Luke Littler: World Darts championship finalist inspires Yorkshire club owner to set up a junior group for teenagers as they are inundated with younger club members

Luke Littler, 16, took the world by storm when he reached the final of the World Darts championship at Alexandra Palace, where he almost became the youngest champion of darts in history.

He was beaten by Luke Humphries on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 and his success has since earned him celebrity status and a huge £200,000 prize for finishing second.

Mr Littler’s victory has reached Yorkshire as Yorkshire Darts Club owner, Ollie Whitfield, 20, from Bingley, has received more than 100 messages from young people eager to join his club.

He told the Yorkshire Post he is now looking into setting up a new league for the youngsters - such is the appetite to play following the tournament.

"Especially with the younger generation, I've not seen anyone posting about darts before [the championships] and then over the past couple of weeks they're posting all about it,” Mr Whitfield told the Yorkshire Post..

"We're looking at running a youth turn up and play session every week in Bradford centre now because people have taken a liking to the sport.

"It's all because of [Luke Littler]. If he wasn't part of it I don't think we'd have had the interest.

"It was steady [before the championships] we always reached the numbers we wanted but now we're having to organise more events to keep up with the interest.

"I put the message out on Facebook about who would be interested and the amount of people who've said they're interested is ridiculous.

“So we've sorted out a venue now and that'll be up and running in the next couple of weeks.”

The new junior league will start off as a ‘turn up and play’ session for 12-16 year old dart enthusiasts or novices and will take place every Sunday from 12pm to 2pm for £5 per child.

The session will be located at the Rewired Bar in Bradford on North Parade.

“There’s no coaching, only guidance,” Mr Whitfield said.

“We’ve got everything but it’s all about guidance and it’s about enjoying it more than anything. You don’t want to put pressure on a 12 year old, I feel like you shouldn’t put pressure on them.

"We’ve created a Whatsapp group so that everyone knows who is in it for the next event coming up. [The messages we received were] asking how can I join, when is it starting for the juniors.

“If nothing happened with Luke Littler I wouldn’t have even thought about it. It was the night of the final, all I did was put a poster up and we found out how much interest there is. It's blown up.

“We thought if we don’t act now on it then people will lose interest, especially the younger generation loses interest quickly.

“I want to see how big it can get.”

Mr Whitfield runs leagues, tournaments and events for dart players in Bingley, Bradford and the group will be expanding to Wilsden in the next couple of weeks.

It started out as a session for family and friends initially when it was first set up in January 2023, then developed into a club for the public across the year.

The biggest activity hosted by the club was a charity event in December 2023 for Andy Man’s Club, where they raised £1,700.

“It’s not coaching as such, it's a mixed ability and more about coming out and having a social day,” he said.

“It’s just me running it, no funding or anything, we need to expand on it because every day we’re getting messages; I got one last night asking how to join and when is the next event.

“There are some good players that are already playing in the Bingley league. I like them to get involved with us all the time.

“When I was 15 I didn’t know that much about darts, none of my mates said anything about it. I think the sport for that generation is getting more interaction and people are looking into it more.”

Mr Whitfield admits that he’s not ‘amazing’ at darts but he is very competitive. He describes what inspired him to set up the club.

“We were watching the world darts championships last year at home and we had a dart board, we didn’t play on it much,” he said.

“My uncle had a dart board and when we went up there we used to play. I’m quite competitive so we decided to set up a league and it was literally friends and family, we didn’t open it to the public, then that finished.

“I’m not amazing but I like running the leagues more than anything. Because it’s getting so big, I can’t play.

“I didn’t expect a year on from then I’d be looking at doing a junior session and then three or four other events all at the same time.

“There’s a few at the club who are a lot better than me. I used to play in my own league, I’ve taken a step back now just because of how much the club has grown.”