The hype machine was in overdrive through much of Saturday on Sky Sports. In one corner, there was the box office heavyweight title fight from the land of sportswashing while, in the other, came the near-constant build-up to Luke “The Nuke” Littler’s return to the oche in the Ally Pally.
No contest, really. Who really wanted to see Tyson Fury’s belt and shorts rolled up so far up his midriff that Oleksandr Usyk was left with the smallest of targets on the giant’s chest?
So, Littler v Ryan Meikle it was. And, yet, by the time came for the sensational 17-year-old Littler to have his post-match interview with Abi Davies, the reality of what has been foisted upon the young Englishman – as if he were the saviour of darts – became worryingly apparent as tears rather than any words came his way.
In fairness to Davies, she read the situation really well, allowed Littler to move away to shed those tears, and simply took a few steps further from the wunderkind to allow things move on.
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The World Championships from the Alexandra Palace has become a mainstay of sporting theatre at this time of the year, starting out before Christmas before taking a short break and resuming again post-turkey dinners.
The anticipated arrival of Littler, the pre-tournament favourite, had been milked by Sky Sports for days if not weeks. In the hours before his match with Meikle, the build-up became one of overload. There were video montages in slow motion with accompanying music and captions that proclaimed The Nuke or The Prince and there seemed an extra giddiness to the party of Mr Porky’s in the Oktoberfest audience when the earlier matches produced shocks with the departures of Danny Noppert and Raymond van Barneveld.
Littler’s match had been preceded by van Barneveld’s loss to Nick Kenny, one where the so-called Barney Army – long-time supporters of the five-time champion from the Netherlands – were quietened and their man appeared by a pale shadow of his old self. His performance, indeed, was almost choreographed to bring on the main act, Littler!
A year ago Littler had arrived on the scene as a 66-1 outsider and reached the final only to fall to Luke Humphries but he has dominated darts this season to the point that favouritism was plonked firmly on his young shoulders.
Commentators Mark Webster and Dan Dawson were besides themselves ahead of Littler’s long-awaited return to the Ally Pally – having earlier in the week collected the BBC’s Young Sportsperson of the Year awards – with Webster describing to presenter Emma Paton his climb to the top of game inside 12 months as being “off the charts. He’s the biggest star in the sport.”
Losing wasn’t considered. The chitchat revolved around whether he would produce one or more nine-dart finishes (sponsors Paddy Power are flashing the cash for those closures) and, indeed, he nearly did ... the narrowest of wires being the margin.
Meikle put up quite the battle before Littler managed to get his mojo going and finished with style in a stunning final set. An 11-dart finish. A 10-dart finish. An 11-dart finish. Littler’s early nerves had seen him out of sorts but, by the time he’d won and moved on, the on-screen graphics confirmed his superiority in averaging 110.85 in a three-setter that saw him reach double-digits in 180s (10) and have a doubles success of 50 per cent (compared to Meikle’s 32 per cent).
The win was expected, the final set. “One of the greatest sets of darts potentially we have ever seen at the world championship,” said Dawson (the hyperbole was back as Littler closed in on the match). “Even when he is subdued, even when he isn’t at his best, he doesn’t last long,” came the extra words, emphasising Littler’s capacity to get things done and dusted quickly.
Yet, if anything, it was that post-match one-on-one between Littler and Davies that posed the real questions. Is it fair for a teenager, even one of such talent, to live with the hype and the pressure? It took 15 seconds for him to well up in emotion. The interview that wasn’t was all over in 52 seconds as Littler’s own words deserted him and the occasion got to him.
“We’re just going to give you a moment ...” said a considerate Davies who, in fairness, realised it was time to let him find his own space. But no words were needed. The pressure of high-octane sport was there for one and all to see. Especially on such young shoulders.
