HAS SNOOKER EVER HAD A “LUKE LITTLER”?
Happy New Year, everyone! - It’s been a few months away from the blog, and in my comeback here I am talking a bit about Darts.
It’s hard not to feel inspired by what 17 years-old Luke Littler has done in the last 12 months, crowning all that yesterday when he became the youngest ever World Champion, a year after losing his first final on his first appearance at 16!
But we’re here to talk Snooker, and although it may seem that I just want to surf Littler’s wave, I’ve seen many people bring up Ronnie O’Sullivan to counter the argument that Luke Littler is “the greatest 17 years-old sportsperson of all time”.
I would have to bring up several sports at which, like Darts, I’m no expert at to settle that debate. But I don’t think there’s ever been anyone this good at this age in Snooker, at least.
To start the comparison, first we have to realise how good is Littler: at 17, within 12 months he won 11 titles, made two nine-darts (Dart’s equivalent to a 147, but not as hard), and made the final in both his two World Championship appearances.
Now, first to Ronnie: at 17 he had his big breakthrough winning the 1993 UK Championship, beating Stephen Hendry in the final. In fact, just over a year earlier during the early-season-qualifiers we used to have back then, he won 74 out of 76 matches, including 38 consecutive - (a record that still stands), having just become professional at 16.
But despite all that, it has to be said that Ronnie had far from established himself as the best in the world at the time. His debut in the World Championship at 17 saw him lose in the first round, and the next World Championship which he played at 18 saw him lose in the second round, as he was totally trashed 13-3 with a session to spare by John Parrott.
In the end, O’Sullivan made his first 147 at 21 and his first World Final (which he won) at 25. He might’ve been Snooker’s greatest ever teenage talent, and he surely is Snooker’s greatest ever player, but I do think his teenage achievements were a league below Littler’s.
Could there be another talent in Snooker that came close? If we look back at the 70’s and 80’s it was a different context, with players becoming professionals at an older age, often on their 30’s. Yet, Alex Higgins won the World Championship at his first attempt when he was 22 in 1972 and Steve Davis had firmy established himself as the best in the World when he won the title at 23 in 1981.
In the 90’s, before the class of 92 came along, Stephen Hendry set a still-standing record of youngest ever World Champion in 1990, at 21 years of age.
More recently, Judd Trump made the World Final at 21 in 2011, and at that same year he won the UK Championship months after becoming 22; and in 2021 Yan Bingtao won the Masters on his debut at 20 (having already won the 2015 World Cup at 15 for Team China B when he was still an amateur, alongside then 17 years-old Zhou Yuelong).
All great achievements and at young ages, but not quite as great and quite as young as Luke in the Darts.
What it all comes to show, though, is how much a character and a generational talent can help a sport thrive. Just look at Darts being watched and discussed by millions because of Luke Littler.
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