Bizarre superstitions in darts from Luke Littler’s victory kebabs to Robert Thornton’s teddy bear

1 year ago 59

LUKE LITTLER’S kebab celebrations are poised to join a strange list of superstitions for darts stars – in their hope of skewering opponents.

The Warrington sensation, 16, is, in sizzling form at the Ally Pally on his World Championship debut – but his victory meal is just a starter compared to some of the odd oche habits of his rivals.

Three-time major winner Robert Thornton, 56, keeps a tiny teddy bear in his shirt pocket.

Englishman Ian White, 53, who has won 13 PDC ranking events, insists on taking a cheap shopping bag to tournaments.

And four-time World Championship semi-finalist James Wade, 40, refuses to wear shoes costing less than £200.

Meanwhile, Scott Williams believes a pre-match visit to Nando’s is the extra spice needed for success at the Ally Pally this year

Those are just some of the strange traits that top players claim are NOT a load of bulls.

And in his column for Sporting Life, former World Championship quarter-finalist and commentator Paul Nicholson revealed the many quirks employed by pro players.

Littler’s choice of kebab with bottles of coke and Fanta opened up the can on such behaviour.

And here’s what his fellow throwers have been getting up to.

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Pride of place goes to Thornton, who reckons his bear brings him good fortunes due to its family connections.

Nicholson also revealed that the Scot folds his small towel in a certain way – and “the one time we tried to mess it up as a practical joke, he got defensive to put it politely”.

Canadian Jeff Smith, 48, got into a flap if he didn’t have chicken wings

And even though his hands are the key to glory, Wade has a footwear funding fetish.

Nicholson wrote: “He’ll always wear top-of-the-range fabulous shoes. Even the terrible looking ones will be expensive.”

World No4 Peter Wright once relied on changing his darts all the time – to help him “reconnect” his action and take nothing for granted.

Ipswich’s arrow ace Mervyn King, 57, took at least six pre-made darts to tournaments, with the stems and flights already fixed.

Nicholson said: “Both sets all look identical, even to me, but Mervyn assured me there are tiny differences.

“If he’s not playing well enough with one set, he’ll switch to the other set, so I think having this kind of security blanket is another kind of superstition.”

Former world champ Michael van Gerwen is perhaps a more typical player – as he’s one of the hurlers reluctant to make any changes to his equipment.

But Wayne Mardle could be said to buck the trend.

The five-time World Championship semi-finalist turned pundit, 50, eventually took a dim view of wearing bright outfits – ditching them for his last Ally Pally swansong in a bid to reignite his form.

You might say it was a rare case of a sportsperson worrying that a superstition would turn into a jinx!