What has darts benefited from the 16-year-old’s incredible run at the World Championship?
Although the incredible run did not finish happily, Luke Littler is optimistic that his time will come.
Unbeknownst to most at the beginning of the competition, the 16-year-old destroyed two previous champions his route to the PDC World Championship final at Alexandra Palace, where he was defeated 7–4 in an excellent match by the outstanding Luke Humphries.
“It’s been unbelievable – I just wanted to win one game and come back after Christmas, that was the only goal I set, so this is a massive bonus,” Littler stated.
“I’ve won six games here, so why can’t I come back and win seven in the future years? I now have a great deal of stage and experience.
“The past three to four weeks have been unbelievable and now I just can’t wait to go home.”
Darts has garnered unparalleled coverage in the media thus far, with many attracted to Littler’s grounded demeanour. But might his narrative resurrect darts’ broader appeal?
Journalist Chris Hammer of Sporting Life for Darts said on the BBC’s Sports Desk programme, “I can’t get my head around what it’ll do for darts.”
“Darts are currently seeing unbelievable levels of exposure. Who knows how darts will appear in ten years?”
With a high audience of 2.32 million, Littler’s semi-final win over Rob Cross, the 2018 champion, broke the previous record for Sky tournament viewing, and the 2024 final will most likely establish a new record as well.
It is quite unlikely, though, to surpass the record set in the 1983 BDO World Championship on the BBC, when 8.3 million viewers watched qualifier Keith Deller win the title by defeating favourite Eric Bristow.
Has Littler, who was only 18 months old when he threw his first dart, encouraged other children to take up the sport, even without appearing on free-to-air television?
Watch: The suspenseful build-up to Littler’s defeat in darts
Hammer remarked, “It will be huge for the younger generation.”
“Darts has been becoming more and more popular for a while now, even before this competition. While you may have previously believed, “Oh, I’ll start taking them when they’re old enough to go to the bar,” there are venues where you can take your children to play darts.”
Since the 1993 break from the BDO that resulted in the formation of the World Darts Council, which later became the PDC, the “demographic of darts has been changing over the last couple of decades,” according to Matt Porter, chief executive of Professional Darts Corporation.
Porter went on to say that Littler, who took home a £200,000 prize for becoming runner-up, can “open doors to a new audience” and that darts has “left behind its old image” where players used to smoke and drink alcohol on stage.
“What Luke has done is show teenagers that it’s a career opportunity, and it’s something they can do themselves because he is just a normal kid,” Porter stated.
“What he has achieved has been through natural talent, dedication and the support of his family, which means people can be watching him and be inspired by him.”
‘Littler thrust into limelight’
Luke Littler had won 15 straight games until losing the Wednesday championship.
Littler and Humphries, both 28 years old, have established themselves as two of the best players of a generation; last year’s championship match, in which Michael Smith defeated three-time champion Michael van Gerwen, is regarded as a classic.
The fact that more people will have witnessed Humphries’ triumph over Littler is evidence of how engrossing a tale can be in attracting people to sports.
Porter and Hammer made comparisons to Fallon Sherrock’s accomplishments at the PDC World Championship in 2019, when she became the first female fighter to win a match before falling in the third round.
“She unfortunately had the brakes put on by Covid just a few months later, which was a real shame, not only for her but for darts,” said Porter.
“Anything that someone performs in a sporting setting that has never been done before, like a woman winning or a kid winning, will spark that kind of attention in the world we live in today.
“Luke has been able to, not intentionally, capitalise on that and be thrust into the limelight.”
Hammer continued: “The Fallon Sherrock breakthrough really did break down barriers, but this is on another level than that.”
Littler has more than 120,000 followers on X (previously Twitter) and is almost at 700,000 on Instagram, which Hammer claimed reflects how many elite athletes’ social media accounts are “booming”.
He is not the youngest player to dominate the competition; at the age of 21, Kirk Shepherd made it to the 2008 final as a 1000-1 underdog. However, he was unable to capitalise and turned in his tour card in 2022.
However, Littler appears to be headed for a successful career if this week is any indication.
