Luke Littler has been widely credited for generating a fresh wave of interest in darts.
PDC head of media Dave Allen has insisted that Luke Littler is not the only player responsible for bringing the sport of darts into a new light. Littler became an overnight celebrity at this year’s World Darts Championship and has continued to dominate the headlines ever since.
The teenage superstar is now recognised as one of the sport’s biggest names and has won a handful of tour titles since losing to Luke Humphries in the World Darts Championship final. Allen, the long-standing head of media at the PDC, believes Littler played a major role in generating extra interest in the tournament as a result of his impressive campaign.
“The media that he brought to the World Championships alone was unprecedented,” Allen told SportsBoom. “The media really took a liking to Luke Littler after the Raymond van Barneveld win at the Worlds.
“Overnight he went from a relative unknown to the casual darts reader to the front page of every national newspaper, as well headline news on the BBC and ITV, and we’ve seen this constant demand for Littler at later tournaments such as the Premier League and UK Open.”
The teenage superstar is now recognised as one of the sport’s biggest names and has won a handful of tour titles since losing to Luke Humphries in the World Darts Championship final. Allen, the long-standing head of media at the PDC, believes Littler played a major role in generating extra interest in the tournament as a result of his impressive campaign.
“The media that he brought to the World Championships alone was unprecedented,” Allen told SportsBoom. “The media really took a liking to Luke Littler after the Raymond van Barneveld win at the Worlds.
“Overnight he went from a relative unknown to the casual darts reader to the front page of every national newspaper, as well headline news on the BBC and ITV, and we’ve seen this constant demand for Littler at later tournaments such as the Premier League and UK Open.”
Many have credited Littler for almost single-handedly generating a new wave of interest in darts, but Allen pointed out that Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith had already done so while Littler was still playing at junior events.
“What Luke Littler has done so far has had a huge impact, but one thing I’m keen to stress is that the impressive growth of darts has actually been going on for a year prior to him making a splash on the big stage,” added Allen.
“The previous year’s World Championship final between Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith, where we had the most perfect nine dart leg ever, was the beginning of something special. That was the first darts moment that went viral worldwide and brought a lot of focus to the World Championships before Luke Littler had even thrown a dart.”
Allen went on to draw parallels between Littler and Phil Taylor before suggesting that his impact may transcend that of his rivals, particularly when it comes to attracting a younger audience and giving the sport a wider global reach.
“We wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for Phil,” he said. “What we might see is that Luke Littler might have a bigger impact in terms of taking darts as a sport to a wider global and social audience than we’ve ever had.
“MVG exploded onto the scene in a similar way but in 2007 there wasn’t social media. Because the sport as a whole wasn’t as big, and media was different then, it didn’t have obviously that same impact that we are now
seeing with Littler.”
