HUMPHRIES DOES CLASSY GESTURE FOR BULLIED TEEN

By Aaron Nijjar  

LUKE HUMPHRIES showed his class off the oche by giving a bullied teenager a night to remember at the Premier League in Manchester. 

The 14-year-old boy, Alex from Stockport, had been pulled out of school by his parents after suffering two years of physical attacks and threats.  

Alex has autism, which his parents say made him a target for bullies whose attacks have left marks and bruises.  

World No. 1 Humphries took matters into his own hands after the story was brought to his attention on social media last month.

He said: “I will speak to the PDC this week when in Cardiff and see if we can get him some tickets and a chance to meet all the players in Manchester if that suits?  

“No one likes a bully, hope he’s ok and send him my best wishes.” 

Former World champion Humphries personally arranged Alex to meet all the top players at the showpiece in Manchester – including his “favourite player” Luke Littler, with the teenager also getting signed shirts. 

‘Cool Hand’ posted a picture of the pair, saying: “Well it was great meet Alex tonight, got to meet all the players and received a signed shirt of his favourite player!  

“@LukeTheNuke180 he was buzzing! thanks to all the @OfficialPDC players for stepping in to sign shirts and have photos with him too! This is what it’s all about!” 

Seven-time major winner Humphries explained why he was so touched by the story last month, saying he could not help everyone who reached out to him but was moved by Alex’s story because he wanted to give him “hope”. 

He admitted: “There’s some horrible stories over the years of people being bullied and they end up killing themselves or stuff like that, so if you can help someone out in any way physically possible, you just do it. 

“Look, I can’t help everyone out – I get lots of messages from people saying, ‘I’m struggling with my health, can I get tickets?’ 

“But I’m doing this for a young kid because I don’t want him to think that all people in the world are negative and I want to give him a little bit of hope.  

“Hopefully this is something that he can enjoy, maybe put a smile on his face again, because he’s not going to school at the moment – his mum and dad have take him out – and he’s pretty feeling glum at the moment. 

“Maybe some of the bullies are darts fans and they will see him having a great time because money can’t buy this type of thing.

“I just hope some good comes out of it – I’d rather they didn’t bully him and he didn’t have to go through this. 

“But, hopefully, it gives him a bit of hope. We’ll make sure we give him some support and look after him because, obviously, bullies have no place.” 

Humphries reached the final at the AO Arena on Night Ten of the Premier League before being beaten 6-4 by Nathan Aspinall.

The Cheshire ace hit his highest TV average with a whopping 118.43 against Stephen Bunting in a 6-1 demolition in the quarter-final.  

He currently sits second in the Premier League and has reduced the gap to five points on Luke Littler who is top.