Gary Anderson calls out 'boring' darts rivals glued to their phones and pines for return of former world champion

Daily Record

4 hours ago

The Flying Scotsman dispatched Luke Woodhouse 10-5 at the World Matchplay then called out Gen Z stars for lacking banter
Unimpressed Gary Anderson reckons the new age of darts stars are "boring" and lack the banter of the stars from yesteryear.
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The Flying Scotsman dispatched Luke Woodhouse 10-5 at the World Matchplay and then turned on the next generation as he called on them to ditch the phones.
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Commentator Dan Dawson previously claimed last year that Luke Littler ruffled rivals up the wrong way for his love of FIFA and sweeties backstage and now Anderson reckons Gen Z need to loosen up.
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He said: "The good old days, that's when darts players were darts players. Me, Lewis, Taylor, Kevin [Painter], we used to sit and have a crack and a laugh. Aidy Lewis was brilliant, and I wish he comes back. I do miss him."
Anderson is eyeing World Matchplay glory in Blackpool after admitting the clock is ticking on his career at the top.
'Nowadays nobody talks to anybody. You don't have a good laugh; you don't have a bit of banter. The youngsters are boring, absolutely boring. You talk to them, they're too busy looking at their phones.
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"These youngsters, they're here to do a job. They've got to the stage now that they've realised, they've got a great chance in life to make a lot of bloody money and boost themselves.
"But they need to calm down and think this is my job and that's it. They're good but they aren't that good. That's what you've got to remember.'
The Scot was roared on by a lively Winter Gardens darts crowd as he pulled away from 5-5, winning five straight legs to beat Woodhouse and book his place in round two with ease.
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Anderson said: 'It went 5-5, I don't know what happened after that. I changed darts a few times, which is not a good thing. But it came right in the end.'
On the huge support he got from the Winter Gardens crowd, Anderson added: 'This lot, what a mad bunch. It's still the Scottish holidays. Come Tuesday they'll all be away home.
'But it's appreciated. I've not got many years left, I'm just soaking it in.'
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Luke Littler finally tasted victory under the Blackpool lights last night. The world champion was beaten by Michael van Gerwen in the first round on his Matchplay debut last year but wasted no time in putting that right.
The 18-year-old averaged 121 in the first mini session as he took a 5-0 lead over Ryan Searle before going on to win 10-2 with an average of more than 108.
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Littler will face Jermaine Wattimena in the second round after the Dutchman beat Anderson's fellow Scot Peter Wright 10-8 earlier in the day. Snakebite rallied from 4-1 down to level at 8-8 but Wattimena eased over the line.
Anderson had stopped the rot for the seeds after all the ranked players lost in the afternoon session, with Damon Heta, Rob Cross, Wright and Dave Chisnall all dumped out.
Andrew Gilding saw off Heta 12-10 after a marathon battle, while Cross lost 10-8 to Dirk van Duijvenbode and World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker beat Chisnall 10-7.
De Decker said: 'There were ups and downs, good spells, bad spells. I can take a lot of confidence.
'My majors since the World Grand Prix were decent until the World Championship. I got new darts and am still trying to get fully confident.'