As a fellow misspent teenager I’m voting for Luke ‘The Nuke’ - Vladimir McTavish

Darts prodigy Luke Littler burst onto the scene at the World Championship last December, reaching the final at the age of 16Darts prodigy Luke Littler burst onto the scene at the World Championship last December, reaching the final at the age of 16
Darts prodigy Luke Littler burst onto the scene at the World Championship last December, reaching the final at the age of 16
It’s nearly time for that annual highlight of the sporting calendar, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and this year’s SPOTY shortlist could not be more eclectic.

It comprises Real Madrid and England footballer Jude Bellingham, 800 metres World Champion Keely Hodgkinson, England cricketer Joe Root, para-cyclist Sarah Storey, triathlete Alex Yee and teenage darts sensation Luke “The Nuke” Littler.

One helped his club win the Champions League and was named Spain’s player of the season, one ran half a mile faster than any other woman in the world, one stood alone on a strip of grass as big guys chucked hard balls at him at 100 miles an hour, one was still winning Paralympic medals after a 32-year career across a range of sports, while another won Olympic gold in its most arduous event which combines swimming, cycling and running.

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And one throws sharp objects at a numbered board from less than eight feet away.

Yet I am hoping that Luke Littler will be the winner. He’s only seventeen years old, yet has taken the darts world by storm.

He first picked up a set of arrows as a toddler and has become a world-class competitor at a pub game before he’s even old enough to buy a drink in a pub. Although I reckon most bar staff would serve him without asking for ID, because he looks about forty.

Darts was never considered a sport when I was Luke’s age. Like snooker, it was seen as something to do at the same time as drinking and smoking.

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In fact, any talent in either pursuit was seen as “the sign of a misspent youth”. Which only goes to show how much of a waster I was in my teens. Not only did I misspend my youth, but I was rubbish at both darts and snooker.

Even when darts became professional and attracted high TV ratings, many people disputed its status as a sport.

Fair enough, when most of the top players were overweight chain-smokers who were invariably holding a pint of beer in their left hand as they threw their arrows with their right.

So I’m hoping that Britain’s smokers and drinkers will be casting their votes for Luke when they get home after closing time at the local.

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On the whole, however, the public often vote more sensibly in these types of competitions than they do in actual elections.

Look back to 2016, the year the Western World went insane. The UK voted for Brexit and in the US they elected Trump. By the end of the year I had lost all faith in humanity’s ability to vote responsibly.

Thankfully Andy Murray won BBC Sports Personality of the Year, which single-handedly restored my faith in democracy.

Given 2016’s voting patterns, I had fully expected Oscar Pistorius to get the award.

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Back to Luke The Nuke. Regardless of whether he is crowned as SPOTY, the lad has proved himself a winner.

He has already earned over £1 million this year. Imagine getting that kind of money as a teenage!

If I’d managed to bag a million quid by the time I was 17, I really would have been able to misspend my youth big style.

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