Luke Littler: PDC chief exec speaks out on 'huge duty of care' for teenage star

Luke Littler has a very busy few months ahead of him (Picture: PA)

Luke Littler is being thrown in at the deep end of top level darts, but PDC chief executive Matt Porter says they are well aware of the ‘huge duty of care’ they have for the teenager and they have plans in place to keep him afloat.

The 16-year-old stunned the world of sport by storming to the World Darts Championship final on debut, falling short against Luke Humphries in the showpiece but becoming the story of the tournament.

The Nuke has gained an incredible amount of new fans thanks to his performances at Alexandra Palace and the PDC have moved to keep the momentum going by selecting him for the upcoming Premier League and World Series events in Bahrain and Netherlands.

Littler is going to be extremely busy as he starts out on life as a professional this month, but Porter says his current playing commitments only run until the Premier League finishes at the end of May and the PDC will assess the situation then, possibly toning down his schedule from then if needs be.

The PDC chief exec also pointed out that Littler can earn a huge amount of cash in the coming months and, while all parties need to be sensible, it may be unfair to deny him the chance to rake in the big bucks.

Speaking on the Are You Not Entertained? podcast, Porter said: ‘With Luke we’ve got a huge duty of care and it’s a huge responsibility for us. He’s 17 in mid-January and we’ve not committed him to anything beyond the end of May this year because we want to see how the first few months go with the challenges that are going to be on him.

‘We’re fortunate that he’s got a good manager who manages a couple of other top players as well so he knows how the industry works, and a solid family unit who are very trusting and respect his maturity even though he is still a teenager.

Littler made light work of all his World Championship opponents until he faced Humphries (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Luke’s shown over the last couple of weeks how unflappable he is in the conditions he was put into. He’s already become a professional player before the World Championship, so you have to ask yourself, is it right to hold him back?

‘Is it appropriate to deny him the opportunity to earn the hundreds of thousands of pounds that he will earn over the next few months? Because in a few weeks times he could be married, driving a car, getting a mortgage, he could be the same as the rest of us. It just happens that he could be achieving something towards his peak very early.

‘We have to manage that, we’ve got welfare support, psychological support, he’s going to work with a nutritionist, all the right things that make sure he progresses in the right way. But if is does become a little bit too much for him then we will pull him back a bit and give him time to breathe and time to himself.’

Porter pointed out that there is no guarantee that Littler will now surge to the elite level of darts on a consistent basis, despite his sparkling performances at Ally Pally.

Michael van Gerwen burst onto the scene but took years to reach his potential (Picture: Getty Images)

Michael van Gerwen showed similar teenage talents before taking a few years to rise to the very top of the sport, where he has resided for the last 10 years.

‘Michael van Gerwen came through as a 17-year-old, he was destroying top players when he was 17 and then had a number of very lean years before he progressed to the top level of the game,’ said Porter.

‘So we’ve got to make sure that Luke’s progression is managed and done at the right pace.’

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