‘There are so many in the making’ – Nathan Aspinall reveals there’s an army of Luke Littlers ready to take over darts

NATHAN ASPINALL reckons darts has boomed so much these past two years that “footballers and actors” are all obsessed with what is happening on the oche.

But he claims the next generation of tungsten throwers will be groomed in sports academies rather than unearthed on building sites.

Nathan Aspinall believes there’s an army of Luke Littlers ready to take over darts

Aspinall was part of the celebrity cohort invited to James Maddison’s golf invitational

The darts ace said everyone was talking darts on the golf meet

The 17-week Premier League Darts reached its climax last Thursday night with Luke Humphries beating Luke Littler in the O2 Arena final.

Two days before that, Prem semi-finalist Aspinall was a guest at Tottenham playmaker James Maddison’s golf day at The Centurion Club with darts pal Joe Cullen.

The annual invitational golf tournament – which raises funds for different causes – was attended by ex-footballers John Terry, Jimmy Bullard, Wes Morgan, Gareth Barry and comedian Michael McIntyre.

And Aspinall – a two-time major winner – claims everybody was talking to him about Littler and Co.

Stockport’s world No.9 said: “Everyone is obsessed with darts. I was at this golf day and everyone wanted to talk to me about the darts.

“I’m looking around, all these footballers and actors and stuff. Everyone was speaking to me.

“Everyone loves darts. Whatever you’re a celebrity, own a company, from a council estate. Whether you’re a kid. A woman. A Man.

“We all know we owe a lot of it to Luke. But also the rest of the guys that turn out week-in, week-out.

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“Oh my god, John Terry shot four under gross. And he plays off five.

“Joe Cullen played as well. He was a bit worse for wear the next morning, shall we say.

“Humphries was asked to play in it but he didn’t want to risk injuring himself before the finals. Whereas I couldn’t give a s***.”

Littler emerged on the senior scene in December 2023 aged 16 and raced all the way to the World Darts final where he lost to Humphries.

A year later, he went one step further and lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy at the age of 17.

It is a far cry from previous world champions like Phil Taylor (ceramic factory), Gary Anderson (grate builder), Peter Wright (tyre fitter) and Rob Cross (electrician) who had other jobs before throwing darts.

Yet Aspinall – who runs a darts academy in the North West – reckons there is an army of wannabe Littlers set to appear in the coming years.

PA

Luke Humphries beat Littler in the Premier League Darts final on Thursday[/caption]

Aspinall, a father of two, said: “There are so many more Luke Littlers in the making at the moment. It’s mental.

“I might be 33 but I’m an old boy compared to what’s coming through.

“If the money gets to like golf levels, there’s no way people are doing this for 25 years.

“Guys in their early to mid-30s are the last of a generation and after us it’s going to be all these kids coming through, who’re fearless.

“Then it will go from this pub game, which everyone still calls it, even though it is not. And it will finally be called a sport in 5-10 years.

“But the problem you’re going to have is: Where are the characters?

“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.

“I think people like myself, I just say it as it is. It gets me in trouble a lot of time. I’ve had no media training 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, does the interviews the same, it would get boring. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.”