Luke Littler vs Luke Humphries is the rivalry with a distinction driving darts’ growth

It took Luke Littler roughly three weeks to show he wasn’t a flash within the pan. ‘Littlermania’ had swept by way of the UK when an unheralded 16-year-old from Warrington downed former world champions and established stars to shockingly attain the ultimate of the 2024 World Darts Championship.

Positive, he was finally overwhelmed in that showpiece however the expertise and the thrill had been simple as he lit up not solely Alexandra Palace however darts as a complete. Ideas turned as to if this had one way or the other been a fluke however simply 16 days after that remaining, Littler landed his first televised nine-darter in victory over Nathan Aspinall on the Bahrain Masters and went on to win the match for good measure.

Yeah, the child was for actual.

Since that spectacular bursting on to the scene final Christmas, Littler has gone from power to power. He was shortly handed his Premier League debut and any potential questions over whether or not he might grasp with one of the best on this planet throughout the gruelling, 16-week Thursday evening schedule had been instantly answered.

He simply certified for finals evening on the O2 Area and, in entrance of a raucous London crowd, went on to carry the distinguished trophy, touchdown one other nine-darter within the remaining as soon as once more show that he has an eye fixed for the spectacular and thrives when underneath essentially the most stress.

As he returns to Ally Pally, the scene of his popping out occasion, 12 months on, Littler is not an unknown outsider however favorite to win the match with the bookies and ranked No 4 on this planet regardless of the rating checklist engaged on a two-year cycle and {the teenager} solely having little greater than a 12 months price of outcomes to his identify.

That’s as a result of he has gained an astonishing 10 title throughout his debut marketing campaign on the principle PDC Tour, with final month’s Grand Slam of Darts the most important of these, alongside that Premier League crown.

The person he beat in that Grand Slam of Darts remaining, Martin Lukeman, summed up the aura Littler has already accrued. “I can’t compete with that, it was Godly,” stated a shellshocked Lukeman after being smashed 16-3, with {the teenager} reeling off 15 legs in a row at one level. “He was relentless, he’s so good it’s ridiculous.”

All this would possibly make you suppose Littler is a shoo-in to go one higher than 12 months in the past and win his maiden world title come 3 January. That’s actually an actual risk however there may be one man specifically standing in his approach – the opposite half of a rivalry that’s coming to outline darts. Luke Humphries.

Amid ‘Littlermania’, it virtually obtained forgotten that Humphries really beat him on this planet remaining to finish his personal ascent to the game’s highest echelons. He was additionally the person on the receiving finish of that nine-darter within the Premier League remaining.

The 2 Lukes have metaphorically been knocking seven bells out of one another all season lengthy as darts’s two standout gamers – successful a ridiculous 17 titles between them and sharing round £2.5m in prize cash.

Humphries has nabbed extra of the large ones, together with the World Matchplay and Gamers Championship Finals, which means £1.3m of that prize pot is in his checking account, however Littler leads their head-to-head 8-6 in 2024. They each common round 100 once they face one another which means that darts followers are the opposite massive winners on this rivalry.

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Offering neither slip up towards an opponent they’re fancied to beat, they are going to conflict once more within the World Championship semi-finals on 2 January. There’s a real risk {that a} last-four assembly between the pair can have a bigger peak TV viewers than the three.7m that watched final 12 months’s remaining – which was Sky Sports activities’s highest viewing figures of all time for a non-football occasion. Darts is turning into must-see TV, one thing the game might solely have dreamed of some years in the past.

But there may be an odd disparity within the rivalry that will outline darts for the subsequent decade. Littler is the one continually adopted by a media storm, Littler is the one held up as the way forward for the game, Littler is the one with the branded junior magnetic dartboard that has supposedly bought greater than 100,00 models forward of Christmas, Littler is the one who’s simply the second darts participant in historical past to be nominated for BBC’s Sports activities Persona of the Yr (after Phil Taylor), the place he’s second favorite to win the trophy behind solely Olympic hero Keely Hodgkinson.

It will be straightforward for Humphries to really feel under-appreciated and denied the accolades he deserves, particularly given he’s world No 1, has gained six of the 11 main tournaments performed up to now 13 months and would make historical past as the primary man to achieve £2m on the two-year Order of Benefit system if he retains his World Championship crown.

He could be the higher darts participant and he’s actually at present the extra profitable of the 2 however he’s 29 years outdated somewhat than 17 and doesn’t seize the general public creativeness in the identical approach as Littler. It’s the proper recipe for animosity in the direction of his youthful foe, but he’s solely, genially accepting of the circumstances – as a substitute making a pleasant rivalry that does darts credit score.

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“He’s extra recognised than me however that’s high quality as a result of I didn’t dream of being a well-known particular person,” Humphries instructed The Guardian in a current interview. “I dreamt of being world champion – and I achieved that dream. I’m an older man, I’ve obtained a household at dwelling. That’s my precedence. In the mean time, he’s younger and free and residing the movie star way of life. Truthful play to him.

“I can’t be jealous of it. I can solely admire him as a 17-year-old. The final time we’ve seen something like this could perhaps have been with Boris Becker – while you present no worry and battle your greatest underneath stress.”

In an interview with Sporting Life he added: “Once you’ve obtained a much bigger following and a much bigger famous person you get extra consideration. It occurs in all sports activities. You see it in snooker the place Ronnie O’Sullivan will at all times be the star irrespective of who wins the World Championship. In order that would be the identical with darts now. I might most likely win 5 world titles and he’ll nonetheless be the star however rightly so. He’s the most important we’ve ever seen.”

A few of darts’s greatest rivalries up to now have been marked by dislike or at the very least needle on the stage between the 2 protagonists – suppose Taylor vs Raymond van Barneveld, Gary Anderson vs Michael van Gerwen or Adrian Lewis vs nearly anyone…

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However that doesn’t imply Littler vs Humphries has to endure as compared due to its comparatively benign nature. Two darting superheroes desperately attempting to at least one up one another is leisure sufficient, even when it ends in a smile and a hug somewhat than pushing and shoving or snubbed handshakes. Anything can be the 2 Lukes not being true to their personalities.

“I’d somewhat be associates,” defined Humphries. “There’s nothing to dislike about him. He doesn’t say something horrible, he’s fairly placid and down-to-earth and that’s why you see a pleasant environment after we play. There’s no animosity as we’re privileged to be the 2 prime gamers in darts.

Darts is booming and it doesn’t want manufactured hatred to gasoline that rise – Littler and Humphries’s pleasant rivalry is greater than sufficient and that, fairly frankly, is refreshing.