LITTLER LARGES IT
MVG warns Luke the Nuke he’s joining big boys now... but the boy wonder insists he is already one of them
LUKE LITTLER enters the rock ’n’ roll bedlam of Premier League darts tonight with a brash dismissal of Michael van Gerwen’s warning he was joining the “big boys” club.
On the eve of his debut in the travelling circus, which will export his outlandish talent across seven countries in 17 weeks, Luke the Nuke wasn’t standing for any of Clog Almighty’s mind games.
Not only can the boy wonder handle his opponents on the oche – he has beaten six world champions, past and present, in as many weeks – but 17-year-old Littler is happy to play them at their own game.
As the eight-player cast lined up at the Principality Stadium (bottom) to promote this evening’s curtainraiser at the Utility arena in Cardiff, the only things shining more brightly than Littler’s report card were the pitch glow lamps.
In a repeat of the PDC World Championship final, Littler meets Luke Humphries (circle, below right), his conqueror at Ally
Pally, in the first phase of the mini-knockout tournament.
Apart from chancers flogging fake copies of his autograph on auction websites, and the schedule being so busy he hasn’t had a chance to take his first driving lesson despite turning 17 last month, nothing seems to bother him.
Van Gerwen knows how to season the pot, and MVG (right) – who pipped the Warrington whizz-kid in a pulsating Dutch Masters final last weekend – said of Littler: “He’s had a fabulous last two months – but it’s only two months, yeah?
“He needs to do it for a very long time. He’s got everything to be a top 10 player in the next 20 years, but you still have to do it. He is still young.”
Asked if he felt protective of a precocious young talent, Van Gerwen said: “Really? Of course not. Welcome to the big boys.
“He is not a youth player any more. Those days are gone. Of course, he’s still only a kid, but now you have got to battle against each other on the stage and there cannot be any mercy whatsoever.
“It’s not hard at the moment because he doesn’t have any scars. Whatever he does, being a runner-up is good, winning is good. Whatever he does, whatever he says, everybody loves everything about him.
“But during a game, if he looks at his watch and says, ‘How can I miss
TONIGHT’S GAMES
again?’, in five years’ time they will boo you. That’s the way darts works now.
“At the beginning everything goes well, but then everything gets normal. Guys like him only get born once in so many years and he’s a special talent, of course, but he still has to do it every year. He is with the big guys now.”
Hitting back, with the deft touch of a drop-shot rather than a haymaker, glorious.
“Big boys league? Surely I am one of them now! I have joined them in the Big Boys League. This is what I have signed up for – to play with the best of the best. I am looking forward to playing these boys week-in, week-out.”
He even politely declined Humphries’ offer of senior players
Littler’s response was acting as his minders on the road to shield him from exploitation.
“I am grateful for what Luke has said,” he added. “But I know what’s in line, I know I can handle it all myself.”
Humphries, who hopes to be playing Littler on the big stage “for the next 20 years”, said: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
“Even if he beats me in our next 10 meetings in a row, I got the one that mattered the most – the World Championship trophy.”
‘This is what I have signed up for – to play with the best of the best’