Hard not to start a piece on darts superhero Luke ‘the Nuke’ Littler by marvelling at his age. ‘Sixteen! Really? No bloody way…’ is the constant refrain among, well, pretty much anyone who has seen him stride up to the oche.
But he really is that young. So young that he can’t drive, has only just left school (after bombing his GCSEs), still lives at home in Warrington and can’t buy a pint – not legally, anyway.
Not that he seems that bothered. He’s far too busy playing Fifa video games, eating kebabs, photographing himself eating kebabs, practising his nine-dart finish, proudly kissing his 21-year-old girlfriend Eloise, and planning a celebratory trip to Alton Towers with his mates. ‘We’ve always said we need to go!’ he cheered.
On Christmas morning, his mum Lisa, 40, who works in a candle shop, posted a photo of him sitting cross-legged by their tree in his dressing gown, excitedly opening a massive pile of presents. ‘Just another normal 16-year-old, opening his prezzys,’ she wrote on social media.
But, of course, Luke is anything but. He’s the most exciting thing to happen to darts for decades. Sport in general, probably. The world of darts – and millions more who wouldn’t normally know an oche from an elbow – have been transfixed as he powered through to the final of the world championships, which he came agonisingly close to winning last night.
Luke Littler heads out for a British fry up with girlfriend Eloise Milburn before the PDC final at Alexandra Palace
Luke Littler, who has taken the world of darts by storm, smiles as he holds aloft the runners-up trophy
At Ally Pally, the adoring 3,000-strong crowd – most of whom had never heard of Luke a month ago – waved their foam fingers and yelled at their new hero: ‘You’ve got school in the morning!’
He’s already hot favourite for Sports Personality of the Year 2024. And such a poppet with it, too. Cheery, polite, calm, occasionally given to talking about himself in the third person, extolling the virtues of pizza to anyone who will listen and, generally, having a brilliant time. Back in December, he entered the competition hoping ‘to win just one game’.
But somehow, despite being ranked 164th, he couldn’t stop winning. Suddenly here was the Prince of the Palace, leaving a slew of champion players – Rob Cross, Brendan Dolan, Raymond van Barneveld, Andrew Gilding (but alas not Luke Humphries, who triumphed last night) – in his wake, wiping their eyes in bewilderment, and wondering what the heck just happened.
Not everyone was shocked, though. Certainly not Luke’s former coach, Karl Holden, co-founder of the St Helens Darts Academy. ‘He was the Ronaldo of darts,’ said Holden. ‘He was always going to be special.’
Or his dad, Anthony Buckley, 43, a former cabbie and amateur darts enthusiast, who bought his son a magnetic darts board when he was just 18 months old and watched, amazed, as he toddled about in his nappy and T-shirt, showing off a freakishly good throwing action.
At six, he threw his first 180. By the time he was nine, he was smashing the under-14s
Luke got his first proper darts board when he was four and was immediately obsessed – despite having to use a stool to retrieve the arrows.
At six, he threw his first 180. By the time he was nine, he was smashing the under-14s. And aged 13, he did his first nine-dart finish (from a score of 501) and was good enough to win men’s tournaments.
He’s just bloody good at darts and has put a lot of training in, particularly during lockdown.
Freed from the constraints of school, which was never really his thing – as he puts it: ‘Pretty much everyone has better GCSEs than me’, having left his Warrington comprehensive after passing only sport – he was suddenly able to play darts up to 12 hours a day.
Now, his strict daily routine sees him getting up at noon, whether he’s at home in Warrington or in London and throughout the tournament, to begin a good dose of Fifa gaming before picking up a dart. He and Eloise, a beauty therapist who is studying criminology, met playing online.
And his tried-and-tested nutritional plan is something that would floor most of us in a day or two.
Freed from the constraints of school, he was suddenly able to play darts up to 12 hours a day
He follows a vast cheese and ham omelette for breakfast (at lunchtime) with a pizza a bit later and, for dinner, a bulging doner kebab. And, occasionally, a KFC takeaway to mix things up a bit. ‘If it isn’t broken then don’t fix it,’ is his motto.
Of course, reaching the final of a competition like this at Ally Pally changes everything.
It’s not just the prize money (£200,000 for the runner-up), lucrative sponsorship deals and endless freebies – even before the final, one kebab shop in London offered him free doners for life if he won. Suddenly, everyone knows Luke the Nuke, the Prince of the Palace, Cool Hand Luke. His social media followers have gone from a couple of thousand to over half a million.
He’s had messages of support from four Man United players – ‘I can’t believe they’ve been messaging me good luck messages,’ he marvelled – and was invited to Arsenal and Spurs matches while he was in London. Asda have even launched a Luke the Nuke pizza in his honour, designed like a giant dart board.
Nothing will ever be the same. A lot of it is good, of course. Fantastic. The stuff of dreams. But not all. Because, I’m sorry to say, he has already tasted the sour side of fame.
Some darts enthusiasts were so convinced that Luke was a grown man masquerading as a 16-year-old, that it took the publication of his birth certificate to put a lid on their conspiracy theories. (He’ll be 17 on January 21.)
Then, Eloise started getting it in the neck, with online trolls querying the age gap and branding her a ‘money grabber’, until her distressed parents felt compelled to insist: ‘She’s with him because she likes him. It’s as simple as that.’
Littler (left) previously met Humphries (right) in the Hayling Island quarter-final in November 2019
(The pair actually have a lot in common. Eloise has been playing darts since she was 11, plays for Surrey and adores Fifa and, presumably by now, kebabs.)
But happily, the torrent of fame seems to have washed over Luke. Probably because he’s happy just playing darts so brilliantly and busy planning what to spend his winnings on.
So far, the list includes that boys’ trip to Alton Towers, a new coat, a tracksuit and some driving lessons. No fast cars, no silly watches, no magnums of Cristal champagne.
Bless him. What a brilliant, utterly refreshing, newly-minted British sporting legend.