Luke Littler is given a HUGE honour by Warrington Wolves as thousands hail their hometown darts world champion
Luke Littler is one of only 13 men to have won the PDC World Darts Championship. He is also the youngest, having won this year’s title aged 17.
And on Friday night, The Nuke joined another exclusive club… and, again, surely became the youngest to do so.
Little, now 18, put the disappointment of his 6-4 Premier League defeat by Gerywyn Price behind him to return to his hometown where he was given a hero’s reception and one very special honour.
Warrington Wolves pulled out the red carpet for one of their own and renamed their ground after the world champion – for one night only.
The teenager’s name was sprayed over its normal car dealership sponsors.
The rugby league side lived up to the occasion by then securing a hard-fought 18-12 win of their own over Catalans Dragons in their first Super League home match of the new season.
Darts star Luke Littler shows he is just as accurate with a rugby ball as he is with the arrows
The 18-year-old proudly shows off the World Darts trophy to his home crowd of Warrington
Warrington distributed more than 5,000 cardboard masks of Littler’s face to their supporters
The teenager’s name was sprayed over its normal car dealership sponsors for one night only
Littler, who is a season-ticket holder at what is normally the Halliwell Jones Stadium, met Warrington’s players in the dressing room, paraded his Sid Waddell Trophy and was afforded a lap of honour by his hometown club.
He then took a seat as a guest of honour to watch the Wolves grind out their second win of the campaign.
Warrington distributed more than 5,000 cardboard masks of Littler’s face to fans as they entered the ground.
It was certainly a sweeter occasion for Littler than a similar trip to another of his sporting loves: Manchester United.
Last month, Littler paraded his trophy around Old Trafford before Ruben Amorim’s side lost 3-1 at home to Brighton.
Ruben Amorim’s side are enduring a miserable season and lie 15th in the Premier League after only eight wins. After just two matches, Warrington are already a quarter of the way to matching that total.
