned £35,000 so far and will face five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld in the fourth round on Saturday night, with just 40 years separating the two players. A clip of him throwing darts in nappies – showing off an amazing act similar to the one he’s employed today – has gone viral on social media, with 7.7m views on a post by his mum, Lisa, showing him opening his presents Christmas in front of their trees, and Aaron Ramsdale and Declan Rice stopped for a photo at his hotel this week.
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But while the story of Luke “the Nuke” Littler may be new to many outside the world of darts, for those in the know, the foundations beneath the most precocious talent the world has seen have been years in the making. sport. Littler was throwing darts almost as soon as he learned to walk, and throwing on a standard board by the age of seven. Fortunately, a new darts academy was established in nearby St Helens around the same time, giving Littler the opportunity to hone his craft when he started at the age of nine.
The town, which is full of soccer talent with Dave Chisnall, Stephen Bunting and reigning world champion Michael Smith from the area, was about to see a rare talent arrive on the scene.
“We host the academy every Monday night, with different age groups playing in tournaments – it costs £2 to enter,” says co-founder Karl Holden. “I remember the night Luke first came; word got around the room quickly this child in the under 10 competition was special.
“You hear that a lot, so I went along and watched the final he was playing in. It blew me away. Quite immediately, at the age of nine or 10, he went up and played in our children under 14; he destroyed them. If you win three weeks out of five then, you can step up to an older age group: he won five weeks in a row at age 10 with an average of 70-odd. He was hitting everyone.”
Littler put the under 16 age category aside and under 13, he was playing on the big stage in the under 21 games, playing county darts and winning open tournaments in St Helens. “It was so damn good,” Holden laughed. “But there was nothing else we could do for him. When he was 12, he was probably the best under-16 player in the world. I think he lost in the final of the men’s 10 tournament in St Helens before he was 13, which gave him extra steel. But he had to take the next step and go to the JDC.”
The JDC is the Junior Darts Corporation, a breeding ground for the next generation of professional stars. Its chairman is Steve Brown, an ex-professional who was considering a return to the tour himself during the lockout, when he had his first unforgettable encounter with the teenager. “There was a lot of buzz about Luke,” recalls Brown. “I was trying to get my own game back together to try and make the journey again in lockdown and I ended up playing it in an online tournament.
“I think he was around 12 or 13 and he threw me on the floor. It gave me a bit of a reality check about where my game was at! But he’s a one in a million talent.”
Littler joined the JDC circuit at a time when another stalwart, Keane Barry – now 21 – was dominating the junior scene. That soon changed when Littler arrived and at the age of 13, he averaged 87 in a match against Barry. “Keane set the bar for junior darts players, but Luke has leapfrogged it and set it to a height that I haven’t seen anyone reach for a while,” says Brown.
His list of achievements in the JDC is long and extensive, winning his world championship in each of the last two years but even as he dominates the junior circuit, he has had an impact at the senior level. At the age of 14 he won the men’s WDF Irish Open, averaging 111.33 in a JDC match: a figure not achieved by any player in the world championship this year.
In November he won the final of the PDC World Youth Championship before flying to Gibraltar on no sleep to try to qualify for the JDC world final. He brushed aside a field of 138 players, before winning that final at Alexandra Palace this month. “I explained to him when he joined the JDC that although his trajectory will rise, he may have a dip or even a plateau,” Brown says. “But that didn’t happen; I’m still waiting for that plateau. I’m thinking maybe he won’t come.”
Related: PDC world darts: teenage star Luke Littler powers to historic last-16 place
Littler’s maturity beyond his years is evident on stage, and it’s no accident. “Our job is not just to get them ready to play darts, but to prepare them to be professionals,” says Brown. “He must have done 50 interviews in the JDC, and that was taken into account so that he was ready for that side when he burst onto the mainstream cameras and the Sky Sports cameras – which he now has. That’s why it’s so calm and relaxing.”
Brown and Holden believe Littler can be world champion next week, but even if he doesn’t do it this year, they are confident it will happen in the years to come – and Luke Littler’s effect is already being felt in St Helens. “This week alone I think 20 teenagers came in and wanted to sign up and play,” says Holden. “What they talk about is how they want to be the next Luke Littler.
“Michael van Gerwen won the World Masters at 17 and no one thought he would be removed,” says Brown. “But Lúcás is here, among the best and beating it up. He is a generational talent. I’ve never seen anyone like him, and I’m not sure I ever will again.”
