‘I’m a World Darts Championship referee – that is how Luke Littler makes my job tough’

Luke Littler has taken the darts world by storm over the past 12 months, but the World Championship favourite can be a real headache for one group of officials in the sport

He may be the darling of darts, but Luke Littler causes a few headaches for one group of officials.

At the weekend, the teenage sensation was back on the World Championship stage 12 months on from his remarkable debut run to the final and showed everyone why he is the favourite to win the title this year. Littler was a breath away from a nine-darter as he threw a stunning 140.91 average in the final set to win 3-1 against Ryan Meikle.

That was the record for the highest average in a single set at the World Championship as the 17-year-old continues to break barriers. Littler has truly transcended the sport over the last year, opening up darts to people with no previous interest in the game.

During that time, he has tested both referees and spotters (the person who tells the TV producer where to aim the cameras during a match) with his quirky finishing routes. Top PDC referee Huw Ware, one of the officials on duty at Alexandra Palace, has revealed what it’s like to oversee a Littler match.

“It’s the players that play more on instinct [who are most difficult], they don’t necessarily have a set way of going,” Ware told the Weekly Dartscast before the tournament.

“I don’t think there’s a game that goes by where Luke Littler doesn’t throw me at least once. A lot of what he does makes total sense but it’s maybe a bit different from the last time he went for that shot, or it’s something different to what I was expecting him to do. Those that play more off the cuff…”

Other players are more predicable with their finishing attempts, says Ware, who continued: “Someone like Gerwyn Price has a very set way of going. I know, pretty much before he throws the dart, where he’s aiming for so I can prepare myself for that mentally on the maths side of things.

“But someone like Michael Smith or Luke Littler may go for 62 [via] treble 14, double 10. Then, five minutes later, they’ll go treble 18, double four.

“It’s that kind of player, the player where you can’t go down one line of thinking most of the time. They are the most difficult ones to call for.”