Rock 'n' roll world of darts steals limelight from football elite as The Asp wants the robots to stay away

Daily Record

2 days ago

Nathan Aspinall shocked at attention ahead of football icons and TV stars
Gobsmacked Nathan Aspinall was left aghast at darts' rock n'roll status after stealing the limelight from actors and football icons James Maddison and John Terry.
And the Stockport slinger has urged chiefs to keep the characters in the game or face turning the sport's new-breed of stars into boring robots.
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Aspinall feels there's an obsession with darts after his latest experiences at Spurs star Maddison's recent charity golf day. He teed it up with celebrities prior to Premier League Finals night and was taken aback at the attention he received amid footballing legends and TV faces.
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Aspinall said: 'Everyone is obsessed with darts. I was at this golf day and everyone wanted to talk to me about darts. I'm looking around, all these footballers and actors and stuff. Everyone was speaking to me.
'Oh my god, John Terry shot four under gross. And he plays off five. Nine under. So no-one had a chance. 45 points he got. I played off 12 and I shot 34 points. Honestly, all of them came over to me, it was quite surreal. Everyone loves darts. Whatever you are a celebrity, own a company, from a council estate, whether you are a kid. Woman, male, everyone is obsessed with darts at the moment. We all know we owe a lot of it to Luke [Littler]. But also the rest of the guys that turn out week-in, week-out.
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'It was a brilliant day. Lots of people: Nice to meet you. It was good. I played half decent. Only the second round I played. Because I have had all these injuries, so not been able to play golf for 18 months, two years, but really enjoyed myself yesterday. Joe Cullen played. Littler doesn't play. [Luke] Humphries plays and he got asked to play in it but he didn't want to risk injuring myself. Whereas I couldn't give a s**t. I went and enjoyed myself. Maddison was there. He was supposed to be at the hospital but he said he would try to change it and come [to Premier League Finals]. I got all the support from all the lads. It was nice to have them in your corner.'
Aspinall is a character of the game and he hopes darts keeps such traits within their future heroes as he expanded: 'This is the problem they are going to have. You see it with footballers when they do their interviews, they are robots. They get told what to say and they are all the same answers all the time.
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'I think people like myself, I just say as it is. It gets me in trouble a lot of time. I have had no media training earlier in my career. I was thrown into the deep end. I don't want darts to get that to level because you do need those characters in the game. If everyone turns up and they are all the same, they all throw the same, no-one celebrates, do the interviews the same, it would get boring. Hopefully that doesn't happen. Come to my exhibitions what is not boring.'
Aspinall is savouring life at the top, but has an age for quitting as he said: '45 I am off. Skint or not. I have said to my partner, that is my aim: 45. If it is earlier than that, we start making golfer's money and I have £30 million in the bank, happy days. I will be off sooner.
'I don't think it can happen that quickly in my era, but 45 is when I would like to bugger off. I am not as obsessed as the other lads with darts. I don't watch it. I don't particularly like it. It's my job. I am a darts fan. 'This is why I got into the game but generally speaking now, I don't watch it. I get bored when I practise. 'When I get a bit fed up and bored, that is when I take a break. I find it repetitive simple as that. I spend my whole life throwing three pieces of metal at the same target for seven hours a day. It does get a bit boring.
'If I retire at 45, I will hopefully sell my house, get a nice villa abroad and open up a bar. That is my plan. No dartboard! A golf simulator. No Mr Brightside. That is not on my Spotify list anyway. I took that off it. That cannot come on in the car.'