Luke Littler suffered defeat in the Premier League Darts finale this week after he was beaten 11-8 by Luke Humphries, but that hasn’t stopped rival Nathan Aspinall hailing the impact he has had on the sport
Nathan Aspinall believes Luke Littler’s impact has catapulted darts into a golden era where players will enjoy the celebrity of film stars and top footballers. Although Luke the Nuke was beaten by Luke Humphries in the Premier League play-offs final at the O2 on Thursday night, he is still on course to scoop £1 million in prize money alone during the first half of 2025. And Littler’s success has been reflected in attention darts players are afforded away from the oche.
World No.9 Aspinall, beaten in the Premier League semi-finals by eventual champion Humphries, said: “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.
“Whether you are a celebrity, own a company, come from a council estate, whether you are a kid, male, female, everyone is obsessed with darts at the moment.
“We all know we owe a lot of it to Luke, but also the rest of the guys that turn out week-in, week-out, not just in the Premier League but the European Tours.”
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At 18, Littler has become the Tiger Woods of the oche, the pied piper who sells out big venues and draws sponsors to the sport like bees round a honey pot.
But 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 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.
“We have had a massive pay increase this year and I cannot see it stopping. I might be only 33 but I am an old boy compared to what is coming through.
“I do believe we are the last of a generation and that after us it is going to be all these kids coming through, who are fearless.
“Then it will go from this pub game, which everyone still calls it, even though it is not. It grates on me. It will stop being called a pub game and it will finally be called a sport in five or 10 years.”