Inside Luke Littler’s inner circle, from ex-cab driver dad who encouraged his son’s love of darts to his mentor manager

11 months ago 79

INCREDIBLE Luke Littler has taken the sports world by storm.

Not since Wayne Rooney has a boy so young dominated his much more senior rivals in such a way as has the Warrington lad.

16-year-old Luke Littler has enjoyed an epic rise in the sports world[/caption]

His performances at the World Darts Championships have been nothing short of jaw-dropping and inspiring, as he has taken all the plaudits for his fearless displays.

But, behind the talented 16-year-old is his inner circle.

Family is important to Littler – with dad Anthony, mum Lisa and sister Caitlin throwing their support behind the teenage prodigy, and seen cheering him on at Ally Pally.

Then there’s his love interest, Eloise who is also a fan of the arrows and plays herself.

While professionally it’s mentor and manager Martin Foulds who keeps Littler grounded.

Dad

Anthony Buckley, 43, is perhaps Luke ‘the Nuke’ Littler’s biggest champion.

A taxi driver from Warrington, he bought the wonderkid a magnetic darts board from a pound shop when he was a toddler.

It was Anthony who encouraged his son’s love of darts and advised him to quit football and concentrate on a career at the oche.

Buckley told The Times: “He was a good footballer. He loved football. All kids do. But I said to him at nine, hang your boots up.

“Concentrate on darts. You can still play football here and there. But if there’s a darts comp on at the weekends, go to darts first.

“Make that your priority, because I thought he could make it at darts — and he has done.”

“When I said to him, you need to keep playing darts, he was OK with it. We put him in every competition that was online.

“Sometimes you’re getting up at 7am on a Saturday — my only day off — just to play darts. There were no lie-ins.”

Littler understands his dad’s role. Littler said: “My dad just knew. I stopped playing football and just focused on darts and this is where I am now, playing on the greatest stage of them all.”

Mum

Sat next to Littler, as he gave an interview to Sky Sports about his epic rise, was his mum, Lisa.

Ever the proud mother, the 40-year-old’s social media is a shrine to her son’s incredible achievements.

She was the one who released THAT brilliant video of an 18-month-old Luke giggling and throwing darts at a board while wearing a nappy.

Dad Anthony got Littler into darts while mum Lisa supports his passion online[/caption]

Lisa works as a sales assistant at a Yankee Candle, but has been taking time off to cheer on Luke.

Before he played Raymond van Barneveld, she commented on his success so far.

“We’ve spoken about this. Luke said, win or lose, he’s played Barney on that stage,” she told Sky Sports.

“He’d love to win, of course. But I said, win or lose, look at where you’ve got to.”

Sister

As Littler breezed past Dolan 5-1 in the quarter-final, his older sister Caitlin was watching in awe.

Afterwards, she sent him a message via social media.

She captioned a Paddy Power promotional photo celebrating his semi-final berth: “The dream continues. Unbelievably proud of you.”

Caitlin has maintained a low profile and keeps personal information about herself out of the public spotlight, so very little is known about what she does for a career.

Luke and Caitlin also have another brother named Harry — although he too likes to avoid publicity and not much is known about him either.

Caitlin Littler is the darts sensation’s older glam sister

FacebookCaitlin is popular on TikTok with over 25,000 followers[/caption]

On TikTok, she is making quite the name for herself as an influencer.

So far, she has over 25,000 followers.

Manager

Carefully managing the starlet is Martin Foulds of ZXF Sports management.

He reportedly acts as mentor for Littler, and recently accompanied the star to a Spurs game where they met James Maddison.

Their relationship began three years ago, when Foulds was tipped off about his ability and watched him play.

He will help Littler make cash. Already there’s merch available in the shape of his own set of darts on the market selling for £102 on sports websites with his nickname ‘The Nuke’ on there.

But Foulds has stressed the importance his parents have had in bringing him up.

Foulds took Littler and fellow darts player Chris Dobey to a Spurs game with James Maddison[/caption]

He said: “Not enough is said about the parents Lisa Chuffy Littler and Anthony Chuffy Buckley who have sacrificed so much for Luke and travelled the world with him to help him achieve his dream.”

Girlfriend

According to reports, Littler began dating blonde Avon sales rep Eloise Milburn, 21, recently.

The pair are believed to have met online playing FIFA on Xbox – and bonded over football and darts.

She is an amateur player, with pictures on social media showing her at the oche.

While Eloise is also a keen singer and musical theatre fan.

Eloise Milburn reportedly met Luke Littler online while playing Xbox[/caption]

Littler and Eloise share a kiss after he defeated Brendan Dolan[/caption]

A video on TikTok singing Adele’s No1 hit ‘Easy On Me’ went viral, and has been viewed oveer 2,500 times.

Littler and Eloise caused a stir after his victory against Dolan, when he raced to the crowd and gave her a kiss.

First coach

Littler learned his craft at the St Helens Darts Academy under the tutorage of Karl Holden, the co-founder of the club.

“Before he was 11 we put him in the under-21s which we didn’t want to because he was only going on 11. Within weeks he was beating the under-21s,” Holden told The Guardian.

“By the time he was 13, there was nothing we could do for him because he was that good,” Holden added.

“He likes a challenge. He has always wanted to play the better players and beat them. He loves showing how good he is, and he is in his element [at the world championships].”