01 January 2024 , 22:19
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As soon as you see him, you’ll say what I did.
“He’s never 16.”
And yet Luke Littler – the child darts prodigy inadvertently answering those questioning the ages of young, unaccompanied asylum seekers based on facial hair and appearance alone – is indeed a young teenager. The wonderkid from Warrington has come from nowhere to thrill broadcasters, excite sponsors, swell an already healthy darts audience and inspire a new generation of youngsters to play the sport.
How? By beating a slew of established, superstar players – including five-time champion Raymond van Barneveld – to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship at Alexandra Palace in north London. You don’t have to know too much about darts to be fascinated. He is the darts equivalent of ex-footballer Wayne Rooney, who scored for Everton against Arsenal as a 16-year-old.
He started playing at “18 months in a nappy on a magnetic board”. Fans at his games have been chanting: “He’s got school in the morning, school in the morning!” But, at a time when so much of the grim UK news agenda leaves your heart sinking heading into 2024, Littler provides the brief escapism we could all do with.
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What would you rather do? Listen to more from lying politicians, calculate how much heavier our tax burden will be, or check in on a kid taking his first steps towards superstardom? Millions of parents around the country have enough trouble coaxing their 16-year-olds out of bed by midday without mulling over – as his mum Lisa is now – how to spend the small fortune he is closing in on after winning yesterday’s quarter-final and coming within two wins of being the youngest player to rule the sport.
Should he reach the final, he’ll earn £200,000 just for being there, or £500,000 if he wins. Many parents are currently casting glances at their couch potato kids hooked on PlayStation or Xbox and asking why, like Littler, their youngsters aren’t using their time far more productively.
Trouble is, Luke’s childhood was no different. “I’d just wake up, play on my Xbox, have some food, have a chuck on the board and go to bed. That’s it,” he said over the weekend. I don’t engage with anything outside the house… I just stay level-headed.“ Now he is a household name, still marvelling at granting interviews on Sky Sports and breakfast TV and doing selfies in the street. Luke can’t remember when he last lost a darts match. Suddenly, he has millions of new fans hoping it won’t be now.