PHIL YOUR BOOTS
Darts legend Phil Taylor urges Luke Littler to SNUB BBC SPOTY ceremony with ‘£2million on the table’
Littler has also been told to distance himself from rivals
PHIL TAYLOR has urged Luke Littler to snub the BBC SPOTY ceremony.
The darts sensation is among the nominees for this year's heralded award.
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Littler, 17, has enjoyed an incredible rise at the oche since his run to the final in the PDC World Darts Championship in January.
He has some stiff competition for the award despite being one of the favourites.
England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham is also up for the award.
Other nominees include cricket star Joe Root, Olympic heroes Keely Hodgkinson and Alex Yee, as well as Para-cyclist Sarah Storey.
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However, Taylor has claimed that Littler should not attend the awards show, which will take place two days after the PDC World Darts Championship starts at Ally Pally.
The Power told talkSPORT: "I would advise him not to go on it.
"I'll be honest. Look there's half a million pound on the table.
"I wouldn't do anything, you know what I mean.
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"I'd just do a video and say thank you very much if I win and focus.
"But it isn't just the half a million pound, it's the publicity you'll get, which he doesn't need at the minute, and it's also your spin-offs.
Darts star Luke Littler is in contention for Sports Personality of the Year
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Darts World Championship full draw
Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)
- Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
- Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
- James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
- Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
- Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
- Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist
- Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
- Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
- Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
- Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
- Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
- Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
- Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
- Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
- Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
- Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
- Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
- Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
- Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
- Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
- Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
- Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
- Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
- Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
- Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
- Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
- Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
- Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
- Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
- Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
- Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac
"So that half a million quid could turn into £2million."
The 16-time darts world champion has insisted that the first round of the tournament will be "dodgy", suggesting that Littler needs to be focused.
He added: "The first round for everybody is going to be a dodgy one.
"It always is. Also with the world championships, it's not just - football will be the same - you know you come into the middle of winter.
"There's all kinds of bugs flying about and illnesses and flus and whatever.
"Make sure you don't get laid up. We call it laid up in Stoke.
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"Make sure you don't get any you know, catch any colds or flus or whatever so that can knock you back."
Meanwhile, Taylor has also suggested that Littler keep his distance from his rivals in order to strengthen his position at the oche.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once - Barney also won four BDO titles - and none of Eric Bristow's five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 - Dennis Priestley
- 1995 - Phil Taylor
- 1996 - Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 - Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 - Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 - Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 - Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 - Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 - Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 - John Part
- 2004 - Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 - Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 - Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 - Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 - John Part (2)
- 2009 - Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 - Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 - Adrian Lewis
- 2012 - Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 - Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 - Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 - Gary Anderson
- 2016 - Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 - Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 - Rob Cross
- 2019 - Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 - Peter Wright
- 2021 - Gerwyn Price
- 2022 - Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 - Michael Smith
- 2024 - Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
- 14 - Phil Taylor
- 3 - Michael van Gerwen
- 2 - John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 - Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries
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