It may seem strange to Canadians who aren’t used to showing up to their favourite sporting event dressed as Cinderella, but darts has never been more popular.
TV ratings for the championship on Sky Sports rival those for Premier League soccer, and tickets to all 36 sessions of this year’s championship sold out within hours last August.
Demand has been so high that next year the Professional Darts Corporation, which runs the championship and several other tournaments, will expand seating at the Ally Pally to 5,000 from 3,000.
Much of the hype is due to teenage sensation Luke “the Nuke” Littler, who has transformed the sport and broadened its reach far beyond the oche (the toe line at a dartboard).
From the moment he made the world championship final as a 16-year old in 2024, and then won it a year later, Mr. Littler has been virtually unbeatable. In the process, he has gained a global following: He was a finalist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2024 and 2025 – losing to Olympic track champion Keely Hodgkinson and golfer Rory McIlroy.
Mr. Littler breezed through the early rounds this December, and he’s heavily favoured to defend his title in the final on Jan. 3. “He’s probably that first real global superstar player that we’ve had,” said Dave Allen, the PDC’s head of media. “He’s just inspiring people around the world. They look and think, I could play that. It doesn’t matter whether you’re young, old, man, woman – they can look at it and see a pathway to getting there.”
This year’s championship has been expanded to 128 from 96 players – including five women – and the winner will take home £1-million ($1.8-million), double last year’s prize money.
The players hail from every corner of Europe as well as Canada, the U.S., Africa, South America and Asia, and they range in age from 18 to 71.
After winning his opening match last week, Kenya’s David Munyua described his victory – the first for a Kenyan – as life changing.
“It’s way too big for me even to express to you right now,” he told reporters after fielding a congratulatory message from Kenya’s President. “I did not expect it, but I’m so excited about it. And I think not only for me – my guys back there in my country are going crazy.”
The Ally Pally crowd has also become more international, as people from around the world are drawn to the sheer joy of this loopy and uniquely British spectacle.
“It makes me really happy to be in a sea of people where everybody is wearing costumes and so happy and carefree,” said Alicia Rabadon, who flew in from San Diego with her partner and two friends just to dress up in Pac-Man outfits and attend the championship. They’d seen the event on television and wanted to experience it live, even though they still weren’t quite sure of the scoring.
“When I found out that the bull’s eye was not the most valuable score, I got really upset,” said Ms. Rabadon’s friend Diana Arechiga. She discovered that three triple 20s is the maximum score on a single turn, worth a coveted 180 points.
Australian Toby Gough was on a six-week trip across Europe with his mother, Michelle, when they lucked out on a couple of tickets to day 13 of the tournament and quickly headed to London.
Mr. Gough, 20, is a darts player himself. Visiting the Ally Pally for the first time was almost spiritual. “I’d certainly say so, especially being the World Championship,” he said.
Ms. Gough was less enthusiastic about the game, but loved the costumes. “I just took videos of all the hilarious stuff.”
Susan Hine has been following every match online from her home in Ajax, Ont. She’s president of the Eastern Ontario Darts Association and vividly recalled her first experience at a darts tournament in Britain a few years ago, when she accompanied a Canadian player. “I just was blown away by the people. They’re all dressed up, they’re all half in the bag. And they just love it,” she said.
Ms. Hine, 69, has been playing darts for 50 years, and while she’d love to see a woman win the title, she’s realistic about the chances. Male players are simply stronger, she said. They can throw more accurately for a longer period of time.
“I mean, yeah, it’s a pub sport but it’s a physical game too. Is a woman ever going to win this? Probably not, in my opinion. But, you know, I like to see them take a run at it.”
To understand how important competing and winning at the Ally Pally is to players, consider this response from Britain’s Ryan Meikle, a 29-year old barber. This was his sixth appearance at the World Championship and after he won his first round match last week, he broke down in tears.
“I didn’t cry on my wedding day or when my boy was born,” Mr. Meikle said afterward. “So to cry here at the Ally Pally shows what it means to me.”
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