Nathan Aspinall expects there to be a lot more Luke Littler's to break through on to the PDC Tour in the next few years. Darts has become a lot more popular in the last year or so, we have had record breaking ticket sales and Sky Sports audience sales for the Premier League. More people are tuning into darts which will also open up more opportunities to play it.
Many people want to become 'Luke Littler' he has become the second best darts player in the world right now but he also has a huge social media following which has helped bring in younger people wanting to play darts.
Even though Luke Lilttler fell short to Luke Humphries in the Premier League play-offs final at the O2, Littler remains on course to rake in a staggering £1million in prize money alone during the first half of 2025. He is only 18 years old. The ripple effect of Littler's success is being felt beyond the oche, with darts players increasingly commanding attention from fans and celebrities alike.
"Everyone is obsessed with darts. During the week I was at, Tottenham midfielder, James Maddison's golf day and everyone wanted to talk to me about darts. I'm looking around, all these footballers and actors and stuff, and everyone was speaking to me because everyone loves darts. Darts has never been like this before"
"It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity, a business owner, from a council estate, a kid, male, or female – everyone is obsessed with darts right now. We all know we owe a lot of it to Littler, but also the rest of the guys that turn out week-in, week-out, not just in the Premier League but the European Tours."
Luke Littler is becoming what Tiger Woods was at 18 in golf. However, Aspinall insists it's not a one man show, saying: "Luke Littler doesn't win everything. There is Humphries, and other people are winning majors.
"I don't think Littler is dominating like Michael van Gerwen did a few years ago - but he's only a year into his career. Let's see where he's going to be 12 months, 18 months, two years from now. And trust me, there are so many more Luke Littlers in the making at the moment. It's mental. I have seen so many of them at my academy"
Nathan Aspinall has made it clear we need to thank Luke Littler for making darts more fashionable and one of the biggest sports right now, but also makes it known that Littler isn't the whole reason and he's not winning everything. One of the biggest reasons the sport is excitable for everyone is the big matchups and that we don't just have the same winner in every competition.
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