ONE of the benefits to being a 51-year-old publication, rather than a neophyte online blog, is that there is very little that Darts World has not seen before and, yes, that even applies to the phenomenon that is Luke The Nuke Littler.
The Warrington Wunderkind’s explosion onto the elite darts scene has blitzed all before him in terms of attention, publicity and, we would imagine, financial reward. But, we have been wary of adding to the ever growing mushroom cloud of hyperbole surrounding the young sportsman and his family.
This is not to say we haven’t followed his progress closely and believed he would make a big impact. Indeed we interviewed Luke and his family in the summer of 2021 (for DW576) back then the 14-year-old said:
“… the plan for the next couple of years is to compete in the England Grand Prix’s and hopefully the PDC Development Tour from 16-years old. The JDC tour is still open to me until I’m 18 and I really enjoy performing on that too….”
Luke certainly checked those boxes. He added:
“My goal is to become a professional darts player. I’m able to put the hours in and prepared to do what it takes. Of course winning the World Championships would be the ultimate dream…”
Well part one of that statement is certainly accomplished, it’s likely that Luke will earn close to half a million pounds in his first twelve months as a senior PDC player. And he wasn’t too far off the second part of his statement either.
For a, then, 16-year-old to reach the final on debut was an outstanding effort full of skill and courage.
But, it would be fair to point out that Luke had the benefit of ‘novelty’ on his side and that initial success based on raw talent, and a surprise factor, can sometimes take a dip when confronted with the day-to-day grind.
These concerns were compounded, for some, with Luke’s selection for, and acceptance of, a Premier League place. Concern mounted that it would take too big a toll on such a young talent when he would need to play the full tour in 2024 in order to build a ranking position.
We should have paid attention to the closing lines of that 2021 interview:
“…don’t be surprised to see the name Luke Littler popping up on your television screens before too long. Once he gains his PDC tour card, expect him to do plenty of damage on the circuit.”
The Runcorn born thrower has maxed out on his advantage and won just about everything at the first time of asking: World Series event in Bahrain, check! Players Championship floor tournament, check! European Tour event, check!
If the above threesome were not enough, he also clocked two perfect legs, one being televised, and has now won a brace of Premier League nights against the elite of the PDC system.
The now 17-year-old is already ranked well inside the world top 32 and is rising rapidly on almost all the other tables. He has also secured or made likely qualification into every other major event this year and will surely be looking for a top 16 spot along with automatic qualification into all the 2025 events as well?
If all this seems out of this world and too good to be true a little caution and perspective is called for. Darts, and most other high profile professional sports, are blessed to see remarkable talent burst through in each major era. Some have gone on to greatness and others have fallen by the wayside.
Eric Bristow claimed his first notable senior titles at 19 and was the World Master in 1977 aged 20. It’s worth bearing in mind that there was no development structure, MODUS Super Series or tier leagues and that Eric would not have been allowed in the majority of darts playing venues until the age of 18!
Beau Greaves was winning notable events, both youth and senior, womens and mixed as well as hitting a competitive 9 darter whilst just 15. Still in her teens she became a major winner, full international, World Champion and then PDC Women’s World Matchplay champion.
By 16 Michael van Gerwen had claimed multiple senior BDO Opens, set all manner of age group records, delivered a perfect televised 9-dart leg and was the 2006 World Master by 17.
Our prodigies all had blips after that initial breakthrough. Eric took 3 years to claim his first World title. MVG had a pretty torrid time after joining the PDC and would have to wait 5 years, until 2012, before he really began to fulfil his potential.
What can happen if you fail to handle explosive talent with sufficient care? Google the name of another teen prodigy and World Master: Adam Smith Neale.
—–ENDS—–
Images: Taylor Lanning/PDC