timeThere are plant-based burgers and fried rice balls served on glossy, dark plates. There’s a beer mat with Brendan Dolan’s face on it. In a corner of the room, Michael van Gerwen was being interviewed live by Troy Deeney on TalkSport. In another video, an internet celebrity named JaackMaate was filming a video for his YouTube channel.
Dave Allen, head of press at Professional Darts, remembers their first media conference before the World Championship. It was 2008, and Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld and Sid Waddell were dressed as Santa Claus, holding a giant novelty dart. A few people came, took a few photos, and then everyone packed up and went home.
Now the Sid Waddell Trophy stands backlit on a plinth in a London gastropub while a Netflix documentary crew scans the room. There are enough industrial strength spotlights to conduct a police manhunt. There is a security guard patrolling the venue to prevent threats. “It’s a sterile environment,” he whispered into the radio, probably the first time in history that a darts venue has been described in such terms.
Meanwhile, a man on German television is trying to get Luke Humphreys to film a promotional video for his show. “If you could look into the camera and say: ‘Hi, I’m Luke Humphreys and I play for Sportschau.'”
Humphries frowned slightly. “Sports show?”
“sports-look,” the reporter replied, emphasizing the last syllable.
“Sport-shoaggh.”
“sportslook.“
“OK.”
The cameras started rolling. “Hi, I’m Luke Humphries,” Humphries said, “and I’m on The Sports Show.”
But we might forgive Humphreys for his unfamiliarity with Teutonic diphthongs. After all, he hasn’t slept yet. He won the Players Championship final at Minehead late on Sunday night, then jumped straight in the car and drove overnight to London. “We got here around 4 a.m.,” he said. “I went to bed around five-thirty. Then the fire alarm went off.
There are a lot of serious people here asking serious questions about form and averages. There are also a lot of unserious people asking extremely unserious questions. What’s the latest photo in your camera roll? Which darts player would you least like to get into a fight with? Play blind queue with these Dutch sports legends!
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What is important here and what is not? They are dedicated professionals leveraging unimaginable talents to chase lifelong dreams and truly transformative money. However, the spectacle itself is largely run on energy, money and the banter of people dressed as traffic cones ordering four-pint cans of beer. Darts is a game steeped in irony to the extent that it is essentially indistinguishable from sincerity, a cultural phenomenon that exists at the crowded intersection of the ultra-trivial and the ultra-serious.
No one expresses that tension better than the sport’s newest and brightest stars. Luke Littler has achieved such a level of fame that you have to start to feel his presence, the energy of the room changes when you walk in and eyes are instinctively drawn to you.
Quick guide
PDC World Draw: Littler likely to face Sherlock in second round
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Luke Littler Can start his PDC 2025 World Championship Fallon Sherlockif she can beat Ryan Mikel in the first round. Littler lost in last year’s final to Luke Humphreys [pictured]he will begin his title defense against French player Thibault Tricole or rookie Joe Comito.
Humphreys, ranked No. 1 in the world, and Littler, who rose to No. 4 this year, may meet in the semifinals. On the other side of the draw, Michael Smith Will face either Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven, the first transgender woman to compete. Michael van Gerwen Will face either James Herrell or Jim Long in his first game.
The top 32 players in the world all start in the second round against one of the winners of the 32 first-round matches. The competition starts on December 15, 2024, and the finals will be held on January 3, 2025. guardian sport
Completely drawn
(1) Luke Humphreys VS Thibaut Ricole/ Joe Comito
(32) Raymond van Barneveld v Nick Kenny/Stowe Buntz
(16) James Wade v Jermaine Wattimena/Stefan Belmont
(17) Peter Wright v Wesley Plessier/Azeben Meteor
(8) Stephen Bunting v Alan Souttar/Kay Gortat
(25) Dirk van Duivenbod v Madars Razma/Christian Kist
(9) Damon Hurtaw v Connor Scutt/Ben Robber
(24) Mike Dedecker v Luke Woodhouse/Laurence Ilagan
(4) Luke Littler v Ryan Mikel/Fallon Sherlock
(29) Richie Edhouse v Ian White/Sandro Eric Sosin
(13) Danny Noppert v Ryan Joyce/Darius Rabanaskas
(20) Ryan Sale v Mensur Sujovic/Matt Campbell
(5) Rob Cross v. Scott Williams/Niko Springer
(28) Ji’an Van Veen v Ricardo Pietreczko/Zong Xiaochen
(12) Nathan Aspinall v Cameron Menzies/Leonard Gates
(21) Andrew Gilding v Martin Lookman/Nitin Kumar
(2) Michael Smith v Kevin Dodds/Noah-Lynn van Leuven
(31) Krzysztof Ratajski v Richard Veenstra/Alexis Toillo
(15) Christopher Dobie VS Stephen Burton/Alexander Merckx
(18) Josh Locke v Karel Sedlacek/Reese Griffin
(7) Jonny Clayton v Mickey Mansell/Tomoya Goto
(26) Darryl Gurney v Florian Hempel/Geoffrey de Zwan
(10) Gervin Price v Kim Huybrechts/Keane Barry
(23) Joe Cullen v Wessell Niemann/Cameron Carrollson
(3) Michael van Gerwen VS James Hurrell/Jim Long
(30) Brendan Dolan v Chris Randleman/Lee Lexian
(14) Gary Anderson v Jeffrey De Graaf/Rashad Sweeting
(19) Ross Smith v. Jim Williams/Paul Nebrida
(6) Dave Chisnall VS Ricky Evans/Gordon Mathers
(27) Gabrielle Clemens v Niels Zonneveld/Robert Owen
(11) Dimitri Vandenberg v William O’Connor/Dylan Slavin
(22) Martin Schindler v Karan Rez/Romeo Gbavac
The Premier League and Grand Slam winner, No. 4 in the world and second-most popular BBC Sports Personality of the Year, entered with a large entourage and took a seat in a secluded corner stall where he will perform his media duties duty, which has been specifically taken away. Yes, Littler couldn’t be filmed in front of the gambling brand because he was still only 17 years old.
For a year, people have been asking him how he handles the attention and scrutiny and how he doesn’t go crazy over it. But then, what exactly is he comparing it to? Littler was the first darts player in the history of the sport who never had one: never had a proper job or even much of a life plan.
Of course, he is flesh and blood like everyone else. But on stage, he hides it better than anyone. His fierce rivalry with Humphries had all the makings of greatness: two of the world’s best players, still finding their outer limits, still trying to stay on top, fully capable of toppling them.
The winner’s check for the first PDC World Championship in 1994 was £64,000. In this tournament, during each nine-dart leg, a spectator will be randomly selected from the crowd and handed a check for £60,000. For those following this journey from a safe distance, let alone those riding the train, the pace of change can still feel a bit surreal, bordering on disorienting. Is this trivial or serious? Maybe, when you have enough eyes on you, the differences no longer matter.
