Luke Littler has banished kebabs and fast food in a bid to protect his career. The 17-year-old went viral in January after his meteoric rise at the World Darts Championship when he was just 16, reaching the final only to lose to Luke Humphries at Alexandra Palace.
Warrington-born Littler became popular in England for eating £7.99 mixed meat kebabs from German Diner Kebab in Angel, London after his victories. The kebab shop was just down the road from the Hilton hotel where the teenager was staying.
Littler’s local takeaway – Hot Spot – even named a kebab with Doner meat, lettuce, onions and mayonnaise all crammed into it after Littler. Takeaway owner Hamido said: “Whenever he comes back to Warrington, he tends to order the ‘Luke The Nuke Wrap’. We just call it the ‘Luke Wrap’ because we are so used to making it for him.
“It is every day, or most days, when he is at home and not abroad competing. He is a top lad, and hopefully he will be coming back for some free haircuts and kebabs. That is free for life, no doubt.”
But the World Championship runner-up, who regularly ate ham and cheese omelettes for breakfast and a pizza when he got to Ally Pally, is knocking the junk food on the head. In an interview with The Times, Littler said: “It was just stupid really. I won my game, got back and it was, like, 12.30am and I’d had nothing since 3pm. That was literally the only place open.
“And my manager put it on Facebook and that’s when the whole world went crazy. In the football world, I think they’d still have a takeaway but it’s not seen as a good thing. Darts players get what we want, really.
“It’s just about looking after yourself on tour. Soon as I got my tour card, my manager [Martin Foulds of ZXF Sports Management] sat me down and said when you finish it could be 11 or 12, it’s literally all fast food, burgers or whatever.
“So I’ve got to look after myself, eat before I play. And when I’ve finished, even if I stay up to whenever, I just won’t eat. This is my new way of living. I love darts, and it’s going to be like this for ten, fifteen years.”
Littler has since claimed, though, that he didn’t actually eat a kebab after every World Championship match despite some claims to the contrary. He said to The Guardian last month: “I had a kebab after my first win and didn’t have another in two weeks.”
He added of Hot Spot, his favourite takeaway: “That’s my mate’s place and they’ve now got the Luke Wrap under my name. I walked in yesterday and got a burger and chips. They showed me two orders for my wraps and they’ve now got to replace the big Doner meat every three days. They’ve also got a barber’s shop, Hamidos, so they give me free haircuts now.”
Littler admits his new-found fame has changed his life, and that he has been inundated with messages from people inspired to get into darts because of him. He added to The Times: “It’s just been crazy. I try to check my Instagram requests to see if anyone’s messaged me, but it’s just full of people saying, ‘I’ve got a dartboard, I’ve got a dartboard.’
“When you go out for meals and you can hear people saying, ‘Look, it’s him. He’s over there,’ it does feel strange. But then people just want pictures or autographs. So it’s not too extreme.”
And on his rise at the oche, Littler continued: “All these players have been on top for many years – this is my first. In years to come I’ll be used to the circuit, used to going to this place, that place.
“People say you learn from your losses, so this is what I’m going to be doing now. Playing against these guys every week. People are going to think I’m the guy to beat but, to me, that was only what it was like on the junior darts circuit. Whenever I did lose, it was a big shock.
“Probably all of them have been saying to themselves, ‘I’m not getting beat by a kid here.’ But they have been. These players have been on top for many years. Going into this season, there’s a lot of them defending prize money, so they’ve got to get so far in a tournament just to keep their world ranking up. Whereas if they go out first round, they’ll drop down, and that’s how I shoot up.”
