They say you either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain. At a feverish and hostile Alexandra Palace, the same crowd that cheered Luke Littler on as a 16-year-old boy now jeers him to victory as an 18-year-old man. The character arc has come full circle; the heel turn complete. He is three matches from retaining his world title, and remains the overwhelming favourite to do so. But from this point, he’s going to have to do it on his own.
As he finally skewered the winning dart to beat the spirited Rob Cross 4-2, he spun around to rebuke the audience that had done everything in its power to rattle him, from cheering his missed doubles to singing for Michael van Gerwen instead. “NOW WHAT?” he screamed at the sea of rented fancy dress, once and then twice. The heckling continued, surged even, and had still not abated by the time Littler gathered for his stage interview.
“I’m not bothered, I’m not bothered, really I’m not bothered,” he said with all the firmness of a man so unbothered he needed to make the point three times. “Can I just say one thing? You guys pay for tickets and you’re paying for my prize money. So thank you for my money. Thank you for booing me. COME ON!”
Anyway, you remember early in Littler’s career – by which of course we mean earlier in Littler’s career – when the kid was new and diffident and monosyllabic and certain people wondered if there was actually much of a personality in there behind the beaming bearded façade? Well, you asked for it, and here it is: a very modern English sporting hero, unashamedly brilliant at what they do and utterly indifferent as to who knows about it. Think Jude Bellingham, think Tyson Fury, think Paddy Pimblett. Love, hatred, adulation, contempt: it’s all just good numbers.
Why have the crowd have turned on Littler now? The simplest – and wrong – answer is that the public adores an underdog, and Littler has now become too good for his own good. On the contrary: crowds crave electrifying finishes, champagne 180s and large marine vertebrates, and nobody dishes those out more reliably than the world No 1.
But this is certainly a more fickle and febrile crowd than in previous years, not so much an assemblage of darts fans as a horde of cultural tourists desperate to participate in the spectacle. They give and take their affections with a shameless promiscuity, and often on the flimsiest pretext. A lot of them are literal tourists, many from Germany, where Littler has had plenty of problems with crowds in the past. He doesn’t like them, and they don’t like him. Booing the 18-year-old world champion feels nihilistic, countercultural, perhaps even an act of pan-European patriotism.
And given Littler’s post-match outburst, some kind of Streisand effect is clearly going to kick in. The really interesting question is what it does to Littler’s game. He was brilliant here, scorned and stung and driven to the very edge of his capabilities. He averaged 107 overall, 117 over his first nine darts, 125 in a ridiculous third set. But somehow he could never quite shake off the 2018 world champion, who seemed to be enjoying every moment, pinned crucial finishes of 109 and 126, and had a dart to level the match at three sets all.
According to the prediction models, Cross was close to even money at that point. But then in the crucial leg of the sixth set, Littler started 140-180-141 against the darts, converting tops for a 10-dart break of throw. This is exactly how champions behave in adversity, and perhaps even evidence that dragging Littler out of his comfort zone may bring out levels and tempers to his game that have never been glimpsed before.
“That was the test that I needed,” he said afterwards, in a tone of voice that suggested it was not the sort of examination Luke Woodhouse or Krzysztof Ratajski are likely to provide in the quarter-finals. Littler should breeze through that one on New Year’s Day, and would then likely face either Ryan Searle or Jonny Clayton in the semi-finals.
Searle has been quietly brilliant all tournament, sweeping aside James Hurrell in the afternoon to progress to the semi-finals without losing a set. Earlier in the evening Josh Rock completed the last-16 lineup by beating Callan Rydz, still grieving the loss of his grandfather over the festive period.
