16 year old darts player and his 21 year old girlfriend.

[Witchcraftandhokum]

I'm no darts fan but I've seen loads about this new player Luke Littler who is 16 and is doing very well. His girlfriend is 21, am I the only one who rinks this is inappropriate? (Despite the fact that he looks about 38).

Mumsnet can’t make its mind up. It’s either at 16, you are a young adult and can have sex with who you want and the parents just have to accept it, because “they will do it anyway . . .better off safe in the house!” Or, as in this case, “he is a 16 yr old vulnerable child”.

Neither of these statements are irrefutably true despite the many protestations. There appears to be no consideration of the wide range of human experience and difference. Some, 16 yr olds are more adult like than child like. Some 21 yr olds are very child like. Surely we know this?! There are always outliers, doesn’t make it gross or wrong, with the caveat of being legal of course. Five years is nothing, I don’t understand this mumsnet obsession with only dating someone of a similar age.
In my work I hear a lot about peoples relationships, and going out with someone the same age is not a passport for a successful relationship. Shared interests & values seem more important surely?

Leave them alone and dump your judgement!

Anyone watch his match..? Amazing talent…Luke Humphries has got his work cut out..This whole tournament has been a joy and it’s all over tomorrow…😞

ps: I thought that was his sister 😂😂

Its not really got anything to do with anyone else. He looks much older than he is and when i have seen him in interviews he seems quite mature. He isn’t at school and am guessing he is spending a lot of time around adults holding his own so probably acts older than your average 16/17 year old. He isn’t living the life of most of his peers ie school/ college or an apprenticeship.

If this was the man older and the girl 16 there would be uproar. It seems inappropriate but it all depends on when they started dating. Was he like 14 or something, if so then that is wrong.

Its the fact that he's 16.
I do find it quite concerning when people have this idea that the moment someone turns 16 at the stroke of midnight they are clearly not a child any more and therefore this is acceptable.
Its really quite...unsettling.

Doesn't matter that he looks older. Doesn't matter that the age diff is 5 years. He's 16. Comparing it to 'I was 19 when my dh was 24' is actually not the same and is frankly stupid.
19 is very different from 16.
I cannot understand why a 21 year old would want to be in a relationship with a 16 year old. Simple as.
Hes a lovely lad and wish him the best in the world regardless. Incredibly chuffed for his achievements at such a young age.

Not most, no. Not even half.

So most of them have been working the last 3 years instead? Even less in common with a 16 year old then

Saw him tonight for the first time... getting Phil Taylor vibes. Wins the final and he's done something even the great man didn't do and that's become a world champion as a teenager.

Ronnie O'Sullivan at 17 was precocious, Luke could be joining the same club. Ronaldo (the Brazilian) was another ridiculous teenage talent.

Regarding his age he doesn't look 16 that's for sure.

Why's everyone saying he can't possibly be mature enough, emotionally, to be the life experience equal to a 21 year old?

What if SHE has the emotional maturity of a 18 year old, and so does he? She's a bit young for her age, he's a bit old for his, they meet in the middle somewhere.

Not remotely beyond the realms of possibility and it has to be said, if he were dating a girl of his own age group, he'd get heckled in the bloody streets, he does look like he's in his 30s!

One of mine is the same. She refuses to accept I was able to make my own decision because ‘my brain wasn’t fully developed’. I think whoever started trotting out that research as a reason no one under 25 can make any kind of logical reasoned decision of their own, has a lot to answer for.
I’m now 44. My brain is good and as I was there and my dc was not, they (or anyone else) dont get to decide if I was able to make that decision. It annoys me a lot actually. It’s so patronising to say you can’t decide anything at 16.

EXACTLY! That was probably the case with my ex and I. I had a ton more life experience due to my upbringing. To say no 21 yo and no 16 yo can be similarly mature is just utter nonsense.

I like to think I am as alert and sensitive to child safeguarding issues as the next good woman, but I cannot get exercised about this.

"Wildly inappropriate" is definitely overegging it. He may be a child but he has reached the legal age of consent - if in fact that is even relevant to their relationship - and 21 is hardly ancient.

He looks like he is already familiar with the pub, bit of Wayne Rooney about him. I honestly would serve him without iding.

Not all 21yo are worldly and not all 16 nearly 17yo are immature. She’s only 21 for crying out loud, everyday I see men online in their 30/40/50s and even 60s trying to justify being attracted to teens/20yo girls. Telling us it’s natures way for evolution and pro-creation bla bla. I personally find that a lot more offensive.

Totally normal age gap when I was a teen. Plenty of young 21 year olds and plenty of mature 16 year olds around.

I think it really depends on the 16 year old and the 21 year old. And as none of us know either of them we shouldn't be commenting.

When my Nan met my granddad she was 17 and he was 27. It's only in current times (when many young people are babied imo) that people get upset about these age gaps. A significant number of my friends had moved out and left home at 16. They certainly weren't "children". Conversely some 16 year olds are very immature. It really depends.

Yes on the mainstream media, everywhere else it’s about his looks or girlfriend

What an assumption. Just because he’s a darts player you’ve got him down as a big drinker and wife cheater

That's some leap!

Jesus. He’s 16 and has met a girl online playing FIFA. They probably got to know each other before either realise who old the other was. This poor girl has now been dragged through the mud in the press and online and has been his friend/GF for all of 6 weeks…. When Wayne Rooney was the same age, the press did the same thing to his now wife and she was the same age as him.

As a nation, we probably need to stop finding ways in which we knock young people down, especially when they are a success at something they have worked hard at achieving. They are two young people of consenting age. I suspect that the environment he has been raised in probably lends itself to him being the sort of mature company that makes his age not relevant here. I’m no darts fan, but I enjoy seeing young people enjoy the rewards of years of practice. David Beckham/Rooney/Harry Kane/Ronnie O’ Sullivan/Emma Radecanu/Andy Murray/Rory Mcillroy/Lewis Hamilton have not become the nation’s greatest young sporting heroes accidentally, and none of them have had a silver spoon - they have dedicated years of practice supported by families also supporting their dreams. Why do people feel the need to comment on how they spend their downtime? And with who?

I’m rooting for the Lad for tomorrow, amazing achievement.

I think it’s an ok age difference. It’s the under 18 bit which is questionable. 16/17 is a tricky age for relationships. I mean 15 and 20 is just wrong. 18 and 23 is fine. 16/17 is a bit of a grey area. I suspect given his career this young man is a bit more worldly/ more mature than your average 16yo.

I have to admit I don’t really see the
problem in this scenario.

The hand wringing, pearl clutching going on here is hilarious.

All of this!

This is so nasty.

I cannot understand why a 21 year old would want to be in a relationship with a 16 year old. Simple as.

"What first attracted you to chubby but soon to be very wealthy teen darts sensation?"