Luke Littler calls for fans to leave his house as darts icon reveals his next plans | Other | Sport
Luke Littler has called for fans to stop camping outside his house as he heads home after his heroics in the World Darts Championship. Littler’s fairytale run came to an end on Wednesday as he was beaten 7-4 in the final by tournament favourite Luke Humphries.
The 16-year-old darts sensation admitted before the competition started that he was just hoping to win his first-round match but nearly went all the way and won the Sid Waddell trophy. En route to the final, he defeated childhood hero Raymond van Barneveld, former world champion Rob Cross and UK Open winner Andrew Gilding as he captured the hearts of the British public.
Almost overnight, Littler has become a household name in the sporting world and is £200,000 richer thanks to his deep run in the tournament. But after what has undoubtedly been an extremely overwhelming few weeks, Littler just wants to be left alone.
“When I look on Facebook, people have tagged me in and said ‘there are people around your house’,” he told Sky Sports. “It doesn’t look good does it? It should die down. I hope it does die down because I just want to go home with nobody near my house or anything but it is what it is.”
When asked what he intends to spend his six-figure payday on, Littler replied: “I’ve no idea. I’m just going to go home, go somewhere just to chill out and then go back to the board when I need to.”
Littler admitted that the media attention during his run in the World Darts Championship has gotten a “bit too much” at times and that there have been some “horrible things” written in the coverage. “There’s been some nice things, there’s been some horrible things, which I don’t look at,” he said after beating Rob Cross in the semis.
“But I just can’t get away from the media, every game I win they want to talk to me. I do like it but it does get a bit too much.” Earlier in the tournament, Littler was forced to release a statement on social media clarifying his position after “not fully understanding” a recent media campaign with a national tabloid.
His statement read: “Today a photograph of me holding up a newspaper has been published in the media. The media attention I have been getting is very new to me and I didn’t fully understand at the time what I was being asked to do.
“In no way do I endorse that newspaper or the headline which accompanied the article and I sincerely apologise for any offence this has caused. I’m focusing now on my next match with Barney and would like to thank everyone for their amazing support.”
The teenager admits he is not a fan of his new-found fame but is getting used to it as time goes on.