Luka, 8, becomes youngest ever Dundee clubs pool champion

An eight-year-old from Fintry has made history by becoming the youngest winner of a Dundee pool league.

Longhaugh Primary pupil Luka Britton and his team, McGurty’s OFW, won the Dundee Clubs Tuesday Pool League title for the first time at the Douglas Road pub.

Last Tuesday’s success marked the first time a team outside of Shotz and Old Mill had won the league in almost two decades.

Luka’s mum Hollie Vaughan said: “He’s absolutely buzzing, he hasn’t stopped talking about it.”

She added: “He’s only been with the team since October and only started playing pool properly last June when he was taken into Dundee Pool Academy.

“Before that, he mucked about on the table but in the last year he’s really put his mind into it.

“He now has a six-foot table in the house, he loves it.”

Luka, 8, is youngest ever Dundee pool champion

Luka’s talents haven’t gone unnoticed.

He has become the first player under nine to have joined Eddie Hunt’s Dundee Pool Academy.

Hollie said: “They were unsure of his ability and how he’ll react to being told what to do. As soon as he got on the table, Eddie said: ‘We’re keeping him’.

“He just keeps getting better and better.

“He’s the youngest player in the league and now he’s in the league-winning team.

“He’s got a lot to work on but he’s very good.”

Hollie and Luka’s dad, Darren, say they will stand by their son should he wish to continue as he gets older.

Hollie said: “It’s not a sport you think kids would get into and there’s not a lot of backing in it, you have to raise all the money if you get called into the national squad.

“As a parent you do what your kid wants and give them every opportunity to excel in something you know they’re doing well in.

“He’s absolutely buzzing and he tells everyone they’re his pals. I’m like, ‘they’re not your pals Luka, they’re grown adults and you’re eight.’

Fintry boy hopes to progress in sport

Now he has won the league, Luka is hoping to progress in the sport.

Hollie said: “In his head he is going to become a pool player. Some kids want to play football but he wants to play pool.

“He does practice snooker and knows all the rules and he may push across that.

“People have said that he should go into snooker because the way he plays pool is what you look for in a snooker player.

“You could also earn a lot more in snooker.

“At eight years old he’s like, ‘whatever, I’m playing pool.'”