The Legend of Luke Littler: A Generational Talent
By Ryan Brolly
If you are anyway interested in sport and ventured onto social media around Christmas 2023 you would not have been able to escape the name Luke Littler, he captured the hearts and minds of darts and non darts fans alike due to the simple fact he was entering and dominating the World Darts Championships at Alexandra Palace at only 16 years old. By far one of the youngest sports stars to ever debut and light up a competition, comparable to figures of the past like Mike Tyson who achieved a 23 fight unbeaten run before he was 20 winning his first world title four months after his 20th birthday. Another star comparable to Littler in terms of competing at a young age is Michael Owen, becoming the youngest Premier League goalscorer in 1997 at only 17 years old he had an unbelievable career before adulthood into the end of his teenage years, he achieved the Premier League’s golden boot, the award for top goalscorer, in his first full season as a professional at 18 tied with two elite senior strikers of their day Dion Dublin and Chris Sutton. He also managed to make his international debut and was in the England squad for the 1998 World Cup all before his 20th birthday in 1999. I bring up these comparisons to emphasise the magnitude of Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler’s talents already.
Joining the St. Helens Darts Academy at age 10 Littler has been playing high level darts ever since culminating in his victory at the Junior Darts Corporation’s World Darts Championship in 2022 which he retained in 2023. Littler made his senior debut in the 2023 UK Open due to his performance in qualifying events where he would bow out at the fourth round. Due to Littler’s showing in the PDC Development Tour, a series of events where the two top players on the order merit secure a place at the World Championships in December, he headed to Alexandra Palace through his second place finish behind Dutchman Gian Van Veen.
During the World Championships Littler faced off against icons of Darts who have been playing Darts longer than he has been on this planet, players such as Fermanagh’s Brendan Dolan alongside former World Champions Rob Cross and Raymond van Barneveld on his way to facing World Number One and eventual World Champion ‘Cool Hand’ Luke Humphries in his debut Worlds.
Since that stellar tournament that had Littler going viral nightly for his love of Turkish doner kebabs you would have expected that to have been a fluke, but this is not the case. In the World Series of Darts Littler has won the Bahrain Masters and on the European Tour has achieved victory in the Belgian and Austrian Open tournaments. In the Darts Premier League, a 16 week league style tournament touring the UK and Europe, Littler won his first night of the League right here in Belfast during week nine at the SSE Arena. Littler once again met Luke Humphries in the play off final of the Premier League but this did not go the way of December’s World Championship final between the two with Littler throwing a ‘Nine Dart Finish’,the fewest amount of Darts it takes to win one leg, to take the tie to 6-5 in the best of 11 game. He would secure victory with a double 20 throw to make the match 11-7 collecting the £275,000 prize pot and his first major tournament win at only 17. He will likely now go on to contest even more major honours as the year progresses.
Given the longevity of Darts players and the generational nature of Littler’s talents it's not unreasonable to think if he was willing he could be at the top of this sport for the next 35 years. It begs the question now, with Littler’s success is he an anomaly and will Darts remain a game for an older generation or will the talent pool begin to get younger and younger?
Ryan Brolly is Sport Editor at The Scoop