Dozens of teenagers have flocked to Karl Holden’s darts shop in St Helens to practise and stock up on supplies, and the small building is almost at maximum capacity.
Darts mania has swept through the Merseyside town in recent days as local sensation Luke Littler stormed to the final of the World Darts Championships at just 16 years of age.
“The amount of kids I’ve had coming in to my shop saying they want to be the next Luke Littler, it’s unbelievable,” said Holden, who cofounded St Helens Darts Academy, which Littler joined aged nine.
“He’s put youth darts on the worldwide stage and I think it’s going to completely take off. We’ve never had as many young people wanting to join the academy, we’re being inundated with messages, we’ll probably have to limit numbers.”
The academy started over 10 years ago with just seven members, and now the weekly sessions are attended by 80-90 youngsters – many of whom will be watching Wednesday’s final together at the academy in front of a dartboard named after Littler, who will face Luke Humphries after his 6-2 victory over Robert Cross on Tuesday.
In one of the practice rooms at the back of Holden’s shop, 11-year-old Jack Evans was squaring up in front of the dartboard with a group of other boys.
“Luke’s brilliant, he just mesmerising to watch,” said Jack, who has been playing darts for three years. “He doesn’t get nervous and he’s got the bottle to do it. I think he’s going to go all the way.”
He was playing a game against 18-year-old Harrison Leigh, who has been friends with Littler for a number of years. “It’s great to see him on the big stage. It’s made me want to do it even more, more than I wanted it before,” Leigh says.
“It’s given me a kick to practise, I’ve been doing 10 sets every night. I’ll be up there with him next year.”
Holden said it was clear Littler had a unique gift for the sport from a young age, and the academy pushed him to move on to bigger things. “By the time he was 11 he was just unbelievable,” he said.
“He’s a completely unique talent. He started playing for fun but when he started smashing really good dart players, grown men, aged 12 we knew he was different. They would say, how can he be so good when I’ve been playing for 30 years?
“We had to tell him he was too good for us, show him the bigger picture and get him into the bigger and better organisations. The way he’s going, he might never work again in his life – he’ll probably be a millionaire by next year.”
Holden said that, regardless of whether Littler wins the world championship, his success has inspired dozens of young people to pick up darts.
At Padgate Academy in nearby Warrington, where Littler sat his GCSEs last year, the headteacher, Adam McMillan, said his success has spawned a popular darts club at the school, and many pupils have bought a dartboard to practise at home.
“He’s putting darts on the map at the moment but he’s already done that here at the school,” he said. “He’s left such an incredible legacy at the school, lots of students have been inspired by him and gone on to be interested in darts.
“Through his sponsors, we were able to get dartboards, and we set up a darts club, which was really well attended. Many students then bought their own dartboards.”
He was well-known among his classmates for his darts ability, winning the “most likely to be famous” award due to his exceptional skill.
“He’s got such an amazing story,” said McMillan. “But it just shows to us the incredible determination and work ethic he’s put in over the years.
“He’s left his mark here but I think the wider impact will be seen in schools across the UK, we’ll see some sort of legacy from all this.”
Littler has reached such popularity in his home town that even his favourite kebab – a doner wrap and chips doused in mayonnaise – has been immortalised as a special order, branded “Luke Littler’s Favourite Kebab” at Hot Spot takeaway in Warrington town centre.
“He’s a great customer – I tell him [he] eats it too much but he says ‘No, I love it,’” said Hady Mahmood, the shop’s owner.
“We’ll all be watching the final in the pub next door, everyone is watching it. But I’ve told him no more doner if he loses.”
