LITTLERMANIA continues to threaten the roof of the Ally Pally after the 17-year-old from Warrington trounced Stephen Bunting 6-1 to reach a second successive world final.
While his contemporaries are studying for A-levels or doing apprenticeships, Luke Littler is mastering his own trade.
Next at Ally Pally he faces three-time world champion, and six-time finalist, Michael Van Gerwen – who is the youngest previous winner of this PDC event, doing so for the first time at the age of 24 in 2014.
The Darts has never been bigger, thanks to Littler, who turns 18 later this month.
He joined Freddie Flintoff for a reboot of Bullseye – so that a new generation may now win super, smashing speedboats for chucking tungsten on teatime TV.
He has already won a succession of titles and his presence fuels massively increased interest all year round.
Littler has racked up £1million in prize money alone and he will be another £500,000 richer if he defeats Van Gerwen tomorrow.
His defeat of Bunting was ruthlessly efficient – every time his opponent had a sniff, he kept up the pressure relentlessly.
The likeable Liverpool supporter is rarely without a smile. That he kept grinning throughout these beating hinted at masochism.
This event has been a festive phenomenon for years now with its euphoric atmosphere – a cross between a stag do and a kindergarten party – and its mantra of ‘stand up if you love the darts’.
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They all stand up and they all do love the darts, the beer, the shorts and the fancy dress.
There were grown men here dressed as ducks and bananas and Mexicans and HP sauce bottles, as we’ve all grown fully accustomed to.
The real attention-seekers in the Ally Pally crowd are those few who come in plain clothes.
This isn’t an obvious spectator sport. Men wearing tents aiming metal arrows at tiny slits of cork. No one knows why it works but that’s part of the magic of it.
And since Littler emerged last year, the whole shebang has taken on a different magnitude.
Everyone loves a sporting teen prodigy. And British sport has not known such a ridiculously-talented manchild since Wayne Rooney netted a wonder goal on his Everton debut aged 16.
Littler’s ‘Luke the Nuke’ nickname is poetic, apocalyptic and appropriate. He’s put a bomb under this event and sent it into the stratosphere, while his opponents often end up in need of a fall-out shelter.
Bunting had defeated two-time world champion Peter Wright to reach this, his second world semi-final. But he ended up shellshocked.
Both the 39-year-old from St Helens and Littler himself look approximately 20 years older than they are – perhaps it’s the lack of daylight these fellas get.
Indeed, the fact that Bunting is younger than Cristiano Ronaldo went viral on the internet before this match.
By contrast, Van Gerwen – who gubbed Chris Dobey 6-1 without playing at his best in the earlier semi-final – has always resembled a frowning baby.
Not that Bunting cares too much about image. He has enjoyed his best year, reaching No 5 in the world rankings here, having become Masters champion in February.
Their previous two meetings had both gone down to the wire, with one victory apiece, but Littler had been an odds-on favourite to win this title ever since defending champion Luke Humphries was dumped out by Wright in the last 16.
The kid stepped into the wings as if he owned the place, cheered through his walk-on to cries of ‘walking in a Littler Wonderland’.
Initially, Bunting didn’t look too perturbed, almost winning the opening set against the throw, before Littler nailed a double ten on the deciding leg.
Then the boy wonder took control, breaking Bunting’s throw, then breaking his spirit.
https://twitter.com/SkySportsDarts/status/1874940733771186449At the start of the third Littler took out 158 like an assassin.
It soon felt as if Bunting had more chance of getting accepted on a Club 18-30 holiday than beating this youth.
At 4-0, a whitewash beckoned but Littler erred and Bunting, who had missed some crucial shots at the outer ring, nailed double top to get on the scoresheet.
The outsider squandered a huge opportunity in the sixth set, blowing three doubles to lose the fourth leg, then watching Littler take the decider with a single shot at bull.
Then came a maximum 170 finish from Littler in the penultimate leg.
Bunting smiled widely, aimed an air-kick in his opponent’s direction and bowed to the inevitable.
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