Premier League Darts final sees darts made by Welsh expert

BBC News

7 days ago

He is one of the most successful designers in the sports industry with a legion of world champions to his name. But Lee Huxtable is not widely known outside the world of darts.On Thursday night, Luke Humphries was crowned the 2025 champion of the Premier League Darts, and he sealed victory at the O2 in London, with darts designed by the Welsh engineer. From his Bridgend base, Mr Huxtable also made darts for semi finalist, Gerwyn Price and dutch player Michael Van Gerwen for the tournament which has run since February.But of all the darts players he has worked with, he is missing one big one - current world champion, Littler, whose arrows are made by rival company.
As head of development for Red Dragon Darts, Mr Huxtable tries to name all the world champions he has made darts for."Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price, Michael Van Gerwen, Luke Humphries, Trina Gulliver..." the names keep coming.Within his work, Mr Huxtable has played a pivotal role in helping many players excel."Peter 'snakebite' Wright's world titles mean a lot to me, me and Peter would go through hundreds of concepts," he said."His darts cover everything from short fat ones to long thin ones. "One diamond-coated dart took 18 months in production and we had chemists involved. But he went on to win a world title with it which was very fulfilling."In 2020, Mr Huxtable designed darts for both the PDC and BDO world champions. Wright and Wayne Warren both credited Mr Huxtable for his help to make them the best in the world. "Sometimes it might take years working with a player, other times you get a eureka moment and that can advance a player's game hugely," the engineer said."It could mean someone going from the top 32 and getting into top 16 and making the big time."
Mr Huxtable is also making darts for another Welsh player - Jonny Clayton, from Carmarthenshire, who has won four titles with his darts. "Jonny Clayton's game changed overnight and it skyrocketed to the next level," he said. "He's a great character." Mr Huxtable has also been finessing the darts of former world champion Price, from Caerphilly county, before he battled it out at the O2 on Thursday."I've never seen focus like that from Gerwyn Price," he said. "He was a former rugby player who just played socially and he made it into the top 32. He said that's not good enough and when he made it into top 16 he still wasn't happy with that."He was so focused to be the best and to take Gerwyn from being a rugby player to a world champion was a big moment for us."
Mr Huxtable, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, has completed the majority of his work from Nodor's Bridgend headquarters for about 25 years, but also travels to Kenya where their darts are mass-produced for the retail market. The family-run Nodor group, which Red Dragon Darts is part of, moved production of its darts and dartboards to Kenya after it acquired the Winmau brand around 20 years ago.The sisal plant grows naturally in the east African country and is the best material for bristle boards, lowering operating costs.Nodor opened up its own sales and distribution centre in Dallas, Texas in 2023 and now produces 30,000 sets of darts and 20,000 dartboards a week from its factories in Kenya, and employs 1,000 staff. Mr Huxtable said: "It's always about the technology which goes into the dart for performance enhancement which is the most important for me. "In one of my favourite darts we managed to fuse 85% tungsten at the back of the shaft with 95% tungsten at the front to move the centre of gravity forward. "The concept being that a lot of players like a front-weighted dart but the players don't want to make the dart any fatter at the front."
With the Luke Littler effect fuelling the junior game, darts is now described as being in its third golden age and attracts the highest viewing figures on Sky television, second only to Premier League football.More than three million people watched 17-year-old Luke Littler win the world championship at Alexandra Palace in January. Mr Huxtable said: "The youngsters have catapulted the game, we are seeing 12 and 13-year-olds throwing another level of darts for that age."By the time they're in their early 20s the standard is going to be even higher and with the viewing figures and the prize money going up, it'll become even more popular with youngsters."