Roared on by more than 3,000 well-refreshed fans including five German nuns (and a Pope), several Scooby Doos, dozens of bananas and half the first team of Northampton Town Football Club dressed as jockeys – plus many of those watching live TV coverage in 27 countries – Britain’s latest sporting prodigy did it again on Tuesday.
Luke Littler, the 16-year-old darts genius from Warrington, Cheshire, is now within one match of the Darts World Championship title, £500,000 and rounding off one of the most astonishing stories in recent sporting history.
In front of a delirious full house at London’s Alexandra Palace, Littler shrugged off an early wobble to win on Tuesday’s semi-final, defeating former world champion Rob Cross, who won the world title on his own debut aged 27. Tonight, Cross was beaten by a schoolboy less than half his age.
‘School in the morning, you’ve got school in the morning,’ they were chanting in the early rounds of this tournament. Not any more.
Having left school in the summer with a single GCSE (in sport, of course), Littler has now left his schooldays firmly behind him.
Luke Littler shrugged off an early wobble to win on Tuesday’s World Darts Championship semi-final. Pictured: Littler celebrates his victory
The 16-year-old darts genius from Warrington, Cheshire, is now within one match of the Darts World Championship title. Pictured: Littler hugging his girlfriend after the victory
Not that there seems to be anything wrong with his maths, judging by his crisp, cool subtraction under fire last night, counting down the scores with barely a bead of sweat.
The capacity crowd at Alexandra Palace (half in fancy dress, all very thirsty yet all very knowledgable about their darts, too) were brazenly pro-Littler. They roared him on from the moment he set foot in the arena.
‘Walking in a Littler wonderland,’ they chanted.
Somewhere in the mayhem was his mother Lisa, who works in a candle shop, taxi-driver dad Anthony, and Luke’s beautician girlfriend Eloise, 21, a county-level darts player from Surrey.
After a first set as sticky as the beer-soaked floor around me, Littler began to find his feet – or rather his fingers – as he picked up the second, third and fourth sets in the battle to be the first to six.
‘Luke is on fire!’ they sang as he clinched back-to-back 180s. Real tension began to descend. No one dared leave their seats to refuel a beer jug (£29 for four pints) while this contest was unfolding.
Neither man nor boy was managing to open a commanding lead, however. In the end, it was youth that kept the edge while Cross made a series of small but fatal mistakes in the closing stages. Ally Pally could hardly contain itself at the close. ‘Crazy,’ was Littler’s softly-spoken response time and again. And so it was.
Few could be described as Littler fans before this event, since all tickets sold out in July when young Luke was still an unknown.
Littler beat former world champion Rob Cross, who won the world title on his own debut aged 27. Pictured: The teenage sensation throws darts as Cross walks in the background
Robert Hardman (right) joined more than 3,000 well-refreshed fans, many of whom were in fancy dress, at Ally Pally
Last night he was the overwhelming favourite, even among the substantial foreign crowd here. Germany is not far behind Britain in its love of darts with 25 per cent of all tournament tickets sold to German fans in the first 24 hours of going on sale in July.
‘We love Littler – the Wunderkind,’ said Jacob, 34, an engineer from Düsseldorf (and one of the contingent of nuns).
Littler’s rise through these championships has won hearts far beyond the world of darts. His quarter final victory on Monday was one of the most-watched darts games of all time, attracting 1.4 million Sky viewers in Britain alone.
His beard and gentle paunch might make him look old for his years, yet Littler is now the Emma Raducanu for kebab-eating dreamers everywhere.
Indeed, one London kebab joint has promised him his favourite doner dinner free for life if he makes it all the way.
However, I suspect most parents will not want their children parroting the Littler formula for success: ‘I would just wake up, play on my Xbox, have some food, have a chuck on the board and go to bed. That’s it.’ On Tuesday, he added that he has been helped by the odd slice of pizza too.
Adding to the sense of a real-life fairytale were members of the crowd fully-dressed for a pantomime. I spotted a Queen of Hearts, several Jacks (minus beanstalks) and umpteen Kings and Queens. The raucous stag night atmosphere of this event is not without its romantic moments.
James Castle, 35, was among a group of old friends (all dressed as Ali G) who come to this every year. He told me that he had met his future wife and mother of his two children here in 2017 (while dressed as an Oompa Loompa).
‘I’d never heard of Littler before – but I wish I had put a few quid on him,’ the sports consultant shouted above the din. ‘The great thing when you’re 16 is you’re fearless.’
And so it proved. If it really is a Luke Littler Wonderland at the end of tonight’s final, then it won’t be Storm Henk that takes the roof off Ally Pally.