Luke Littler's extraordinary talent at a very young age is no longer a secret, but the current world star still managed to stun JDC chairman Steve Brown at their first meeting — so much so that Brown was initially convinced he was being cheated during an online match.
Littler spent a key part of his development with the Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) and won the JDC World Championship in 2022 and 2023. Brown, however, first crossed paths with him a few years earlier, during the COVID period, when Littler was only eleven or twelve. "It was during COVID. I think he was 11 or 12. And I think we were playing on the Nexus board or something," Brown told the Weekly Dartscast. "And there's an online tournament. And of course, his dad was with him. So his dad knew who I was, as Luke did, as the chairman of the JDC."
With few other options to play during the pandemic, Brown joined online tournaments from his garage. At one point he was drawn against the very young Littler. "And he'd come online. Of course, it was during COVID. So everyone was a little bit inebriated, should I say. I was anyway. I got in my garage. There was nothing else to do," Brown recalled. "So I was playing these darts tournaments. I came across this kid and he said, 'Oh, you're going to play my son, Luke. He's not me.' I said, 'That's fine. No worries.' Anyway, I was convinced he was cheating because the scores he was hitting were ridiculous."
Littler beat Brown, who says he was left quite frustrated. "And he beat me. I remember being a little bit annoyed. And I just ended the call really quickly." Only afterwards did Brown start to realise he might not have been cheated at all. The JDC chairman clearly remembers what he told his wife. "And he was that good. So, yeah. But I remember walking up to the bedroom and saying to my wife, 'I think I've just been cheated at a game of darts.' But anyway, he was that good."
It proved a remarkable first encounter with a player who would soon conquer the wider world. Littler's outrageous scoring was barely believable to Brown at the time, but it was already an early sign of the talent he possessed.
