Wonderkid Luke Littler

 Wonderkid Luke Littler

In all of the diverse fields of art, culture, science and politics there are thousands and millions of talented people with a natural aptitude for excelling at what they do best. Every year the Nobel Prize bestows the highest award to the one person who simply stands out and is highly regarded for being a world class performer whose achievements should be recognised as the finest. In other words they are just outstanding and have to be respected.

Within the last couple of days a Cheshire born 16 year old darts player by the name of Luke Littler has blown away the opposition at the PDC World Championships at Alexander Palace, North London. He did so against a backdrop of stunned astonishment and wide eyed disbelief. The exuberance of youth is well and truly alive and the latest sporting prodigy has emerged from seemingly nowhere. In a world dominated by Instagram, Tik Tok, X or Twitter and Facebook, Littler belongs to a generation of fresh faced youth and a figure who carries his responsibilities around him like a mature and seasoned professional.

Back in the early 2000s another 16 year old made his winning Premier League debut and little did he know at the time that he would emerge as one of the most phenomenal of goal scorers for club and country. Wayne Rooney was a child of nature, hungry and ambitious, focussed and driven, ferociously committed to the cause and scorer of  goals that none will ever forget at Everton. Goodison Park would always remember the great ones such as Dixie Dean, Joe Royle, Graham Sharp and Gary Lineker, players capable of causing absolute wreckage and consternation among opposing defences.

During the 1980s a German tennis machine by the name of Boris Becker treated all of his opponents with all the destructive contempt that he felt they deserved. Becker was a 17 year old tearaway teenager who, on one memorable day in a Wimbledon Final, charged and lunged at every drop shot and cross court volley. Then there were the rasping drives down the tramlines against the esteemed likes of John Mcenroe. It was one of the greatest and most riveting of all Grand Slam tournament Finals that many had ever seen. In the end a rapt Wimbledon crowd had been spellbound by what they had seen and Becker had narrowly defied the odds with victory.

And then you remembered Luke Littler and wondered where you'd seen it all before. The critics and traditional cynics have always dismissed darts as just a pub game once engulfed by white cigarette smoke and then washed down with several breweries of lager. For decades now darts has tried desperately to escape the snide, malicious comments, the jokey wisecracks about its dubious claims to sporting excellence. In fact there are those who believe that darts is about as physically demanding and athletically competitive as bingo, dominoes or shove ha'penny and that's after only one game.

But with that bristly chin and a coltish adolescence on his side, it hardly seemed possible that a kid from Cheshire who looks as though he might have stepped out of a sixth form high school prom had just given his all at perhaps the most high profile and biggest tournament in the world of darts. Maybe he had just shaved and spruced up for the big occasion. Sometimes we can only sit back and admire those who dare to challenge the experienced, the mighty fallen by the little known.

Darts though has confounded all the doubters, the sceptics, the comedians who just sneer and giggle at its preposterous silliness, its boozy followers and general foolhardiness. There are far more compelling spectacles than darts and besides how does the throwing of tungsten arrows at a board with numbers around it constitute sport in any of its myriad forms? Anybody can chuck at a dart at a board. It isn't rocket science and there can be no intellectual and artistic pleasure to be gained from a game played in an alcoholic establishment. But hold on there are enormous amounts of money to be made from darts.

When the late Eric Bristow and Jocky Wilson strolled onto the oche in a vast hall or leisure centre in a major darts tournament it was commonly assumed that most of their supporters were just blotto, drunk out of their skulls and intoxicated by its alluring charms. Both Bristow and Wilson were excellent exponents of their trade, fingers beautifully poised, eyes like hawks, pictures of intense concentration and deeply hooked on their favourite pastime, sport or game. 

And then there was Luke Littler who has taken darts by the scruff of its neck and shaken it to its core. He had done so at the birthplace of TV broadcasting, the home of TV's very first black and white flickering images. Alexandra Palace, although a grand and venerable building, may find it hard to believe that somebody so young has stared directly into the eyes of history and remained undaunted.

Tonight Luke Littler finds himself on the brink of a truly remarkable achievement, a semi final against Rob Cross. Alexandra Palace will be at its most animated, excited in the extreme and barely able to contain itself for a night of raucous cheering, vocal encouragement ratcheted up to the highest level and ready to acclaim its youngest hero. The glasses will tinkle, high energy drinks swallowed by the many, packets of crisps doubtless consumed in huge quantities and infectious good humour will reverberate around this famous London venue.

Of course darts will have the snarling sceptics and those who continue to bombard it with relentless mockery and barely concealed derision. Darts should never be considered as a sport or so they tell us and belongs very firmly in the bars and old fashioned saloons of the world. It should always be accompanied by the green baize table of snooker and that's where it should remain. 

But tonight a 16 year old Cheshire teenager will endeavour to reach the final of the PDC World Championships of darts and we shall remember Eric and Jocky while still celebrating the breath taking accuracy of Phil the Power Taylor. For some of us the jury will continue to be out on darts continuing relevance as a sport if indeed that be the case anyway. But Luke Littler will don his purple silk shirt, grin and smile rather like the youngster who has just passed his driving test and then discovered that the world is his oyster. Best wishes Luke Littler. This is your moment.