Luke Littler is ‘bigger than Phil Taylor’ says victorious Michael Smith
The 17-year-old sensation was beaten 6-5 by the 2023 world champion in the Cardiff Premier League semi-final.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Michael Smith insisted Luke Littler’s popularity is “even bigger than Phil Taylor” after denying the 17-year-old darts sensation a shot at victory on his Premier League debut.
Smith edged out Littler 6-5 in a high-quality semi-final before going on to beat home favourite Gerwyn Price and silence a capacity Cardiff crowd.
“I actually thought in the semi-final Luke Littler was Welsh,” said Smith, the 2023 world champion.
“It’s going to be every week, it doesn’t matter where it is.
“Everyone’s fallen in love with him. He’s even bigger than Phil Taylor who won 16 world titles, Luke is the most popular thing in darts.”
He continued: “I’m going to ride the wave. People keep following, sponsors keep coming in, and the prize money is going up for us lads.
“When I walked in this afternoon there were no interviews.
“Luke Littler walked in and it was ‘can you do this one, can you do that one?’.
“That was me last year. This time I got to sit and chill, break up my time on the board and it worked.”
Smith beat seven-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen 6-5 in his opening match on the way to lifting a trophy for the first time since last April.
The St Helens thrower had to deal with unsportsmanlike whistling from some unruly individuals among the crowd.
Smith said: “I enjoyed the crowd apart from one or two individuals.
“I’m not going to say the crowd was disgusting because it was only two or three people, the other three or four thousand were amazing.
“Luckily enough it did not put me off, it’s expected. You know you’re going to expect some stick and some boos, especially playing Gezzy here.
“Whistling is not the best, but it happens in any sport. How do you stop it? It happens and it’s up to the sportsperson to get on with the job.
“Going top of the league after week one is a message to myself. I’m happy to win and there’s a few chinks in there, but to get five points on the opening night and a 10 grand cheque is always nice.”
Littler had earlier avenged his World Championship final defeat by Luke Humphries four weeks ago with a 6-2 quarter-final win.
He averaged 100.30 in that match and 105.31 in a ding-dong affair with Smith.
Littler hit six 180s in the semi-final, but a missed match dart on double 15 cost him dear as Smith capitalised.
A comfortable win over Price – who had earlier taken out Nathan Aspinall and Rob Cross – put Smith top of the embryonic table ahead of week two in Berlin next Thursday.