Legendary Darts referee Russ Bray says teenage sensation, Luke Littler “may well have one major in him this year”, but goes further and adds that he could go as far and be regarded with Darts royalty like Phil, The Power, Taylor.
Littler already has secured his place in the play-offs for the Premier League in London at the end of May after having four nightly wins over the tournament.
Bray says “he needs to stay grounded and don’t let the media spotlight get to him… I just said to him keep doing what you’re doing then it will come” after Littler lost the final at Alexandra Palace on 3rd January.
Littler has become a cut above the rest since emerging into the pro-scene during the 2024 World Championships going all the way to the final only to lose out to Luke Humphries.
Bray went onto talk about his favourite games that he has had the pleasure of calling: “obviously the World Championship final between Barney and Taylor in 2007 – that was an amazing game to referee”, and he says the most recent World final between Littler and Humphries was on par with it. That was the final match he would referee in the World Championships after announcing his retirement before the tournament began. There was one more game that Bray remembers vividly: a match between Steve Coope and Andy Jenkins in the Las Vegas classic. “It was 3 sets to 1 and there wasn’t a leg over 15 darts, it was fantastic”.
Bray is one of the most iconic voices in sport and he had only high praise for The Nuke. Bray knows the sport better than anyone and he has tipped “Littler could be up their with Taylor”.
This Thursday the Darts heads to Sheffield, after it went to the First Direct Arena in Leeds in the week previous. Humphries was victorious in his ‘homecoming’ night, the big Leeds United fan, changed his walk-on song from cult Darts classic “Cake by the Ocean” to Leeds United song “I predict a riot” by Leeds band The Kaiser Chiefs.
11,000 fans saw Michael Van Gerwen make the play-offs and Humphries claim his fourth nightly win, level with Littler. An expected 13,000 will head to the Utilita Arena on Thursday to see the final night of Premier League Darts before it heads to the o2 arena in London for the play-offs. Littler, Humphries and MVG have booked their places with Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall fighting for that final spot.
Amateur Darts player in local Leeds league and fan, Terry Wainwright, has his say on the current complexion of the Darts world and the upcoming Sheffield night ,”Closing in on the business end of the Premier League, I think we can expect the unexpected in Sheffield this week”.
“My pick for the nightly win is Rob Cross, I think he showed this weekend just how good he is. He barely put a foot wrong in his Euro Tour winning run and I truly believe he’s one of, if not the most consistent player in the world. I think he’s been really unlucky a few times in the Premier League this year but it’s been great to see him back in the tournament and it’d be great to see him round this years edition off with a win.”
Rob Cross, former World Champion has exclusively spoken to the Sun saying “I had to land a darts title again before Littler wins it all- the rest of us will be left to pick up scraps”. Another former world champ in the shape of Wayne Mardle has spoken highly of The Nuke and “He’s shown how he can play in hostile atmospheres. He’s shown absolutely everything”.