Luke Littler: teenage 'viral sensation' takes darts world by storm

A British teenager has thrown the increasingly popular game of darts into the spotlight, as he prepares for a match that could make him the youngest-ever world champion.

Luke Littler, a 16-year-old nicknamed "The Nuke", beat world champion Robert Cross 6-2 yesterday to earn his place in the Paddy Power World Darts Championship at London's Alexandra Palace tonight. He will face Luke Humphries, who beat Scott Williams 6-0, with the winner taking home the Sid Waddell trophy plus £500,000 in prize money. 

"The country is gripped by darts fever," Liberal Democrat spokesperson Jamie Stone said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The MP called for the final to be broadcast on free-to-air TV, so that "millions of Brits don't lose out on this historic moment".

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The background

Littler grew up in the Merseyside town of St Helen's, and joined the local darts academy at the age of nine. "By the time he was 10 we knew he was too good for his age," Karl Holden, co-founder of St Helens Darts Academy, told BBC Radio 5 Live. 

"He couldn't play in the PDC [Professional Darts Corporation] or the big time until he was 16, so we just let him enjoy himself and he's just worked his way through the ranks," Holden said. "He went from under-10s to under-14 leagues and, before he was 11, he was playing in the under-21s, just simply because he was too good for anybody else."

Last year, the Academy "helped hone the talents of four world title contenders", said the Daily Mail, including quarter-finalist Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting, who reached the last 16. The Academy has produced one world champion, Michael "Bully boy" Smith, who won last year's title.

But Littler had played only four senior matches at PDC premier events before his World Championship debut. He qualified for the UK Open on his 16th birthday last January.

Littler "continued his fairy-tale run with a breathtaking 6-2 success" in the semi-final, said PDC, "averaging 106 to move one win away from completing one of the most incredible stories in sporting histories". 

The latest

Little has averaged 100 or more points in three of his five matches, "one of only two players to do so at the tournament", said 5 Live. The teenager has also become "a viral sensation on social media", with more than 300,000 Instagram followers.

On Tuesday, he became the youngest person to reach the final, overtaking Kirk Shepherd who was 21 years and 88 days old in 2008.

Although Humphries "delivered a darting masterclass to whitewash Scott Williams in merciless fashion", it was Littler who "stole the headlines", said PDC, "dumping out 2018 champion Cross to move through to the biggest match on the darting calendar, less than three weeks shy of his 17th birthday".

After the "unflappable teenager" finished his "mesmerising display", he said: "I've got no words. It hasn't sunk in yet."

Humphries, who has become the new world number one after reaching the final for the first time, "will represent Littler's toughest test", said BBC Sport. 

When asked by Sky Sports how he planned to prepare for the final, Littler replied: "I'll do what I've been doing. In the morning, I'll go for my ham and cheese omelette, come in here, have my pizza, that's what I've been doing every day."

The reaction

The sport "sits squarely in the middle of Britain's banter-industrial complex", said The Economist: "the laddish industries of drinking, gambling and sport that have found a profitable niche and infuse the country's culture." 

The world darts championship has become "an end-of-year institution", said the magazine, a "debauched collision of fancy dress and elite sport". Darts is "a sport doused in irony and then dipped in lager". 

"Where else would a young plumber or banker rub shoulders with…Prince Harry?" wrote Barry Hearn, the former PDC chairman who "turned the championships into a juggernaut", in his autobiography.

But the Littler vs. Cross match "smashed" the viewership record for darts, said Eddie Hearn, British sports promoter and chairman of PDC, on X, with a record 2.32 million audience. "Bigger than the Ashes, bigger than the Ryder Cup," he added.

Darts mania has also "swept through" St Helen's, said The Guardian. 

"The amount of kids I've had coming into my shop saying they want to be the next Luke Littler, it's unbelievable," said Holden. "He's put youth darts on the worldwide stage and I think it's going to completely take off."